Are you looking for a ticket and want to find the best and, if possible, the cheapest?
Since I often deal with a similar question, I studied a lot of material, tried out some instructions and revealed three basic secrets of how to buy cheapest ticket.
Out of fear, we often rely on agencies to tell them our requirements and hope that they will get us the best and cheapest ticket.
Although the price may be affordable in some cases, don’t be tempted by the offer immediately and make sure you can’t buy a ticket even cheaper.
Whether you are traveling in Europe or outside Europe, there are three secrets to getting the cheapest tickets.
1. Use the right website
If you are looking for ticket prices on the airline’s websites, you will lose an overall overview and thus the opportunity to save by choosing another airline or by choosing a different departure date.
Airline sites are often confusing and try to sell more expensive tickets.
Instead, try one of our selected and currently the best websites for flights.
Travel around Europe
If you decide to travel as cheaply as possible in Europe, you will probably fly with low-cost airlines.
That is why special websites focused on low-cost flights were created. Do you know the place and about the date? Then the ideal choice is edreams.com.
You should definitely not miss the website named Kiwi.com, which has made great progress in recent years and offers unique combinations of connections.
Third, I would like to try the popular Google Flights.
In addition to flight offers, the site will show you which companies operate in each direction, and then you can go to the official website of the airlines and see if it is possible to get a ticket even cheaper.
Especially at Kiwi.com, which often charges extra fees.
Travel around the world
If you decide to travel outside Europe, you need to use more comprehensive search engines that compare and combine flight offers from multiple airlines around the world.
Below we have currently selected the best comparators.
Google Flights and Kiwi.com should definitely come first.
The main advantage of the sites is that you immediately see the lowest ticket prices on all days, so you can plan your departure and arrival based on the best offer.
Flexible people can also benefit from the simple function of comparing offers from multiple departure points.
You can book some flights directly via Google Flights.
However, when finding a suitable offer, always go to the official website of the airline and check if the price is correct, or if it is possible to buy a ticket even cheaper.
If you know the date, check the price on the Momondo website, which compares several well-known comparators and sometimes finds you the unbeatable lowest price, which you can’t even find on the official website.
When searching for tickets, always keep the anonymous window turned on, some airlines may allegedly monitor your activity and increase the price of the ticket.
Each time you search again, close the existing window, which will clear all data and history, and open a new incognito window.
If you already have an idea of your flight, wait a while and check other comparators we recommend.
Different comparators can offer flights of smaller airlines, have exclusive contracts with them, work better with offers or can offer a better combination of flights.
Thanks to these factors, you can find an even better ticket than the one you have found so far.
Other very popular sites are Kayak and Skyscanner.
I recommend going through other sites to make sure you are currently buying the best ticket.
2. Buy at the right time
You may have heard that the price of a ticket may vary depending on the day of the week and the time of purchase.
If so, you heard right.
Nevertheless, there is one catch, and that there is no ideal day and time for everyone to agree.
Based on several expert studies and analyzes of aviation data, it is believed that the best day to buy a ticket is Tuesday afternoon or weekend.
Why these days?
Tuesday is a good day, as most airlines offer the most discounts on Monday evenings.
During Tuesday noon, the offers are processed and in the afternoon the hunt for cheap flights can begin.
According to some studies, however, it is increasingly possible to buy the cheapest ticket during the weekend.
Airlines thus focus on price-prone customers and at the same time do not lose profits from business flights, which are booked most often on weekdays.
So how do you behave?
It is ideal not to rely only on recommended days, but rather to update offers on a few selected sites during the day and week.
If you find a good offer one day, it is very likely that the same offer will appear in a week on the same day.
Then you will find out with certainty which day is most suitable for buying a ticket to your chosen destination.
How far in advance do you buy a ticket?
By studies of flight comparators, which process millions of data a year, thus creating accurate estimates when prices are the lowest.
Although most studies are designed for the United States, the results can be successfully applied to Europe.
For short flights within Europe, it is a good rule that prices are at the lowest between 3.5 months and 30 days before departure.
This is a time when airlines are starting to worry about filling up and getting customers thinking about booking.
The best day then comes out on average to 54 days in the USA.
Within Europe, the ideal time can be within six weeks before departure. After five weeks, the ticket price rises slightly and peaks the day before departure.
While for flights within Europe the booking window is more clearly defined, for flights outside Europe it is more complicated and varies considerably depending on the selected destination.
The data show that the best prices outside Europe appear much earlier than for flights within Europe.
Due to high demand and less flight availability, the best offers to popular international destinations are much sold out.
The ideal time to buy a ticket is between three and five months in advance.
Although it is good to direct your ticket purchases to the ideal time, keep in mind that these are averages and that many other factors often come into, which can make tickets very expensive.
The main ones include seasonality, festivals and local holidays.
Is it worth buying a ticket in advance?
According to current practice, tickets start to be available approximately 331 days before departure.
Common sense could suggest that the first seats will be the cheapest, so that the plane is partially filled as soon as possible.
In reality, however, this is not the case and there are usually no discounts for early purchase. Ticket prices usually start to fall slightly around 225 days.
Buy last minute tickets?
Many travelers think they will beat the system and buy a ticket at the last minute for a few dollars.
The moment the airline realizes that it has a half-empty plane and will want to fill the empty seats at all costs.
Although this may exceptionally happen, it does not normally happen and it is a very bad strategy.
How bad? According to long-term data, tickets are the most expensive day before departure, followed by the next day, so you can continue.
Therefore, do not leave the purchase of a ticket at the last minute and try to buy a ticket in advance.
3. Flexibility pays off
With tickets, the more flexible you are, the easier it will be for you to find the most advantageous ticket.
Whether it is a flexible date, destination or departure airport.
If you choose a holiday and you can go almost anytime, then be inspired by special offers or flight mistakes and buy a ticket at a time when it is really the lowest.
Likewise, if you live near more airports and have the option of transportation, it is worth checking prices from other airports.
Most of the mentioned comparison sites offer this service already during the search, when you can then easily compare the offers and prices of tickets from individual airports.
A few useful tips at the end
If you are not sure whether the ticket price will go down or start to rise, look at the prices of the same flights a week / month in advance and compare the difference.
If the ticket price is lower with an earlier date, it can be expected that the price will probably go down.
Here, however, beware of the already mentioned holidays, which can easily fool you.
In the case of flights outside Europe and subsequent flights, it is possible to save considerable money by booking tickets separately through individual regional airlines.
It pays to explore local airlines and possibly buy a ticket directly from them, ideally in their local currency.
If you find an offer that you are satisfied with, make a final decision and do not spend another 10 hours looking for better offers that will bring you a difference of several cents.
As a rule, trying to save as much as possible is not worth the extra time and effort.
