10 Secrets to book Cheapest Flight Tickets

The biggest cost which I incur on my travel is flight tickets.The cost of flight tickets determine the cost of my trip.For most of us we cancel many trips because we get our leaves approved at the last moment and the cost of flight tickets become so costly that the entire trip goes beyond our budget.

The flight tickets can be booked cheap if we are little careful while booking the same.In this today's world airline companies deploy smart systems which can detect that you desperately need to book a flight and increase the cost of the flight ticket.

Don't worry help is at hand, we at shoestring travel we always strive to make your travel affordable.

I have booked cheap flight tickets innumerable times using the below techniques, however I can't ensure 100% success however if you follow the below secrets to book flight tickets you can almost land up getting cheaper prices for the flight tickets.

1. Search your flight secretly 

I am not asking you to become an undercover agent while searching for flight tickets.Read on how you can book cheap flight tickets by searching discretely. 

These days most of the website install tracking cookies on your laptop as soon as you open a website.In layman terms tracking cookies are computer programs which keep a tab on your activity for a website. When you constantly search for a particular flight the tracking cookies understands that you are in desperate need of the flight ticket and hence increases the flight prices.

Solution : If your are using Chrome as your internet browser then search for flight tickets in Incognito mode.If you want to again search for flight close the window and re open another window in incognito mode.

2. Don't just Google, Use Flight Search Engines

There are websites which master in flight searches.I suggest to use the flight search engines rather than doing google searches.There are travel sites which quotes you higher rates for the same flight.Also there are many sites which will never show you the flight ticket prices for budget airlines as they don't pay the sites a big commission.
So what do you do? Confused? Well just relax the key is to search as many travel sites as possible to find the cheapest rates. With hundreds of websites which offer cheap flight tickets how do you know which site to check.
Solution :  My personal favorite sites which I check to compare the flight ticket prices are as follows:
a) Skyscanner
b) Momondo
c) Google Flights
d) Kayak

These sites show you the best rates which you can compared before booking a flight ticket.

3. Search for One Seat at a Time 

If you are travelling as a couple then instead of searching for two tickets at one go search for one ticket.Why ? Most of the airlines release special fare in odd numbers.I am sure while booking flight tickets you must have seen a flash stating only 1 ticket is available at a deal price. So if you had to book two tickets at least for one ticket you could have got a deal and thus save cost.

Check the below two screenshots. The prices for flight tickets are compared for a Flight from New Delhi , India to Paris on 21st Dec,2016. As soon as I start searching for two tickets the price increased by $ 4 each ticket. If I book one ticket at a time then I would be saving $8 and hence almost $16 on a return fare. Note in most of the times the difference will be huge so you will end up saving much more money

(Cheaper flight tickets when searched for One Traveller)                                                                  (Flight ticket price increased by $4 when searched for 2 people)

4. Be Flexible with your dates

Be flexible with the dates when you intend to fly.I am not asking to wait for a month to get cheap flight tickets but pre pone or defer your departure by 3-4 days.Most people plan to fly out on Friday night so that they can utilize the Saturday or Sunday. However before booking your flight think whether you can take 2 extra days of leave and if yes then you are guaranteed to fly cheap.
Flight tickets tend to be cheaper on Tuesday and Wednesday compared to other days as people tend to fly less on those days.
Solution: Before booking tickets go to Skyscanner and in the departure date search for Full Month instead of specific dates. This way you will easily find dates when the flight tickets are cheaper.Again reminding you flight tickets across any destination are cheaper on Tue/Wed. Check the below screenshot for a sample flight from New Delhi to New York and you will find the cheapest prices on Wednesday.

(Cheapest flights on Wednesday) 5. Choose the Time of the Day & the Day

Most of the airlines release their deals on Monday or Tuesday so if you choose the days the book the flights the chances are that you will end up getting better deals on flight tickets.Personally speaking I have been able to get ex excellent deal almost a discount of $50 by booking flight ticket on Tuesday early morning.
Did I just say early morning? Yes thats the best time to book tickets.Generally airlines release the deals at early morning so if you are planning to book your flight ticket after returning from office then you might lose on some good deals.

6. Don't always take Direct Flights

It sometimes interesting to take a detour and reach your destination than flying direct. Direct flights sometimes can be costly due to high demand or very low flight availability in the sector you are flying to.You can be saving many dollars if you are not taking a direct flight.In my recent trip to Greece I saved almost $55 per ticket one way by not taking a direct flight. Only issue that I spent almost 6 hours extra on my travel time. The budget airlines in some sectors are cheaper than normal airlines.So for an example if someone is travelling to any European country from Asian countries its always cheaper to go to Istanbul and then take a budget airline from Istanbul.

7. Check if its Cheaper to pay in other currencies

If you are trying to book with your local currency suggest you should try to also check the flight ticket price in the currency of the country you are flying to.Sometimes airlines will charge you less if you pay in the local currency. Infact budget airlines prefer payments in their local currency so that they don't have to incur additional charges while currency conversion.
Tip : If you are paying in some other currency check whether your credit card levies any additional charges for paying in other currency.If they levy you charges then you will end up paying more rather than saving. I use a no foreign transaction fee credit card specially for payments I have to make in other currencies.

8. Book Early

I have few friends in the airline industry and they say that one can cheapest fare for any destination if they book 6-8 weeks in advance. That's almost 1.5 months-2 months.Its really difficult to predict the sweet spot when an airline will give the cheapest flight tickets. So the best bet is start searching for flight tickets atleast 9 weeks in advance. Keep on checking the flight ticket prices for 1-1.5 weeks , if there is no price fluctuation then thats the best rate available. Book your tickets then. If you see any price fluctuations in this time period that means that the sweet spot has yet not arrived.If you see price fluctuation on the higher side then the airline will increase the price soon or else if its downward then wait for few days before you book

9. Sign up of Frequent flier program

If you love going to any particular part of the world then suggest get yourself enlisted in the frequent flier program of 1-2 airlines which you frequently fly in. You will not only get better deals from the airlines but you can also get free upgrade to business class. Recently on my trip to Turkey since I had frequent flier card from Turkish Airlines I was waived off excess baggage fee.

(Source)

10. Join Mailing lists

Don't jump to conclusion and start signing in for mailing list from all airline companies. If you are willing to do so then be ready to clutter your inbox.
There are few sites which does the job perfectly without cluttering your inbox with thousands of mails.You should sign up for mailing list from the following sites which specialised in cheap flight tickets.
a) AirFareWatchDog
b) TheFlightDeal
c) HolidayPirates

So enjoy your next holiday by flying at cheap prices using the above secrets.
And don't forget to share your experiences in the comment section below, would wait to hear from you all....

Happy Shoestring travel !!!