How To Secure The Best Deals On Worldwide Flights

Whether you are planning to book flights for a holiday, city-break, general getaway, business or for your nomadic lifestyle, one thing you are likely to want to know is that the price you are paying is the best available.

You want to save your pennies on travel costs so that you have more to spend on the fun things at your destination!

Find The Best Flight Deals!

Luckily, today, with a little know how of the tricks and tools to use, finding the best deals on worldwide flights is very achievable.

Sit back, grab a cuppa and let me tell you how!

In this day and age we have so many airlines, booking agents, price comparisons and other tools to choose between to book flights that it can be overwhelming. Knowing if the price you have found is the best available often seems impossible.

Let me reassure you though - it is not impossible.

There are some great deals on flights available today. With more airlines competing against one another, knock down prices are available to anyone.

It might take a bit of time, flexibility and patience on your part but flying on a budget is simple...

How To Secure The Best Deals On Flights

- Be Flexible

Can you be flexible on your exact travel dates?

Often flight prices can vary significantly depending on the date of travel. Sometimes just a one day difference in flight date can make a significant saving in terms of price you pay to fly.

If you are able to be flexible on your travel dates then ensure you compare prices across more than one set day and time (read on and I will tell you how to do this very simply).

Is it also possible for you to be flexible with the departure or destination airport you choose?

Prices can vary a great deal between flights to and from different airports, within the same city. On a recent trip to San Francisco I found a significant difference in fare between travelling into San Francisco International Airport over Oakland Airport.

People often assume that using smaller airports will results in better fares but this is often not the case, so it is worth comparing between large and small airports at both ends of your journey.

Equally, if you are able, you might find better overall prices for a return trip are achieved by flying in and out of different airports in the same city, even with different airlines.

Overall, the more flexible you can be, the better chance you will have to find the best prices.

- Avoid Travel Agents, Tour Companies & Other Expensive Third Parties

Gone are the days when we were at the mercy of using travel agents or tour companies to book our flights or holidays for us, or of spending hours on the phone ourselves to airlines to get their best prices.

In this internet age, being independent when you make your travel bookings is very simple and will mean that you avoid expensive third party commissions being added to your booking cost.

Using an agent and allowing them to do the groundwork for you to find the best deals might seem an easier and stress free option, but with the right tools (read on!), it is very simple to do this work yourself and save some money at the same time!

- Look Out For Flight Sales, One Day Price Drops And Airline Promotions

As mentioned above, today there are hundreds of airlines worldwide competing against one another to secure our custom.

In order to do this, many hold regular direct flight sales, one day price drops and other big promotional deals.

These price drops are often only available for a limited period of time and so you need to be quick to act when they are on.

If you have an idea of the airline(s) you would like to fly with for an upcoming trip (or trips) then it is worth signing up to the relevant airline(s) promotional emails and newsletters so you get the offer details direct to your inbox as they are announced.

I know none of us like too many promotional emails but you can always unsubscribe once the flights are secured at knock-down price!

- Book Early Or Last Minute?

It used to very much be the case that the earlier you book flights, the cheaper they can be. However, today this is often not the case.

Airlines today will often drop flight prices at the last minute or regularly through promotional deals (see above).

Knowing when to book today is not a simple process. However, there are tools available to observe flight prices over time and so book when they drop (which I will explain more below).

As a side-note, a recent survey did find that browsing online and making a flight booking on a Saturday was likely to provide more expensive results, than going online on a Monday with the same search!

- Use An Online Price Comparison Tool!!

All of the above tips and tricks are to be taken into consideration when finding the best deals on flights, but overall, the best tool at your disposal today that will secure you the cheapest deals is a flight comparison website such as SkyScanner.

Flight comparison tools will do the groundwork for you, are free to use and very simple.

There are multiple tools available on the internet today, but having used a few I can honestly say that I have found SkyScanner the easiest to use, and most importantly the one that has secured better deals over some others (when tested on the same searches).

Other large flight comparison tools available though include Google Flights, Kayak and Momondo.

How To Use SkyScanner For The Best Deals On Flights

Assuming you have either a fixed plan of when and where you want to travel or a rough idea, using SkyScanner will quickly give you a comparison of the very best deals available on the internet for your trip at that point in time.

Skyscanner (and other tools) search hundreds of airlines and booking sites in seconds using your criteria to find you the best options, no matter where in the world you are based or want to travel to.

To find the cheapest flights through Skyscanner, use their simple search tool..

- Select the city or region you would like to fly from (you can be specific here if you are set on one airport, or you can search more widely across cities, or even just enter the country!)....

- Select the destination you would like to fly to (as above).

If you would like to just search for one way travel, with no return you simply click the 'one way' box.

If, however, you are travelling further than one destination, you can enter a search for this by clicking on the 'multi-city' option and adding more legs to your journey.

Search Across A Month For Best Prices

- Now enter the dates you wish to travel.

Here you have the option to search on a specific date or you can search flight prices over an entire month to compare prices on different dates, assuming you have some flexibility with when you travel.

- Search for 'direct flights only', or if you are happy to have stops along the way but achieve a better price then keep this box blank.

Now click 'search flights'.... SkyScanner will instantly search 100s of sites on your behalf.

The results will then be presented to you.

SkyScanner will present your search results in three lists...

- The 'Best' list.

The results here are deemed best in terms of both price and convenience for the traveller. These results are usually reasonably priced, although not the cheapest, but take less time or involve less stops than some of the cheapest deals.

- The 'cheapest' list.

Here are your best prices, although you might find that some of these options take longer and may be indirect. However, if price is important and you are not in a rush on your travels then this is the list for you!

- The 'fastest' list.

As it says, these are your quickest route options (and usually most convenient). These are also 99% of the time going to be the most expensive flights available to you.

If you are happy with one of the results that Skyscanner has found for you and want to book then simply click on the 'select' button for that option and Skyscanner will show you more details about the flight and the online provider offering the best price for it.

You can then click through to the relevant provider's website to book with them directly... Simples!!

What if you do a search but do not feel ready to book?

So, let's say you are at the early stages of planning your trip and just doing some initial research on flights or you want to observe for price changes (drops) on your chosen journey...

If this is the case, another great feature on SkyScanner is the ability to save searches and also set up price change alerts.

Once you have put in your search criteria and run the search you can choose to set it for 'price alert emails' so that if the prices were to drop or rise you will receive a notification direct to your inbox.

This is a very handy way to find the cheapest deal (assuming when the prices do drop you click and book!).

Additional features worth noting with SkyScanner are that for the cheapest options it might give you results that involve booking different legs with more than one provider or which use different airports in the same city on your outward and return trips. This is where being more flexible will often result in lower prices.

For us (the customer) using Skyscanner does not cost a thing and makes life a whole lot easier!

So, there you have lots of information at your disposal to find the best deals on flights for anywhere in the world...

I hope this has been of some use and helps you make some great savings so you can use that money on things that are a bit more fun than flying!

I do find SkyScanner to be a fantastic tool that saves hours of painful labour comparing websites myself, as SkyScanner usually finds better deals than I can without it! As I said, there are other price comparison sites available but I have genuinely found SkyScanner the best and it has saved me big bucks more than once!

*I do have an affiliate link with SkyScanner but would not recommend them unless I had tried them and deemed them worthy of my praise!*

**To make my travels possible and affordable I do so through international house-sitting, using both Trusted Housesitters and Kiwi Housesitters**