How To: Book the Cheapest Flight Possible

When looking to travel on a budget, trying to find affordable flights to your destination can be difficult. However, there are many variables to consider when booking a flight and you can often save yourself some money by making careful choices where these variables are considered.

When I say 'variables', I mean things like; the time of year, day of the week, length of time between your departure and return, class of travel, airline, flight timings, the number of connecting flights and how long each of these stop-overs last for, etc.

I will be discussing the key changes you can make in order to try to take down the cost of your flight. Sometimes there are things you can't change, for example you may only be able to fly on a specific date, but there is often at least one thing that you can do to save yourself some money. I have tried to explain things as simply as possible, broken down into small sections for easy reading.

When to Book

Completing the actual booking on the weekend is cheapest and booking your departure and return flights so that the dates fall on a Monday or Tuesday is statistically the cheapest day the majority of the time.

Stay Length

Believe it or not, the length of time you stay at your destination can actually affect the cost of your flight. Usually, the longer you stay, the cheaper your return flight will be.

Booking in Advance

You should always try to book at least 3 weeks in advance if you are trying to save yourself money.

Air Miles

If you fly often, or regularly use the same airline or airlines in the same airline alliance, it might be worthwhile signing up for frequent flyer programmes. These loyalty schemes allow you to accumulate air miles which can then be used to purchase flights if the cost is covered by your points.

Airlines

Some airlines are more expensive than others. This is because different airlines offer different services. For example: Ethiad are a luxurious brand and flying with them is often expensive, even when buying economy class tickets, because they offer many additional services on board their flights. British Airways are a good mid-range example because they also offer a number of good quality services such as a 23kg luggage allowance per person. RyanAir are perhaps the best example of a low cost airline, because they offer a no-frills approach to flying where you pay the minimum for the cost of the flight itself and, whilst they do have some services similar to what you would receive when flying with a more luxurious airline, these services are available only if you require them and are charged at an extra cost, so you are only paying for what you need.

Connecting Flights and Layovers

Typically, flying direct to your destination is more expensive than booking a flight with one or more connections. The number of and length of layover time spent at each connecting airport can often lower the cost of your ticket.

Class of Travel

It goes without saying, but if you want to fly business or first class, you will be paying more for your flight. Of course some people prefer to fly with the comforts available when you fly upper-class, however if you are trying to save money you are better off booking yourself into the economy class.

Departure and Return Timings

The time at which your flight departs can also affect the cost of your flight. Many airlines charge more for flights which depart at peak times, such as mid-afternoon or the early evening.

Seasons

The time of year that you choose to fly can also drastically alter the price of your flight. However it is hard to say which month is the cheapest in general because this will vary depending on the seasonality of your chosen destination. However, there is a way that you can easily figure this out using SkyScanner, as I am about to show you.

SkyScanner

SkyScanner is a website where you can search for flights. It is like a price comparison site. When you enter your details it will come up with a number of options for you to select, regards to different airlines and flight timings etc. You can then select your desired option and it will then present to you the different places where you can get this flight at slightly differing prices. More often than not, the cheapest option is to book direct with the airline you have chosen.

In order to easily explain how to book the cheapest possible flight using SkyScanner, I have taken a number of screenshots which depict the stages of using this function so that you can easily understand it.

Step 1: Enter your desired departure and arrival airports. For the purpose of this exemplary screenshot, I have searched for flights departing Edinburgh International and arriving at any London airport. Once you have input this information you will need to say weather or not you require a direct flight or not. Usually, I would leave this option unchecked but since this is a very short domestic flight, I have searched for direct flights only. From here, you need to click on the field under 'Depart'. This will take you to the next screen...

Step 2: Clicking on the 'Depart' filed will bring you to this screen where you can select a date. If you can only travel on certain dates. Input them and it will show you the lowest possible fare for these dates. If you do not have any date constraints, you can use the following trick to find the cheapest flight to your destination all month, or all year. This can be done by clicking 'Whole Month' which will take you to the next step...

Step 3: After clicking ' Whole Month' you will be met with this screen where you can select the month you wish to travel. If you do this, it will show you the price to depart and return on each day of that month so that you can identify the cheapest days to travel. However, if you want to find the cheapest days to travel for the entire year, you should select 'Find Cheapest Month', which will lead you here...

Step 4: I selected the 'Find Cheapest Month' option, for the flight routing I had searched for, the cheapest month in the year ahead was January and so pressing this function brought up the month of January, 2018. If you select a certain month, you will be met with the same kind of screen. Here you can see the price for the cheapest flight for each day. For me, my cheapest option is to pick any of the days listed as £13. I have chosen January 22nd as my departure date. Form here, scroll down to select your return date...

Step 5: Here you will see all of your possible return dates with the lowest price per day displayed. I have selected the 29th of January to allow myself a full week away. This date is one of the two cheapest options I had. Now that I have selected both my departure and return dates, I can scroll down again to see my final price...

Step 6: Here I can see that the final cost of my cheapest possible flight is £26. Now I will press 'Show flights' to view my options including airlines and timings...

Step 7: The first flights I see are both £26, but I would be flying with Ryanair, who are a budget airline. If I keep scrollling down, I will be able to find the cost of other airlines who may offer me a luggage allowance within the price of my ticket...

Step 8: Here I can see flights offered by British Airways. These options are a bit pricer, at £75 and £77. In this case,because I would only be travelling a short distance from Edinburgh to London and for such a short time, I would opt for the Ryanair flight and only pack hand luggage, rather than paying extra to fly with a mid-range airline. However, if I was going to be away for more than a week, or if I was someone who needed a lot of clothing etc in my luggage, I would be more likely to opt for the British Airways flight as they have cabin luggage included in the cost of their flight.

So that is how you use SkyScanner to it's fullest potential. However, there are a few things you need to consider when booking cheap flights, as I touched on above. For example, many cheap flights will be offered by low-cost carriers such as Ryan Air or FlyBe. Such carriers are often only able to offer low fares because they have cut out certain services such as inclusive luggage and in-flight meals. Therefore, it is always best to do your research on what will and will not be included in the cost of your flight, especially when purchasing low-cost tickets. If luggage is not included in the cost of your fare, I would highly recommend purchasing luggage allowances in advance, online, rather than showing up to the airport and paying the extra cost there as the prices are often almost double the cost when paid up-front. If you are unable to purchase your allowance in advance, it might be worth while purchasing a more expensive ticket as this could end up being cheaper than buying an allowance as an ancillary item.

I hope that you find this post useful. If you have any questions feel free to comment or contact me through my email