You are 5 Steps Away from Hassle-Free Online Air Booking
Booking an airline ticket can be a challenging task if you don’t follow the right methods and strategies. The airfare varies a lot, and we often think that if we buy tickets now, and if the prices drop down, then we could be the person who paid the most for the tickets in the plane.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, more than 40,000 flight fly in the United States each day, and more than 4.3 billion people traveled through flights in the year 2018.
People spend hours and even days to find the perfect price. They compare the prices of multiple online booking sites and wait for the prices to decrease.
But, this strategy to hold off on buying the tickets do not work, and ninety times out of hundred, you lose out. For example, if a one-way ticket to California cost $250. The next day it would be $90, but a few hours later it might become $250 again.
Therefore, you can’t predict what the exact prices of an airline would be. There are several factors which determine the airfares such as booking time before departure, season, any national event, and many more.
Now, let’s discuss the five easy steps for an hassle-free online booking.
Step 1:
The first step is to look on the deal sites such as Holiday Pirates, and others if there any sale going on. You might find a deal or discount coupon which can help you buy the tickets at a very lower price.
Then, visit any online booking site, as an example, I’ll use ITA Matrix tool to search for the flight tickets. It provides a calendar option in which the airfares are listed for the whole month.
It will show you all the cheapest flights possible which will help you to reach your destination.
Step 2:
The next thing you need to do is visit the site Momondo or Skyscanner to see if any budget carrier also flies at that route.
It is advised to check multiple sites as there can be a lower price for the same airline on a different website.
If you love traveling in low budget airplanes, then this is an important step for you as it can help you to save a lot of money.
Step 3:
The next step is to visit Google Flights to check for regional fares. For example, if you are flying to Florida, then check what the airfares of the flights to nearby airports are.
Sometimes, buying tickets of two planes instead of one can save you a lot of money.
For example, once I booked a flight to Dublin, and then went to Paris. Its cost was $250 lower than the direct flight.
If you are flying from New York to Athens, then you would get plenty of options as there are several low-budget carriers in Europe.
Step 4:
After going through all the booking sites, visit the official website of the airline to see if there any discount coupons or deals present. Most of the airlines including the United Airlines booking site lists cheaper price on their site to encourage the users to book directly from them.
You might be wondering, then why we don’t just directly visit the airline’s site without going through the other booking websites. The reason is that they do not always provide the cheapest rate.
Some of the airlines list very high prices on their official site; therefore it’s best to look at all the options available instead of just blindly booking the tickets from them.
Step 5:
Once you have booked the flight tickets, make sure to check back the prices in the next twenty-three hours because you can cancel the flight ticket within one day without any penalty.
Hence, make sure to clear your browser’s cache and cookies before searching the airfares. This is because the booking sites use your cookies to show you the appropriate prices.
If they notice that you are visiting their site frequently, then they might increase the prices, and you don’t want that.
Once you have followed all the steps don’t give a second thought to it, even the prices drop after three weeks. You can’t foresee the future nor predict when the sale will come.
All you need to do is make the best decision by checking all the data and information at the time of booking the airline tickets.
Maybe your airfare drops by $100 or a sale begin the next day; it’s not worth thinking and worrying about.
You can never book a flight ticket if you consider all the what if’s, as your time is worth more than anything.
Tips for booking cheap flight tickets:
If you are a travel enthusiast, then know about the best tips which will help you to book the cheapest flight tickets:
- Be flexible with dates
There might be some websites or agents who claim that booking tickets on a certain day would save you a lot of money. However, that’s not always the case.
We would advise you to check the prices for the entire month. It will give you a clearer picture of the days that have low-budget airlines.
2. Follow the airlines on social media
Nowadays, most of the top brands and companies have social media pages; airline companies also have their own pages. Check them regularly to get any discount coupons or deals.
If you subscribe to their notifications, then you will get all the updates from the airlines. Sometimes, the last minute tickets are priced extremely low which they share on their social platforms. It can help you to save a lot of money.
3. Use incognito mode while booking tickets
The more you visit an online booking site, the higher the prices they show. This is due to the cookies installed in your web browser. The site’s show you higher prices so that you will book the tickets sooner fearing that it might increase further.
If you use incognito mode, then your previous searches or browsing history is not stored; therefore you would not see any raised airfares.
4. Make payment in a cheaper currency
Most of the traveler use this technique to get cheaper airfares. If you are traveling in a country which has a cheaper currency, then the total fare would be very less.
In this way, you can save a lot of money.
5. Use the flight points
If you fly a particular airline regularly, then the companies provide air miles points. It is calculated by determining how many miles did you travel with the airline.
Collect as many points as possible and then redeem them to get free tickets for your favorite destination.
6. Book non-refundable tickets
If you want to book an online air ticket, then go for the non-refundable ones because they are cheaper than the refundable tickets.
Also, book round trip tickets if you want to save some more money.
Final Words
Booking an online air ticket is an easy task if you follow the right methodologies. However, you should also not spend too much time in booking a flight.
Just do your research, and book the most suitable flight to your destination, and never second-guess.
You might want to wait a little longer hoping the prices drop down, but take the right decision quickly with all the information present at the time of booking the airline tickets.