How to Save on Airfare
Posted by Gudrun Helga Hamar - 22/02/08 at 04:02:17 pmMoney saving tips you may want to keep in mind when planning your next trip.
- Book early.
- Use low cost airlines when available.
- Book direct on the airline website.
- For connected flights, use low-cost airlines if possible.
- Use a charter flight.
- Check alternative travel dates.
- Use dohop.com to cover items 2. – 5. in a couple of seconds.
Book Early. Low-cost airlines sell the cheapest seats first and increase the price as the plane gets fuller and as the departure date approaches. A low-cost airline will rather take off with empty seats than offer last-minute bargains. Legacy carriers may, on the other hand, sometimes sell excess capacity at the last minute. This can be worth checking if you are making last-minute plans and want to go somewhere cheaply.
Low Cost Airlines will usually be cheaper than legacy airlines and low-cost airlines can be a lot cheaper than legacy airlines if your trip does not include a weekend stay.
Book Direct at the Airline Website. Low cost airlines have always focused on selling direct on their own website. They will charge the traveler a fee for booking via phone so book on the website if you can. Legacy carriers offer their flights via travel agents but are increasingly offering the best price on their own website. Dohop.com includes links to more than 660 airlines so you can book directly with them.
For Connected Flights use low cost airlines. Two low cost flights will usually be cheaper than using two legacy flights but low cost airlines do not promote connected flights even if they exist. They leave it to travelers to discover existing low-cost connections.
Dohop.com is able to find connections with low-cost airlines. If a legacy flight is required, you may save by booking it directly at the airline website. Remember that when making your own connections it won’t be possible to check luggage through to final destination.
Use a Charter Flight. It’s worth checking if there exists a charter flight for your trip, they can sometimes be cheaper. You might be able to find a direct charter flight for a route that would otherwise require a connection with scheduled airlines. Dohop.com has recently begun showing charter flights in its flight search.
Check Alternate Travel Dates. Prices differ by travel dates and that can mean big savings for flexible travelers. Often, including a Saturday night in a trip will yield a lower price. On some routes cheap direct flights may exist for some weekdays but for other weekdays expensive connected flights may be required. The Dohop.com fare calendar gives an overview of prices and number of flights for different travel date.
Let Dohop.com do the Work. Dohop is designed to help you quickly find all existing flight options for your trip. It is up to you to book early but Dohop.com can help you find low-cost flights, find links to the airline website, discover natural low-cost connections and charter flights where available!
Some sites claim to be great at finding cheap flights for travelers so we did a comparison test with five of the best to see how dohop.com stacks up. In many cases Dohop found the same or very similar results as “other sites” but because Dohop also includes low-cost airlines and low-cost connections it would sometimes find much cheaper flights than the cheapest “other site”. Here are a few such results.
| Keflavik, IS Nice, FR |
Vilnius, LT Nice, FR |
Warsaw, PL London, UK |
Rome, IT Madrid, ES |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dohop.com | 389 EUR | 294 EUR | 92 EUR | 106 EUR |
| Cheapest Other Site | 775 EUR | 316 EUR | 122 EUR | 190 EUR |
As found on Feb 21st, Return flights on March 3rd – 6th 2008
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Often low-cost carriers have sale fares valid on Tuesdays and Wednesdays only, so if you can fly on those days you can often save big. Dohop’s calendar feature should help travelers check out the price difference.
Comment by Airfare — July 2, 2009 #
Discount and cheap airline tickets,airfare prices and air travel…
Charter Flights 2009 Timetable to Bourgas, from the UK….
Trackback by Discount and cheap airline tickets,airfare prices and air travel — July 20, 2009 #