How to find the best holiday deals

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Cheap Flights - Tips:

  • Mid week flights tend to have the cheapest airfares.
  • Airline tickets on less popular early morning/late night flights will often cost you less.
  • Airport choice - you may find that it pays to choose a flight from/to a neighbouring airport.
  • Usually the later you book the more expensive the ticket. However, if you are flexible on where and when you travel, late booking bargains are possible, particularly from Package Holiday and Charter-flight companies.

Use the following types of site to search for cheap flights:

1. Flight price comparison web-sites (aggregators):

The best search and compare airfares from over 600 airlines plus major travel web sites. Neither the comparison sites nor the airlines charge you for this service.

The comparison sites below have all been recommended by the travel media. We believe the first two provide the best features to help you find cheap flights; and we have affiliated with them. You can search both these flight price comparison sites from this page.

Skyscanner

has received numerous recommendations. It compares prices from over 600 airlines and major sites including Expedia and Edreams, & Lastminute.

Skyscanner wins on flexibility: You can select a whole month, or year, and sometimes a country (not just a specific town or airport) to get an indication of prices before carrying out a more detailed search.

It does not cover the same range of budget airlines as Flights.Via.Us.Com .

Flights.Via.Us.Com

Dohop has been recommended by CNN and the Times, but is not as well known as its competitors. We've included its search engine on our own site Flights.Via.Us.Com (and also added Skyscanner's search form, so you can search both our favourites from one page).

It may be beaten on price by other flight comparison sites for many routes; BUT it has the potential to make you BIG savings. Occasionally, I have seen prices half that of other comparison sites (because of its ability to identify connecting flights, and its range of budget airlines). It is always worth checking.

Pros:

  • searches 660 airlines and operators like Vayama and Opodo;
  • 100 low cost budget airlines worldwide. Many not listed on other comparison sites because they don't pay commission. The one noteable omission is Southwest who have not allowed their prices to be listed.
  • identifies connecting flights missed by other comparison sites.
  • good for single tickets and building your own multi leg journey.

Cons:

  • may not include as many Travel Company sites?
  • you have to search using specific dates.
  • the "advanced" filter options take a bit of working out.

Kayak.com

Good reputation, popular in the US.

You can restrict your search to Business, or First Class.

The site's information pages do not reveal how many airlines are searched.

If you want to search with flexible dates you have to register with your email address.

Momondo.com

Top for breadth - compare flight prices from 700 companies (including Southwest).

Not as flexible as Skyscanner.

Does not seem to have the same ability as our joint favourite to identify separate airlines to get you to your destination cheaply (as I discovered when answering a question about flights from Scotland to Iceland).

travelsupermarket.com

you can restrict your search to Premium Economy, Business, or First Class.

cheapflights.com / co.uk

lists the cheapest flights for parts of year by season (for specific dates it points to its sister site: www.zugu.co.uk). I found the site confusing and prices quoted did not reflect the actual price on click through to the "airline" site. However, I have friends who really rate this site.

Flightnetwork.com -Specializing in Cheap Flights

Transatlantic and other flights from the US and Canada. Not a true comparison site but a major Canadian Travel agent (you buy through them). Its flight search includes its own negotiated bulk deals; and Airtransat and Icelandair that are ignored by some comparison sites. We suggest you use a comparison websites as well. We've listed it mainly for our US and Canadian readers (it is not a UK ABTA travel agent).

Sites that compare airfare prices may indicate that a journey at a particular price requires more than one ticket. In these circumstances, if one of your flights is late causing you to miss the next, you may not be entitled to a refund for the missed flight. If your flight tickets are with the same airline - you might be be provided with a replacement flight as a goodwill gesture. Always ensure there is a reasonable "wait time" between connecting flights, otherwise that cheap flight could prove very expensive.


2. Charter Flight web-sites:

Sell surplus seats on charter flights and may have deals not offered elsewhere e.g. empty seats on a package holiday flight. They may offer scheduled flights as well.

UK based links
My favourite is charterflights.co.uk. They state that as well as being agents for all major tour operators and airlines, they also deal with smaller independent companies enabling them to often offer seats when high street travel agencies are claiming flights are full. All flights listed are direct.

Pros: Flexibility: You can specify a start date with an option of up to +/- 98 days, and for many destinations you do not have to specify city/airports e.g. UK - Cuba will do. You can telephone them - I've used them for a cheap flight and found them very helpful.
Cons: You have to click "Book Online" to see the final price with supplements.


charterflights.co.uk | avro.co.uk | flightsdirect.com


3. Holiday Tour Operators/Travel Agents:

Do not rule out package tour companies, a popular destination or late booking may be cheaper than flight only. Some of these companies also offer cheap flight tickets to fill up their chartered planes. In 2006 I booked a "last minute" return flight to Cuba (with a nights all inclusive thrown in) from First Choice for £201.

