Finding the best airfare is something we get asked about all the time. You’ve decided that you want to take a vacation, visit family or friends, or are planning a wider travel adventure (maybe you’ve booked one of our tours!) and need to arrange your flights.

This should be simple right?

However, these days there are so many options and companies out there offering different solutions that it can get confusing, especially if you haven’t traveled in a while.

Let’s dive in and talk about your options:

Using the right search tools

Firstly, you’ll want to make sure you’re using the best search tools to find the best airfare for you.

This doesn’t automatically mean the cheapest flights available however. While price is definitely a factor, some cheap airfares are not the deal they seem to be when you look at the type of fare, baggage, layovers and more.

Skyscanner

Our first stop is always Skyscanner. This online tool brings together search results from all sorts of airlines, including ones you’ve probably never heard of before. This is particularly helpful for short flights between different European locations which are serviced by much more local airlines.

You simply enter your starting airport, add your dates and destination and Skyscanner brings up a list of all possible flight combinations. You can also view results by month or search with flexible dates if you aren’t committed to particular dates.

Other online search tools

There are other online sites that offer similar tools, including Kayak, Expedia and Google Flights. We recommend checking options on two search engines before making any decisions to ensure you’ve been able to look at all possible flights and airlines.

You’ll notice we’re talking about searching for flights at this stage, not booking them.

We’ll talk about this in more detail below, but we do not recommend booking your flights through one of these search tools. Sites like Expedia are online travel agencies, meaning any purchase you make is with them, not the airline. If you later need to make changes or cancel your booking, doing so through a third party can be complicated. The airline itself often can’t help you if something goes wrong.

While Skyscanner and Google Flights are not travel agencies, they link out to many third party websites which are. They often have cheaper flight prices but again, cannot provide the same level of customer service as airlines themselves and often are cheaper because you cannot choose a seat, bring luggage or make special requests.

Our advice is to search for flights using these tools, but actually make your booking on the airline website itself.

Deciding on your destination

Unsure where you want to travel altogether? Helpfully, both Skyscanner and Google Flights have a search function that allows you to look at lots of potential destinations if you know your dates but not where you want to go.

This is really useful as it not only gives you ideas of potential travel destinations, but also shows you prices of flying to places you may have discounted as likely being too expensive to travel to.

Skyscanner has an ‘Explore Everywhere’ option which is great. You can put in a country or city to depart from and the dates or month you want to travel and you’ll get a complete list of all flight possibilities. On Google Flights there is an interactive map which shows you the cheapest tickets available for the departure details you input as you move around, zoom in and zoom out.

When using these search tools, remember to be flexible with your departure airport as well if this is possible, as sometimes different routes only run between particular airports.

Flying to and from smaller airports

In Europe in particular, there are many cities which have multiple airports nearby. Some of these serve international routes, others only short and medium haul flights, but it is always worth looking at the options.

For example, Milan in Italy has three airports, Bergamo, Malpensa and Linate. Milan Malpensa is the main airport, with a huge number of international flights landing and taking off, and has excellent transport links to the city center. Linate is closer to the center but is much smaller and offers only internal and European routes. Bergamo airport is sized somewhere in between the other two but is further away from Milan. It’s actually more useful if you are heading further north.

When looking at your flight options, flying to Bergamo may seem cheaper or land at a better time of day. However you should consider the additional transfer costs and time it will take you to arrive at your final destination in your overall calculations.

Comparing prices and finding cheap flights

To find cheap flights and the best flight deals for you, it is essential to look in detail at all the information for each fare.

Make sure to look at the details for any stops, how long layovers may be, what the timings are for departure and arrival, and of course what that cheap plane ticket actually includes. Can you choose a seat, what baggage can you bring, do you get air miles, can you make changes or get a refund if something happens? All of these will hugely impact the flight tickets pricing.

How to find cheap flights

Of course when searching for a cheap airfare you can sort search results by price, but there is more to it than that.

As we’ve talked about already, be flexible with your travel dates and destinations when using flight search engines to compare fares and find the cheapest price that is also the best airfare for what you want to do.

Here are some more tips for finding cheap flights:

Consider the pros and cons of using a budget airline

While some budget airlines offer a cost-effective way of traveling, not all are created equal. It’s always worth doing a quick search of the airline before booking to get a sense of how customers feel about them, especially if you haven’t flown with them before.

Look at what their basic prices tend to include and what you would have to pay extra for. Sometimes the low cost airlines get you hooked with the offer of super cheap tickets but when you’ve finished adding all the extras you haven’t actually been able to save money!

Compare the prices for different days of the week

If you have the ability to be flexible with your dates, check the days around your original choice.

In general, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays are the cheapest days to fly. More people tend to fly on Sundays, Mondays, and Fridays (making the most of vacation days and long weekends), which can drive demand and therefore higher airfare.

You’re also less likely to find cheap flights at popular times of the year. Summer prices for plane tickets to top vacation destinations are naturally higher than in the winter, US getaways around Thanksgiving cost more and so on. In addition, local holidays and events can also drive up prices so if you’re struggling to find reasonable tickets, check if this is the case and adjust your dates if possible.

Look for flight deals and discounts

Airlines often offer limited time specific deals and discounts which can sometimes allow you to get hold of extremely cheap flights.

Once you have an idea of your route and the airlines offering the best prices/routes, sign up to their mailing list or follow them on social media so you can see any offers as they get announced. This isn’t a guaranteed way to get cheap flights but as an example, Aegean Airlines offered a genuine 2 for 1 offer for flights booked on Valentines Day for their routes in and out of Greece – not bad!

Check if it’s cheaper to pay in a foreign currency

Sometimes, booking in a foreign currency can help with finding cheap flights. Check the different currency amounts on the airline’s website and compare the exchange rates to understand if there is a saving to be made.

If you do find that there is a way to save money, make sure to use a credit card that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees.

When to buy flight tickets

There isn’t an exact point when flights will always be at their cheapest, but there is an optimal window. During this time you will get what is most likely the best fares (excluding any special deals or discounts) which is not too far in advance and also not too close to the departure date.

Booking too soon (anything over 10 months before your travel dates) means not all possible flight routes will have been published so you have less to compare against. Plus prices are higher as airlines figure that you aren’t going to wait for cheaper ones at this early stage.

Similarly, last minute flight deals are sometimes available but if they don’t get advertised, you are potentially going to pay a lot more to book a flight as the airline will know if there is limited availability.

We recommend booking your flight around 3 months in advance for domestic flights and around 6 months in advance for international flights.

Set fare alerts to track specific flights

The best way to keep track of your search for flights and the prices over time is to use the fare tracking tool offered by the various online search engines. Once you have an idea of what you want, set as many fare alerts as you want and then you’ll be notified if the fare goes up or down.

There is always a balance here with holding on for a better deal that might never come, so be decisive and act fast if you find a great fare, as it may not last long at all.

Hopefully this guide has given you the confidence and knowledge to get the best airfare possible for your adventures, but if you’re looking for even more advice, check out Sarah’s video where she shows you the different search options on the different websites and shares her own experiences.

Got any more tips to share? Be sure to leave a comment below, we’d love to hear from you!