FLIGHTS
Here are our best tips on how to find cheap flights for your family holiday. Cheap flights are out there if you know how to find them and with these tips below they will help you get the best deals.
- Book in advance
It's best to try and book your flights in advance, usually 6-8 weeks before your flight. If you are going in high season the earlier the better. Flights do increase the longer you leave it based on demand and booking late you will pay a premium. - Be flexible with dates
Airlines charge more during school holidays as it's when most families can travel. So if you can be flexible with dates and times you fly this can save you money. For example flying on a Monday - Wednesday will be cheaper than Friday or Saturday. It helps if your childs school are flexible with dates too. Use Skyscanners search tool to view the graph for when flights are at their cheapest. - Be flexible with your destinations
Skyscanner has a great feature where you can select your departing airport then choose 'Everywhere' it is then sorted by cheapest. This way you can grab yourself a really cheap flight, especially using the other tips above. - Fly with budget airlines
A lot of budget airlines now offer many long haul routes making it cheap to travel around the world for cheaper. Norwegian Airlines make it possible to fly from Uk TO NYC and between Europe and Bangkok. Another airline that is doing similar is WOW airlines offering flights from London to NYC and from America to Iceland. The budget airlines in Asia are also really cheap in some cases £15 for a one way trip using Air Asia. So always shop around with who you choose to fly with. - Consider a stop over
Sometimes it works out cheaper to get a connecting flight rather than flying direct to your destination. Also it can open up more destinations for you to go. Be sure you check the airport’s website directly to check the proposed schedule leaves enough transfer time. - Search flights as one person
Airlines often show the highest ticket prices when you book or search as a large group. Often searching and booking one person at a time can save you money. So where you can book individually then on checkout book your seat next to each other - Watch out for extras
Make sure that once you have found your cheap flight that there is no hidden extras that get added on at the end such as extra baggage, meal or leg room. You can save money by flying with only hand luggage and taking your food on board from duty free. - Use Skyscanner or similar
Use Skyscanner to search and compare all the airlines for you and find the cheapest flight this way. Once you have found the flights simply click through to the tour operator. It saves you doing all the hard work. - Check where the airport is
Flights may seem cheap but in some instances the airport could be miles away from the city centre. Then you will get charged a fortune to get a taxi to your destination as they know you have to pay it. Always research where the closest ariport is to your desired destination.
AIRFARE
Skyscanner is our first stop for flights deals. It searches all airlines finding all prices on a specific date, month or the whole year. If you are unsure where you want to go just select “everywhere” and it will find the cheapest deals for you.
Google Flights is also another great tool to use for finding flight deals. It lets you search for flights around the world on a map so you can view the cheapest destination, it also suggests different dates for cheaper flights.
If you are looking for multi-centre or around the world trips then Airtreks is the place to go. You can plot your itinerary using their map tool, then they will piece to find the best deals for you using multiple airlines for your whole trip.
Momondo is a great tool as they search all the small booking sites that no one else does, often finding your flights cheaper. They also like Skyscanner offer a calendar view so you can see when the cheapest time to fly is.