How to Find Cheap Flights — 12 Tips That Actually Work

There is a lot of folklore about finding cheap flights, and a fair amount of it is nonsense. What follows are twelve things that genuinely move the price, roughly in order of how much difference they make — plus the myths worth ignoring so you stop wasting effort on them.

1. Be Flexible With Dates Before Anything Else

Nothing else comes close. Moving a departure from Friday to Tuesday, or shifting a week either side of a school holiday, regularly halves the fare. Search by month rather than by date and let the calendar show you where the cheap days sit.

2. Travel in Shoulder Season

May, early June, late September and October give you most of the good weather at a fraction of the peak price, with thinner crowds as a bonus. For many European destinations the shoulder season is genuinely the best time to visit, not a compromise.

3. Book Six to Eight Weeks Out

Long enough that the cheap fare buckets are still open, close enough that the airline has started discounting from its opening price. Stretch to two or three months for long-haul and peak season.

4. Fly Midweek

Tuesday and Wednesday departures are the cheapest on almost every route, because leisure demand clusters on Friday and Sunday. Returning midweek compounds the saving.

5. Check Nearby Airports — But Count the Transfer

Secondary airports can be dramatically cheaper. Just be honest about the cost: a €25 coach and ninety minutes each way can wipe out a €40 saving, and arriving at 1am to find no public transport is its own kind of expensive.

6. Compare the Total, Not the Headline Fare

Budget airlines price the seat and sell everything else separately. Add a cabin bag, hold luggage, seat selection and priority boarding and a €19 fare can land at €90. Sometimes it still wins — but only compare like with like.

7. Price One-Ways Separately

Mixing carriers, or flying out with one airline and back with another, frequently beats a single return. This is especially true where a low-cost carrier serves one direction at a better time than the other.

8. Consider One-Stop Routings on Long-Haul

A connection through a big hub is often far cheaper than the nonstop, sometimes by hundreds. If the layover is comfortable and you value the money more than the hours, it is the single biggest saving available on intercontinental trips.

9. Let the Destination Be Flexible Too

If what you actually want is "somewhere warm and cheap in October", picking the destination last rather than first opens the whole map. Fares vary far more between destinations than between airlines to the same destination.

10. Set Up Alerts and Then Be Ready to Move

Price alerts are useful, but only if you can act. A genuinely good fare on a popular route may last hours, not days. Decide your ceiling in advance so you are not deliberating while the fare climbs.

11. Watch for Error Fares and Flash Sales — Carefully

They are real and occasionally spectacular. Book quickly, do not book connecting travel or hotels until the ticket is confirmed and ticketed, and accept that an airline may cancel a genuine mistake fare.

12. Buy From the Airline Once You Have Found the Fare

Use comparison tools to discover the price, then book direct where the difference is small. If a flight is cancelled, delayed or needs changing, dealing with the airline rather than a third party will save you hours and quite possibly money.

Myths You Can Safely Ignore

• Incognito mode and clearing cookies. Airlines do not track you and raise prices. Fares change because seats sell.
• Booking on a Tuesday. True in the 1990s when fares were filed weekly by hand. Modern systems reprice continuously.
• The magic number of days in advance. There is a useful range, not a precise date. Anyone quoting an exact best day to book is selling something.
• Last-minute bargains. Rare on popular routes and getting rarer. Waiting is a gamble that usually loses in peak season.
• Prices always drop on the day of the week you last checked. Coincidence. Fares move constantly in both directions.

The Short Version

Flexibility beats every trick. Search a month rather than a date, favour midweek departures in shoulder season, book six to eight weeks out, compare the total price including bags, and be willing to change airport or destination. Do that and you will pay less than nearly everyone else on the aircraft — without a single browser trick.