Have you heard your mate Gary bragging about his holiday flights that sounds so incredibly cheap you think he may be pulling your leg?
Sometimes it’s luck but there are a few tricks to always find the cheapest flights so you can be gallivanting around the world too before you can say ‘yeah righto, mate’.
I recently found flights to Europe from Perth, Australia for just over $300 AUD which is where I filmed this video. Watch for the full rundown of the websites and tips for finding the cheapest flights or keep reading below for more information.
How to use Skyscanner to find cheap flights
Get ready to strap yourself in. Finding the cheapest flights on Skyscanner will require you to have a few tabs open so you can cross-check back and forth. I prefer to do this on my computer but you can do most of the functions on your phone too.
How does a stopover to a bonus destination that will actually save you money sound? That sounds like a free holiday to me!
Last month I used these tricks to find a cheap flight to Athens, Greece with Scoot Airlines and then booked a separate flight to my final destination in the south of France – and even including the accomodation and food in the four-day stopover in Greece, it worked out cheaper than flying direct!
If you have a smidge of flexibility in your dates or route, you’ll snap up the best deals.
Fly ‘Everywhere’ on Skyscanner
This little button is a game-changer. After typing in your departure city in the ‘From’ box, click the ‘To’ box but instead of typing in a city, a drop down box pops up saying ‘Can’t decide where? Click here to search Everywhere’.
This will automatically search for cheap flights to all different countries to find you amazing deals. I always use this function when flying long haul to another continent which would usually be quite expensive.
This shows the cheapest countries you can fly to on the selected date period, so it can be handy to scout for the cheapest country to start your Europe trip. Once you’re in the general area, you can usually find really cheap connecting flights, trains or buses to your final destination.
Cheapest month or Whole month
If you haven’t booked your annual leave yet and have a fair bit of freedom around what time of year to go, ‘Cheapest month’ will show you the best flights of the whole year ahead.
I usually use ‘Whole month’ as I have an idea of when I need to travel due to invitations, work opportunities and visa lengths. This will bring up a calendar displaying the cheapest price for every day that month. If you click the little ‘Chart’ button at the top, it goes from a regular calendar display to a horizontal timeline with graphic bars so it’s an easy visual to see the best days to fly.
Things to remember when booking budget flights
- When booking multiple flights to get to your destination, remember the little ‘+1’ or ‘+2’ at the top of the flight times, indicates if you arrive the next day or two days later factoring in the flight times and stopovers.
- ‘Self transfer’ means you need to collect your baggage and then re-check in like it’s a new flight. You need to go through immigration and customs to do this so you’ll need a transit visa, so check if the transit country requires the visa to be organised in advance or if a stamp on arrival is fine.
- A trick to avoid the self-transfer hassle is to take carry-on luggage only and check in to all your connecting flights online before you leave home. That way you just need to go to the transfer desk which is usually in the gates area to get your boarding pass and you can walk straight to your next gate without going back out through all the queues, customs, immigration, etc.
- Check if the flight is full service or a budget carrier and what food and luggage options they have. I booked my last budget trip to Europe with Scoot and decided to save money on purchasing food by taking muesli bars and just sleeping most of the long haul flight.
- If you know you’re going to want to eat or check in a suitcase, pre-book the food and luggage when you purchase your ticket as it’s usually cheaper at the time of booking than adding it later.
Cross-check your flight deal with other sites
I always cross-check the flights with the airline carrier website and Expedia just to make sure I’m getting the best price. So far, Skyscanner has always come up the cheapest or equal. If it comes up equal price on Expedia, I usually book it on there to cash in on the loyalty points. (If you want to know more about hacking the points system to get free flights, check out this video and article.)
Flying isn’t always best – check Rome2Rio
If you’re getting a cheap flight into a continent or nearby country and plan to get a separate flight to your final destination, just think outside the box first.
Not only are trains and buses more environmentally friendly, they are a really cheap way of getting around once you’re on that land mass.
My favourite travel app for checking all modes of transport is Rome2Rio. This is a good way to check connecting areas. And the best thing about trains and buses is they usually drop you in the centre of the city, while airports are further out so require an extra leg of transport to get to your accomodation.
Rome2Rio won’t always show the best options for really long haul and complicated routes, so it’s worth breaking your route up and checking smaller legs. So if you want to do a big cross-country trip, check sections between towns along the way instead of all the way from east to west will usually find the local transport routes for you.
Sign up to I Know The Pilot
This website is incredible. Sign up with your email address to the I Know The Pilot mailing list and thank me later. They constantly scan every airline across the world for insanely cheap flight sales. So instead of having junk mail from many different airlines, these guys send you one email a day with the top deals across all airlines. It’s the only email I check daily because they find the craziest sales that sell out quickly because they’re that good.
See the world
I hope these tips come in handy for you to snap up some ripper deals. Flick me a comment on social media to let me know if any of this information has helped you get a cheap flight deal and let me know if there’s any other sites, apps, tips or hacks that you know about.
None of these links are affiliate links or sponsored, I’m just sharing advice I think is truly valuable. Please show your appreciation by subscribing to my YouTube channel where I post vlogs from around the world or follow me on Instagram for more travel pics.
Peace x