UK based links only
Co-operative Travel Last Minute Deals (UK's largest travel provider)
Thomas Cook Last Minute Holidays
Last-minute-deals from Firstchoice
Late deals from Thomson
Cosmos/Monarch scroll down and look for holiday deals (see flights as well)
Jet2 Holidays sister site to budget airline - seems to have some good late deals
Olympic Holidays late package and all inclusive deals
Lowcostholidays.com late deals on front page
Travelsphere offers all types of vacation: from single resort holidays through tours by coach, rail, sea and air with destinations ranging from Europe to Antartica.


4. Budget Airlines:

Many budget airlines don't pay commission, and some restrict access to their data (e.g. Southwest & Ryanair) and may not be listed by price comparison sites.

One notable exception is Dhop which lists prices from 100 budget airlines, whether or not commission is paid (it actually pays RyanAir for the privilege of listing its flights!). This one of the reasons we've incorporated their search engine on our sister site Flights.via.us.com

Also worthy of note is Momondo which appears to be the only major aggregator to be able to list fares for Southwest Airlines.

wikipedia - low cost airlines list of budget airlines worldwide

Canadian Affair (flights to Canada) owned by Airtransat, some comparison sites above may not list its fares.

Some price comparison search engines may not list Southwest/Easyjet/RyanAir flights:
Southwest | easyjet.com | ryanair.com


Open jaw and multi-leg trips:

Are occasionally cheaper than a direct return flight and make for a more enjoyable holiday. In 2006 I did a flight search and found the lowest price flight to New York for a range of dates dates involved an hour stop off at Reykjavik airport. On linking through to Iceland Air's own website and by playing round with dates I found that it was even cheaper to have a 3 day stop over in Iceland (return price £263). Although you can now specify multi-legs on many flight search engines, I find many of them confusing and am not confident that they arrive at the best deal, and would check with the airlines serving those routes. If your trip is particularly complicated I would recommend using a specialist travel agent. Bear in mind that if you miss a flight you will not get a ticket refund when your failure to check in was due to your delay on earlier flight with a different airline.

"Round the World Tickets"

A round the world "ticket" can be fantastic value if you like to plan and then stick to it ridgidly. If you like to move when the fancy takes you, or change your plans to go to some location or event you hear about whilst travelling, then a round the world "ticket" is probably unsuitable.

The main drawback is you have to specify all destinations and flight dates before you set off on your travels. If you change a destination it can cost you anywhere between £75 and £250, and if you miss a flight you will then have to make your own arrangements, possibly at great expense, to get to your next departure point on time to avoid wasting more of your ticket.

There are a variety of tickets offered by different combines of airlines. The tickets vary in available destinations, number of legs options, rules etc; a quick very search (2 June 2010) indicates the cheapest start at around £700. Personally I'd want to discuss my ticket and plans face to face with a local specialist travel agent who can organise your vias with you, provide information what parts of your trip are best to do overland, and make useful suggestions that might make me alter my plans.

For more information see this Wikipedia entry.


Save money as a Courier?

Acting as a courier may be suitable for you if you can travel light and at short notice. Despite falling into this category, when I looked at the courier option a few years ago I ruled it out. Don't assume you will travel for free, the norm is to get some discount off the cost of a flight, and some companies charge you to register. For more information see The Decline of Courier Flights.


General flight, airline, and airport information

For general information such as airline quality/ratings, WIFI directory for airports etc. see our links page.


Rail:

This section has been moved to its own worldwide rail travel page.


Car

Car Hire

This "where to hire" section has been expanded and moved to its own page and expanded to include information on pitfalls - what to do before booking, on collection and on return.
Skip that information and take me straight to the pages Booking and Price Comparison links.


Ferries, Cruises, Freighters and travel for free as Yacht crew:

Travel by Freighter:

I looked at travelling by freighter some years ago (watched too many 1950s films involving island hopping), now we have international regulation, fear of being sued and associated insurance. You pay for days not the destination, and port stops enroute may be 3 days each. UK to Australia = £3-£4K.
Links for information and freight company/agents.


Other Sea Travel:

Our useful links page includes ferry company sites and information and links for travelling as yacht crew for free; and Ocean and River cruises.



Accommodation:

Due to the size of this page we have provided separate articles on Accomodation for Business, Holiday and Independent travel, where to stay for free and staying in Hostels.

Try Hotels.Via.Us.com for the best range of hotels and prices and search facilities. For an explanation on why; and for links to other comparison and booking sites see our Hotel Article.



Travel Insurance:

See our article on Travel Insurance + EHIC. It includes what to look out for as well as links for Travel Insurance for older people and those with medical conditions.

Comparing insurance quotations: For UK customers we like QuoteBanana. It is owned by the AA, but provides quotes from 22 Holiday Insurance companies. Unlike many comparison sites you only have to enter your age to see prices, there is no need to enter your email address etc.



last updated 1/06/10
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