The purchase of air tickets is, on the one hand, a simple task, since there are a lot of offers on this market now, and, on the other hand, it is difficult. Its complexity depends both on priorities and on the desire not to lose money in price. In solving these issues, not only personal experience of "trial and error" will play a positive role, but also the advice of experienced travelers. To do this, you first need to collect the same experience, analyze, choose the best option, and go ahead ... for the purchase. We have prepared an excellent life hack for you - how you can find and buy cheap flights.
If you want to book an air ticket without payment, then all the recommendations are in our article.
We use the capabilities of search engines
The so-called aggregators or search engines of air tickets are a well-known method of selecting offers for the sale of tickets. In a given direction, they automatically collect and analyze airline offers, eventually displaying the best agency offers on the screen.
According to the rating of performance in search, the services buruki, aviasales and skyscanner have already proven themselves well for a long time. They give a positive result of about 80%. But their possibilities can be increased. First, you need to check your query on all three search engines: even among them, the difference in cost can be up to 5-7%.
Additional features of aggregators
Advanced search
For those who are not puzzled by a specific place of their travel, but are ready to head to where the flight will be cheaper, skyscanner aggregator will easily help determine this choice. In addition to specific queries (cities, airports), you can also set advanced positions here:
- "From" window. Enter the name of the country without specification ("Vietnam", "Croatia"). Additionally, check the "add airports nearby" section.
- Where to window. Allows you to leave the field blank, empty, or enter a bookmark “everywhere”. In this case, proposals are formed for all countries.
- "There" and "Back" windows. You can set a period from a month to a year.
Low Price Offer Calendar
The most popular search engine for tickets for air travel, aviasales, offers a convenient form of selection using the additional function "low price offers calendar". What bonuses can be obtained from this function:
- you can enter both specific dates of the flight, and a period of up to several months
- in the request, you enter the duration of the trip, its duration
- the search engine works both for a specific city and for countries
- in the "destination" window, you can mark the search for all countries at once
- filters in the selection exclude unnecessary information
- there is a function for comparing different flights
- there is bonus information in many directions - a calendar of events in the city
Registration of mailing information on price reduction and mobile applications
The aviasales search engine offers to exclude your daily views of air carrier offers and subscribe to the newsletter for the route you are interested in. The latest news on price changes will be sent to your mail.
How to buy a ticket for air sales: instructions, tips on our website.
Debugged and convenient mobile applications are offered to install the aviasales service. They are available for both Android and iPhone. According to service statistics in Russia, every 8th iPhone uses a search engine application.
Using a complex (combined) route
Buruki, OneTwoTrip and aviasales offer the opportunity to create a combined (difficult) route. In addition to simple routes, the systems offer flight planning from one or more connecting flights.
The route consists of several segments: “Moscow - Bangkok; Bangkok - Kuala Lumpur; Kuala Lumpur - Moscow ".
All the most up-to-date information on connecting and connecting flights in our article.
Route - "fork" / open-jaw /: "St. Petersburg - Milan; Rome - St. Petersburg "or" St. Petersburg - Milan; Milan - Moscow ". These are the so-called open flights, when the points of arrival and subsequent departure do not coincide, or the initial and final destinations differ.
Route with stopover option. This is a flight pattern when connecting flights are scheduled with a time gap of more than a day.
Buying air tickets for holidays
The buruki system offers a convenient search function for flights on holidays and holidays. There is a special tab for flights for the holidays. Input data can be sorted in any direction.
How to buy a charter ticket: the best ways in our life hack.
Best Deals Cards
The online service "map of the best offers" is offered by the aviasales system. It makes it possible to set narrower search boundaries for the search:
- "date" window: the exact date of the flight, for holidays or weekends, a period for a month or even for a season
- the ability to search for direct flights only
- sorting by visa regime: visa-free countries, Schengen countries, individual visa countries
- large range of residence times and the gap between arrival and departure times
- in the search parameters you can set the budget for the flight
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We follow the promotions of air carriers
You need to learn to understand which ticket price should be considered normal, and at which the promotional discount will be taken into account. This knowledge will require you to do an initial study of the airline ticket market. Analyze the cost of the flight for the destination of your interest in different seasons with several airlines. You will begin to understand the real price of air tickets in this direction.
Then select the priorities among the carriers. You can search for information on the reasons for the price difference of several airlines. Only after that you can start following the promotional offers in the areas you need. The second option is to use the services of intermediaries engaged in market analysis. But in this case, it will be necessary to carry out preliminary analytical work on the websites of intermediaries.
