Hitting that sweet spot between economic and exotic destinations is what every avid travel enthusiast yearns to achieve, as a seasoned expert in hotel and flight bookings. Factors such as weather, tourist season, national and international holidays all pay a significant role in confirming your bookings, and if not planned well, the trip could burn a bigger hole in your pocket than what you bargained for.
To help you get the best deals on bookings and more, here is a guide on how to make the best use of resources and still manage a luxurious trip, without compromising on your travels!
1. Pay attention to your browser history and fly budget carriers!
Some airline websites gather data about your web browsing habits and refreshing your browser can make ticket prices rise based on increased demand. This is why clearing your cache and deleting cookies can give you better and cheaper results on flights.
It also helps if you opt for budget carriers online – you can get a fair idea of airlines that are available by visiting the destination airport’s website. Gone are the days where flying across continents meant spending extravagantly for your airfares. Most Indian budget airlines fly across the world, that too at very competitive prices.
2. Flexible dates and layover flights are your best friends
This has been emphasized since time immemorial, but passengers still make the hasty mistake of booking flights close to weekends, public holidays, and during periods of summer vacations when school is out. Always try to plan your trip in a way that you get to visit destinations and travel off-season, and preferably weekdays, since airlines have a tendency to hike their fares, even minimally, during weekends.
Plus, if you aren’t scrambling for time and you can afford to dally a while, try your best to opt for flights that have layovers in different cities rather than pick a direct flight to your destination. They will always be cheaper.
3. Sign up for loyalty programmes and accumulate those points!
If you are a frequent traveller, pull out your credit card and have a look at your air miles and reward points accumulated against your previous bookings and redeem the same on your next trip. You may not be eligible for a free flight, but there can be an upgrade on your booking that you will otherwise miss out on. Certain air miles can also be used for hotel bookings.
If you haven’t bookmarked Living Social and Groupon already, get right to it, as they provide great deals for travellers who are looking for major discounts on various bookings.
4. Set flight and hotel alerts and even call up establishments!
Don’t hesitate to call up hotels and go the traditional route of enquiring about the available deals and discounts they can offer you. Most people don’t take the extra effort to converse directly with the concerned party, but you may be surprised to find out about seasonal/festival offers if you just take the initiative.
Stay on top of flight fare changes by signing up on CheapAir.com, Airfare Watchdog, Orbitz, Kayak, or Yapta to get instantly notified when there’s a dip in flight prices so that you can act fast and save good bucks on your bookings.
5. Be thorough and precise with your search options
In order to maximise your options, ensure that you go through as many flight websites to grab the best deal that you can find. While major airlines are easily accessible on the internet, you have to dig a little deeper for the economic and budget airlines that vary in prices for the best deals. Make Momondo your first step to bookings as it searches most budget airlines, including non-English websites, and have the best prices over 90% of the time.
Remember: When you buy several tickets at one go, airlines quote the highest price for the whole group of tickets. By searching for tickets as a single person, you can avail cheaper rates and during the check-in process, you can pick seats so that you and your family members can sit together.
Pro tip: Go for search engines that are not affiliated with airlines or earn through bookings, but rely on revenue through advertising.
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