Take it straight from the mouth of a flight attendant — if you take the time to apply some flight-booking secrets you can definitely stretch your airfare budget and travel further, for cheaper and perhaps even more comfortably. It all begins with approaching your flight-bookings as a bundled travelling excursion such as perhaps extending your flight booking to incorporate a booking at airport hotels which are in the vicinity of your stopover maybe, a good example of which is asking your airline to recommend some Stansted airport hotels if that’s where your next flight is going to be stopping over for a while.
So that is indeed one way of making sure you get more bang for your buck when booking flights, by simply inquiring about any affiliated deals, extensions or recommendations which are often available as the travel and tourism industry’s reaction to what the market wants. In the same way that you can get packaged deals for accommodation, dining and transport around a specific event such as a sports tournament, you can get packaged deals or very similar deals for any destination you’re travelling to or for any travel route which forms part of your itinerary.
So here goes…
Befriend someone who works for an airline
Sorry, my quota of those types of friends is already filled, so we can still be friends, but not for the travel discounts you’d enjoy if you befriended someone who works for an airline, provided they listed you as a beneficiary of course. So how this works is normally if an employee of an airline has worked for the airline for a period of two years or more, they get mega discounts on flights and sometimes even get free flights. They can also list family members, friends and companions to receive similar benefits, some of which benefits even match the ones they get themselves, so you could find yourself flying for free if listed as a beneficiary.
Every indication is that every single airline employee is eligible for these perks, but they like to be on the hush about it, so you might have to grill it out of your airline-employee friend to get on the free or discounted flights list.
Book really early or book really late
There’s a paradox for you, right? Not exactly…If you book your flight well in advance you’ll notice that it’s much cheaper than the same flight booked within a time considered to be much more ‘reasonable’ as the trip approaches, so too if you book very late like one to three nights before the departure, better yet — in the early hours of the morning.
Late bookings are usually cheaper because they’re considered extra seats which are normally left over from cancellations and the likes, while the early bookings are particularly loved by the airlines because they allow them ample time to plan for details such as which aircraft to use in terms of the size, etc.
Also, if an airline booking platform gives you an option such as a ‘saver-plus’ or ‘instant upgrade’ ticket, go for that one because it’ll either save you lots of money on the regular price of a ticket or it’ll land you a seat in business class if there’s some space left over.