In the last 18 months I have taken more than 200 flights. Prices are coming down, so here are my tips for saving money on tickets
Finally, airfare prices are coming down, obviously for us passengers and not for the pockets of shareholders of the [...]
Airline ticket prices are finally coming down, obviously for us passengers and not for the pockets of airline shareholders. After the dark covid, mitigated by cargo and the desire of 3/4 of the world to return to travel between mid-2022 and all of 2023, the price curves are returning to normal.
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2022 has been the summer of airmageddon, that of chaos at airports and the slow return to normalcy. Last summer, on the other hand, was one of crazy prices, of planes filled to capacity and stellar airline budgets at the expense of passengers.
Not a day goes by that I don't receive an email, message, or carrier pigeon in which I am asked The magic formula for saving money on tickets, I'll say it right now there is no trick just a little bit of strategy.
The whatsapp channel of The Flight Club
The whatsapp channel of The Flight Club, with nearly 20 thousand members is a continuous source of offers and promotions. Through a message we send discount codes, special offers and, when it happens, even error fare And rock-bottom rates of vol and hotels To all over the world and not just business class. Membership is free of charge and the advice is to turn on the little bell otherwise you don't get the notifications and miss the opportunities.
VPN is for protecting one's data, not for saving money on the ticket
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Just as there is no need to dress well and look like a businesswoman or a manager in careers to get an upgrade, there is no scientific evidence that strategies such as the use of VPNs work. Even now so many carriers at the time of payment recognize the nationality of the credit card and send the purchase directly back to the Italian site, resetting the identified tariff to zero.
Using a VPN is definitely a good and right thing, but in my life I have never found a rate through VPN at a lower price than that without masking my address. Sometimes I have taken special rates and designed for a specific market, but not because I was surfing from Pietra Ligure with a VPN that geolocated me to a hammock in Bali.
Flexibility is the watchword
My main advice is to be flexible with the start/finish point. Of course I understand it's nice to leave for the Maldives from Lamezia Terme, but that doesn't always mean saving money.
The same applies to the final destination. Flying direct to Bali can cost many more euros or points than flying to Jakarta. Choose to fly to Washington, DC, instead of New York equally.
Airports where airline tickets cost the least
In Italy, the airport where I most often found affordable fares was Bologna. The reason is that so many companies with wide-body planes fly here especially for cargo hold transport, and this makes departure from BLQ convenient.
The same is true for Europe. Airports where attractive fares jump out are: Barcelona, Sofia, Budapest, Oslo and Stockholm are airports where from Italy you can go with just a few euros and from where you can depart spending hundreds of euros less than at the same destination but departing from Italy.
You have the "obligatory" vacations to save money on tickets book ASAP
Of course there are those who have mandatory vacations and can/will leave are on specific dates. In this case. my advice is to book now, but if you feel like betting instead, it is also possible to wait for last minute.
Booking well in advance, for example I have flights already fixed until May 2025, opens up interesting scenarios. Airlines often modify operations, change flight schedules, open or cancel routes for a wide variety of reasons. In this case, the traveler can take advantage of the possibility of being rescheduled, while also improving the type of booking. I have often been in this situation, and every time I have gained from it in terms of dates, times, and other small conveniences.
Best day, time and device to save on airfare
Just as I do not believe in the legend of VPN, I definitely don't think the best day to book is Wednesday morning on the Tanzanian time zone and with an outdated device to fool the AI that handles ticket pricing.
I only use google Flights (AKA Google Flights) To search, not to book because then you are sent back to the site where you complete the reservation. My recommendations are:
- Put multiple departure airports and destinations. Doing so shows the various fares
- Take advantage of price change alerts and check the price history on that same route to see whether or not it is, or is not, affordable the price that pops up
Two one-way tickets are sometimes better than one round trip
I am not talking about skiplagging strategies., but of a trend that increasingly equalizes the cost of tickets by eliminating the difference between round-trip and one-way tickets. Of course there are drawbacks since in the event of a change to one PNR, there is no synchronicity with the second, but if the savings are that much it is a risk worth taking.
If you book with points, savings are often achieved by mixing companies. One-way premium bigleitti cost (almost) never more than a/r and allow you to build a perfect itinerary.
Taking advantage of loyalty programs and points
Even if you don't have a lot of points you can Take advantage of various airline loyalty programs. There are often dedicated discounts for members, welcome promotions, and discount codes for anniversaries and birthdays. Membership is free, and even if you don't then accumulate on that specific card, it can be convenient to take advantage of these promotions.
If you have expiring points that cannot be "saved" then the cash-and-miles option offered by virtually all carriers is a very clever way of using them to bring down the final cost of the ticket.
Making upgrades to save money on business ticket
With many companies, a winning strategy is to Book a ticket in a cheaper class and then upgrade And travel in a higher one. There are many offers to upgrade. There are companies that do auctions, others that send proposals via email. It can be done before or after checking in on the app, it can be requested at check-in counters, at the gate and even on board.
For example, Lufthansa and British actually make announcements at the gates to "sell" free seats in the best cabins.
The real last minute is back
Last-minute savings are back, sure last summer it was given up for good, but numbers in hand today you can still move into the height of the season at little cost.
Even with points you can fly to the US or Asia at the lowest fares such as 50k FB points to fly in business from Italy to the US with Air France or KLM. The same I I just picked up a ticket to fly, in economy, from Dubai to Nice with Emirates the week of August bank holiday at 17,500 Skywards points and just over 100 euros in fees.
