Here are some ways to reduce your airfares when booking flights.

1. Airwander

The Airwander website, which is slated for a Covid relaunch this fall, is a great option if you’re looking to multi-city. travel Or want to add unexpected destinations at zero or negligible cost. When you provide your departure and destination points, and the number of days you can spend at the stopover, AirWander presents stopover options for your route along with an estimated cost. This means that as far as flights are concerned, you can travel to additional town or cities at a fraction or negligible cost. So, if you are traveling from Delhi to New York, you can take a two-day break in Helsinki and a three-day break in Stockholm, which appears as a stopover without increasing your basic travel cost.


2.layover flights

Most people think that layover flights are cheaper than direct flights, but this does not apply to full board flights. This is generally true for long-haul flights, where you can cut rates by about half if you choose those with layovers or stopovers. For example, the cheapest direct, one-way flight from Delhi to New York for July 25 costs Rs 1,33,251 (on Skyscanner), while the cheapest one-stop flight is available for Rs 75,334. On the other hand, short-duration direct flights are generally less expensive than flights with stops, especially within India. For example, the cheapest Delhi-Bangkok direct, one-way flight costs Rs 10,980, compared to a flight that costs Rs 11,482 and flights with two or more stops start at Rs 32,218 per person.

3. Individual Flight Tickets

When you take a family or group holiday, it is more convenient to book multiple tickets as a single transaction. However, if you book individual tickets you will get lower flight rates as airlines show the highest prices for group bookings. For example, a one-way fare for a Delhi-Bali flight will cost one person. economy class 11,804 on Skyscanner for July 25, but the price per person for three people will be Rs 12,238.

4.Skiplugged

It’s a controversial, but perfectly legal, trick used by airfare search engine, Skipplugged, to drastically cut your flight costs. Instead of booking a flight from point A to point B, the website helps you find a route from point A to point C, with your destination, point B, as a stopover/stopover. So you get off at point B without completing the last leg of your journey. The reason your fares are cut is because layover flights, especially long-haul flights, cost much less than direct flights. However, this option has some catches. You will not be able to carry checked-in luggage as it will reach the final destination, and can also book only one-way tickets.

5.Google Explore

If you’re planning an exotic vacation, but don’t have a destination in mind and are budget-conscious, check out Google Explore (https://www.google.com/travel/explore). it will tell you flight fare For all destinations around a given area if you type your departure point. You can choose a destination with low flight prices. Even within a country, 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 rates displayed using Google Flights and you can check fares from other comparison sites as well. A similar tool is Escape, where you can get the prices of flights anywhere in the world.


6. Optimum day and time


Many people believe that flight rates are lower on certain days of the week, but there is no such rule. Simply check the entire month for fares on comparison or aggregator sites and choose the date indicating the lowest fare. However, when it comes to timing, there are high chances that you will find cheap flights before 8 am or if you book a red-eye flight. For example, a direct, one-way Delhi-Kolkata Indigo flight available at 6.05 am costs Rs 5,052 but at 12.25 pm it costs Rs 5,596.

7. Alternate Airports

If you are traveling to larger cities, domestic or international, you are bound to pay higher airfares if you use the main airport as airlines charge more for using busy airports. So look for alternative airports around your destination city with lower fares. Make sure this airport is not too far from your destination or you may end up spending a high amount on taxi fare, defeating the whole purpose. Some flight booking portals and aggregators, such as Skyscanner and Cheapflights, offer the option of choosing nearby or alternate airports for a low cost so that you can check them out.

8.Budget or Local Airlines

When traveling abroad, it is a good idea to book inter-city flights with local or budget airlines to reduce your travel costs. Some of these smaller airlines may not show up on popular search engines and you may have to visit their websites and look them up online before booking, but it will be well worth the money saved on the trip. For example, in Turkey, the best option for inter-city travel is to fly to save time and effort, and some of the domestic airlines you can choose from are Anadolujet, Sun Express, and Korendon.


9. Multiple airline combinations


It’s more convenient to book return flight tickets with a single airline, but your best option for reducing fares is to use an aggregator site that offers multiple airline combinations. For example, if you use Qatar Airways to book a Delhi-London one-way flight with one stop, the cheapest option on Skyscanner will be Rs 25,220 for July 25. If you have booked the return fare using the same airline, the fare will be Rs 1,08,857, but the combination of Air France and KLM will yield a fare of Rs 69,584, which is Rs 39,273 less. You can book tickets for multiple airlines through the Star Alliance or Oneworld global airline alliances, becoming a member of any of their frequent flyer programs. partner airlines,

10. Pay in the cheapest local currency

Travel and aggregator sites prefer that you pay in the currency of the country you are booking from or the international currency used in the country. But you should try to find out if you can pay in currencies that are cheaper if you are visiting countries where the rupee has a higher value. So if you are traveling to Indonesia, Vietnam, Iceland, South Korea, Sri Lanka or other countries whose currencies are cheaper than the rupee, try paying in their currencies to reduce your cost. In some cases the savings may not be much, so take into account the forex transaction fees on your credit card to avoid paying the same or more amount.

11.Aggregators vs. Airlines

While aggregator sites and search engines are the best option for booking many airline flights, in some cases airline websites may offer better bargains. That’s because the former usually reflect inflated fares and also charge transaction or service fees, which can add to your flight costs, especially if you’re traveling as a family or group. On the other hand, with specific airlines you can take advantage of discounts, special offers, flash sales, frequent flyer program discounts and co-branded credit cards to reduce your costs. If you still prefer an aggregator site, choose a site that offers the most flight combinations, lower fares, more filter options, and lower service charges.

12.Travel Cards and Airline Programs

If you’re a frequent traveler, it’s a good idea to take a co-branded or generic credit card that offers a good rewards program, or opt for the airlines’ frequent flyer miles programs. This allows you to convert your reward points into air miles, which will reduce your flight costs. take air india

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 Intermiles Diners Club card, which is spent on flights booked on flights Provides 16 Intermiles for every Rs.150 made. .intermiles.com, among many others.

13.Social Media and Fare Alerts

The Alert option is probably the easiest way to cut your flight costs. Subscribe to fare alerts on travel booking or airline websites and find out about price drops or special offers to take advantage of cheap flights. Similarly, follow airlines’ pages on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter to take advantage of flash sales, discounts and early bird offers to cut your flight costs.

14. Go Secret

This is one of the best-known secrets to ensuring low flight prices. Most aggregator or airline sites follow your search pattern through cookies and IP addresses. So if you check the flight price on a particular website and come back to it after some time, you are likely to get a higher rate. To avoid this, you can use Incognito Mode or delete all cookies after use. In the case of Google Chrome, you can click on the three dots on the right hand corner of the screen, and from the dropdown menu, click on ‘New Incognito Window’ to browse incognito.

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