Sometimes you just can’t avoid paying more than you would like when booking flights, but there are a few things you can do to avoid overspending.
- Don’t just search for flights on one website such as webjet.com. Try other sites including expedia.com or flightcentre.com.au as well.
- Sign up to various travel websites to receive regular emails with their travel deals, if you are prepared to be flexible with your travel dates you can snap up some cheap fares this way.
- Find out which in-flight services are offered. If meals are not included in the cost of your fare, you can end up spending quite a lot of money purchasing food and beverages in-flight or from the airport.
- Try to avoid flying on a Friday or a Sunday as these are popular days for most travellers to fly and the airlines tend to inflate their fares on these days.
- Look at alternative airports. A lot of cities have one major airport as well as others on the outskirts or further out of town. A good example is London which has Heathrow airport as it’s major hub, as well as Gatwick and Stansted airports.
- Check the hidden costs of seemingly cheap fares – you may find that you will end up paying the same, if not more, in taxes and luggage costs.
- Take into account the costs of transport to and from the airport, especially for alternative or smaller airports. You may save a truckload of money on your airfare, but the cost of getting into town from the airport may see you spending the money you’d saved on the flight.
Do you have any advice for fellow travellers on how to avoid paying too much for their flights?