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The right moment to buy
The air ticket market is always volatile, i.e. changeable. The low cost of the ticket is a bonus. If you find an attractive offer, do not hesitate - buy a ticket. Considering the periods of the best deals on prices, it will be easier for you to make a purchase:
- Long-term perspective - ticket 12 months before departure
- Moderate outlook - 3 months before departure
- Last minute deals - less than a week before departure (the most risky option, but offers can be very "tasty")
Departure from a neighboring city
Always look through offers of flights not only from your own city, but from neighboring ones, which you will not find difficult to reach. So, for example, residents of St. Petersburg can view ticket options from Moscow, Riga or Helsinki. Even Muscovites, despite the fact that most of the shares are addressed to the capital, can consider proposals for St. Petersburg.
Low-cost airlines
In a few words, a low-cost airline is a limitation in the range of passenger services. The concept first appeared at American airlines, then spread to European ones, and today it is also present in the Russian air transportation market. What opportunities are open to us?
We travel by connecting flights from European cities located near Russia: Helsinki, Lappeenranta, Riga, Tallinn, etc. From the airports of these cities you can fly to different cities in Europe, as well as to Israel, African countries, the Pacific Islands, etc. At the same time, the prices for flights within Europe can be simply ridiculous - 10 € - 30 €.
Discount airlines (low-cost) have routes to Russia.Wizz Air offers flights to Budapest and EasyJet to London. Focusing on the prices of low-cost airlines, we draw up complex connecting routes. There are times when planning one route, you will have the opportunity to diversify your trip with additional cities. If you reduce the amount of baggage (it is paid separately for most air carriers), then significantly reduce the cost of the flight.
The list of low-cost airlines flying from Moscow to Europe is in our article.
Choosing a carrier company
The marketing opportunities for attracting and retaining customers are very broad today. Many airlines offer good discounts to their regular customers. There is a well-established system of accumulative points that allows you to reduce the price of subsequent ticket purchases and airline club memberships. There are many options, the choice is yours.
Tricks of buying cheap airline tickets from the pros
Inventing a baby
What tricks people do not go to in the hope of saving on the purchase price. This also applies to air tickets. For example, children under 2 years old do not need to pay for a ticket. One has only to add a baby passenger to your position, a discount is automatically offered, sometimes even very noticeable. It is clear that you will arrive for landing without a child, citing a change in plans or illness. This trick does not work in all cases. It all depends on the seller-agent. But on the aviasales service it is quite possible to sell Transaero flights.
How to manage not to pay “for comfort” or indirect deception
It's no secret that direct flights are always more expensive. Of course, you pay for the convenience. Look for workarounds. What is required for this? A little information about hubs (base airports of carriers) and non-standard train of thought.
Let's say you need to fly to Tallinn. First, let's see the prices of direct flights. Then we will find a carrier whose hub will be Tallinn Airport. This will be Estonian Air. Next, we look at direct flights and determine the best offer of this company. In today's example, it is 5450 rubles. It should be noted that for short distances this carrier has a minimum ticket price. Therefore, we come up with a point of arrival, for example, Oslo, not Tallinn. Now let's compare the Estonian Air prices for a flight to Oslo. And now it is a miracle! A ticket to Oslo is cheaper, only 4000 rubles. The transfer of this flight will be in Tallinn, and you need to go there. Pick up your luggage in the capital of Estonia and leave the airport. Saving? Almost 30%.
What information is required:
- Which airlines fly in the right direction
- Define hubs (base airports)
- Cheap flight destinations from the city of your choice
It is important to know: check in your baggage not to the destination indicated on the ticket, but to the point where you are going to leave the flight (there can be any reason - you are bringing a gift to your friend, handing over the parcel). In the event that one of the segments is skipped in your “chain” of connections, the further ticket will be canceled.
Wrong tariff
Remember, any system can fail. And if you suddenly see a ticket with a "charming" cost, take it right away. The wrong tariff is the one that was not noticed for the time being. Of course, the airline can cancel the ticket sold at an incredibly low price, but, as a rule, they rarely admit their "glitches". And in this case, you will catch luck by the tail. The worst option for you is a penny refund.
Interesting articles:
- How to check in for a plane
- What to do if your flight is canceled
- How to return a plane ticket
- What can be carried in carry-on baggage
- How to recover your boarding pass
- What to do if you missed your plane
- How to buy a Skyscanner ticket
Use of vouchers
Many flight reservation services also offer a discount voucher. Realizing that no company will operate at a loss, one must learn how to use such a service.
Find flights that cost less than 10 € (low-cost airlines).
The use of a voucher is relevant only for tickets purchased for two passengers or in round-trip directions (the total cost of tickets does not exceed 20 €). The higher denomination accumulation voucher (35 € -50 €) also offers great opportunities. Explore and use all possible options for accumulating bonus points.
Enjoy your budget flights!
