14 ways to trim air fares while booking tickets - AIRWANDER

Shaveta Dua

,ET Online|

Jul 06, 2022, 11:35:11 AM IST

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AIRWANDER

The Airwander website is a good option if you are looking at multi-city travel or want to add unexpected destinations at negligible cost. The site throws up stopover options for the route, along with estimated cost, when you provide your departure and destination points, and the days you can spend at stopovers. This means is that one can visit additional city or cities at a fraction of flight cost. For instance, if one is travelling from Delhi to New York, one could take a two-day break at Helsinki and a three-day break at Stockholm, which show up as stopovers, without adding much to the original travel cost.

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LAYOVER FLIGHTS

Most people think that flights with layovers are cheaper than the direct ones. It's typically true for long-haul flights, where you can cut rates by almost half if you pick ones with layovers or even stopovers. For instance, the cheapest direct, one-way flight from Delhi to New York, for July 25, costs Rs 1,33,251 (on Skyscanner), while the cheapest flight with one stop is available for Rs.75,334. Short duration direct flights are less expensive than the ones with stopovers, especially within India.

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INDIVIDUAL FLIGHT TICKETS

When you take a family or group vacation, it's more convenient to book multiple tickets in a single transaction. However, one will get an inexpensive flight rate if one books individual tickets because airlines show the highest price for group bookings.

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SKIPLAGGED

A controversial but legal trick used by the air fare search engine, Skiplagged, to cut down flight costs drastically is that instead of booking a flight from point A to point B, the website helps you find routes from point A to point C, with destination, point B, as a layover. So one disembarks at point B without completing the journey. However, you will not be able to carry checked-in luggage as it will reach the final destination, and can also only book a one-way ticket.

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GOOGLE EXPLORE

If you are planning a foreign vacation but don't have a destination in mind but are budget-conscious, Google Explore (https://www.google.com/travel/explore)is for you. It tells flight fares of all the destinations in a given area if you type in your departure point. You can pick a destination with low flight prices. Within a country, too, you can plan a multi-city itinerary by checking which cities offer the lowest flight fares. You don't necessarily have to book at the displayed rates using Google Flights and can check fares from other comparison sites too. A similar tools is Escape, where you can get the prices of flights to anywhere in the world.

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OPTIMAL DAY & TIME

ALTERNATIVE AIRPORTS

Travelling to bigger cities, domestic or international, costs higher air fare because airlines have to pay more fees to use busier airports. So look for alternative airports around your destination city where the fares are lesser. Make sure that this airport is not too far from your destination or you may end up spending a high amount on taxi fare, defeating the entire purpose. Some flight booking portals and aggregators, such as Skyscanner and Cheapflights, offer the option of choosing nearby or alternate airports at reduced costs.

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BUDGET OR LOCAL AIRLINES

To bring down the travel cost while travelling abroad, it is a good idea to book inter-city flights with local or budget airlines. Some of these small airlines may not show up on popular search engines and you may have to look for them online before going to their websites and booking, but it will be worth the money saved in travelling. In Turkey, for instance, the best option for inter-city travel is flying to save time and effort, and some of the domestic airlines you could opt for are AnadoluJet, Sun Express, and Corendon among others.

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MULTIPLE AIRLINE COMBINATIONS

It's more convenient to book return flight tickets with the same airline, but your best option to slash fares is using an aggregator site that offers multiple airline combinations. For instance, if you were to use Qatar Airways to book a Delhi-London oneway flight with one stop, the cheapest option on Skyscanner would be Rs.25,220 for 25 July. If you booked return fare using the same airline, the fare would be Rs.1,08,857. But a combination of Air France and KLM would yield a fare of Rs 69,584, which is Rs.39,273 lesser. You could also book tickets for multiple airlines via Star Alliance or Oneworld global airline alliances by becoming a member of the frequent flyer programs of any of their partner airlines.

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PAY IN CHEAPER LOCAL CURRENCY

Travel and aggregator sites prefer that you pay in the currency of the country you are booking from or international currency used in the country. But you should try to find if you can pay in currencies that are cheaper if you are visiting countries where the value of rupee is higher. So if you are travelling to Indonesia, Vietnam, Iceland, South Korea, Sri Lanka, or other such countries whose currencies are cheaper than rupee, try paying in their currencies to reduce your costs. The savings in some cases may not be too high, so take into account the foreign currency transaction fee on your credit card to avoid paying the same or higher amount.

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AGGREGATORS VS AIRLINES

While aggregator sites and search engines are the best choice to book multiple airline flights, in some case airline websites can offer better bargains. This is because the former usually display inflated fares and also charge a transaction or service fee, which can add to your flight costs, especially if you are travelling as a family or group. On the other hand, with specific airlines you could avail of discounts, special offers, flash sales, frequent flyer program discounts and co-branded credit cards to bring down your costs. If you still prefer an aggregator site, pick one that offers the most flight combinations, lower fares, more filter options and low service charges.

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TRAVEL CARDS & AIRLINE PROGRAMS

If you are a frequent traveller, it's a good idea to take co-branded or generic credit cards that offer a good rewards program, or opt for the frequent flyer miles programs of airlines. This allows you to convert your reward points to air miles, thereby reducing your flight costs. Take the Air India SBI Signature card, which offers 30 reward points for every Rs 100 spent on Air India tickets booked through Airindia.com or Airindia mobile app, or the InterMiles HDFC Bank Diners Club card, which offers 16 InterMiles on every Rs 150 spent on flights booked on Flights.intermiles.com, among many others.

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SOCIAL MEDIA & FARE ALERTS

Opting for alerts is perhaps the easiest way to cut your flight cost. Subscribe to fare alerts on travel booking or airline websites and find out about the drop in prices or special offers to avail of cheaper flights. Similarly, follow the pages of airlines on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter to avail of flash sales, discounts and early bird offers to cut your flight cost.

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GO INCOGNITO

This is among the most well-known secrets for ensuring a lower flight price. Most aggregator or airline sites follow your search patterns through cookies and IP addresses. So if you check a flight price on a particular website and return to it after some time, you are likely to find a higher rate. To avoid this, you can use the incognito mode or delete all cookies after use. In case of Google Chrome, you can click on the three dots at the right-hand corner of the screen, and from the dropdown menu, click on 'New Incognito Window' to browse in secret.

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14 ways to trim air fares while booking tickets - AIRWANDER - The Economic Times (2024)

AIRWANDER

LAYOVER FLIGHTS

INDIVIDUAL FLIGHT TICKETS

SKIPLAGGED

GOOGLE EXPLORE

OPTIMAL DAY & TIME

ALTERNATIVE AIRPORTS

BUDGET OR LOCAL AIRLINES

MULTIPLE AIRLINE COMBINATIONS

PAY IN CHEAPER LOCAL CURRENCY

AGGREGATORS VS AIRLINES

TRAVEL CARDS & AIRLINE PROGRAMS

SOCIAL MEDIA & FARE ALERTS

GO INCOGNITO