How to get cheap flights?

[christianpfc]

How to get cheap flights?

Since I’m back from my last holiday, I have been planning the next. The most expensive single expenditure is the flight, so this is where it’s worth looking how to save money. Here are the possibilities I see (for travelling from Europe to Thailand):

Flights with a stop (usually in Arabia or India) are about 100EUR (~ 4300THB) cheaper than direct flights and with about 3h time of stopover and take about 15h (compared to 12h for direct flights). I had no problems so far (however, having to go through a second scanning of my person and my hand luggage in Mumbai India was unnecessary and annoying).

I read about courier flights (where the traveller transports urgent goods for a company as his hold luggage), and that they are less common nowadays (due to increased security after 9/11). Does anyone have recent information?

How about real last minute flights? On most flights, I spotted empty seats. Is it possible to by a ticket hours before the flight takes off at significantly reduced rates? Or even wait at the airport if someone misses his flight? (In London-Heathrow, there were four direct flights per night to Bkk, so there is a realistic chance, not that I would wish anyone to miss his flight, but such things happen, I have two friends who once missed flights). Of course, you don’t have a return ticked (so you need a visa), and for the flight back the trouble starts again. Can the staff at the airport issue a ticket such a short time before the take off?

And last, how long before the flight do you book your ticket? I’ve been looking for a flight end of July or begin of August (from Paris to Bkk on opodo for a 2-3 week holiday), and they cost from 900EUR (~ 39000THB) with a stop and from 1200EUR (~ 52000 THB) non-stop, significantly more expensive than the flights I had from London (which are now not much cheaper than from Paris for the dates mentioned above). So I was surprised when I checked flights in mid-June, which are much cheaper (there are direct flights by Thai airways from 584EUR ~25000THB, and the departure times in both ways suit me perfectly!).

[thaiworthy]

How to get cheap flights?

Since I’m back from my last holiday, I have been planning the next. The most expensive single expenditure is the flight, so this is where it’s worth looking how to save money.

I had investigated courier flights some time ago. They only work if you live in the gateway city they depart from, NY or LA. It seemed to me they actually give preference to those with residence in their domain. Be prepared to travel at the last minute, days perhaps, to get the cheapest way. You might actually have to pay something the further out you try to arrange it. You have to be flexible. For God's sake, don't subscribe to those stupid newsletters that take an annual subscription for their invaluable resources. You can find the same thing yourself online. A lot of info is horribly outdated and those courier companies change the places they go to on a whim. There's only a few that go to BKK. Jupiter was one I remember, but it was a while ago and I gave up on the whole courier idea. Last I checked, to get a flight from LA to BKK a few months out, they wanted $800. Not exactly a great savings if you ask me, especially when you have to sacrifice your luggage space.

If you want to save money, take a red-eye if you can find it. I'm on one with Korean Air and it has an 8-hour layover inbound! But it's just after the holiday season and for the money, it seemed worth it. That's a safe bet for getting a low price, whenever there's a long layover, because nobody wants it. I possibly could have done better. Korean Air is usually a good choice. Eva is another if you book from their web site from a gateway city. In this case, the closer it gets to departure dates, the cheaper their seats get. That strategy will only work online, though-- I would caution anyone from trying to book only days or hours before the flight leaves, no matter what airline you use. If you go to the airport and try to buy a ticket for a flight on the same day, you will pay a very high premium, that's how the airlines make their money.

I always book at the airlines' web site and take advantage of sales, but those are only offered a few months ahead and I like to book much further than that. If you book through an online agent like Expedia, you may not get to make a seat selection, an important factor for me. So book on the airlines own site and you won't pay a booking fee. There are also plenty of web sites that help you with your strategy by telling you the best days and dates to travel when seats are historically at a low. There are many online tools you can use to hone your expertise, but it takes work and can be a challenge, sometimes.

Unless you are extremely lucky, you won't find anything with your ideal departure times and your ideal price. It never worked that way for me. There is always a caveat to those cheap, cheap fares.

Hope this helps.

[Jun]

Keep watching Opodo & Kayak. Prices tend to fluctuate. Booking a few months in advance seems best.
Two years ago I got a December flight with Premium Economy on the outbound flight, booked in September for the price of economy. Last year no such deals came along & I would have been better off booking back in July.

I don't see indirect flight as having sufficient cost reduction to offset the longer flight time and less desirable airlines. I would rather have the oriental service on EVA than risk going anywhere near India, or its airlines.

[fountainhall]

I would rather have the oriental service on EVA than risk going anywhere near India, or its airlines.

Not sure about its prices, but India's Kingfisher Airlines is one of the top 7 in the world, according to the most recent annual Skytrax poll (the others being Singapore, Cathay Pacific, Malaysian, Asiana, Hainan Airlines and Qatar). Of that bunch, I found Qatar outstanding.

End-July/early-August is one of the worst times for fares from Europe - because it's the main holiday season when whole families are travelling.

[Jun]

Kingfisher may well be a top airline, but there is the little matter of also having to negotiate an Indian airport.

Then we have the other customers on the plane. Taiwanese are polite and petite.
Indians have excessively high birthrates (ie lots of kids on the plane) and their middle aged women are frequently so large I imagine they will hardly fit within their own seat.
Also, saving £90 for a flight with at least 3 hours extra time is not an economic use of my time. When it gets to that stage, pay the extra £90 and spend your time working out how best to invest what you do have remaining.

[christianpfc]

Recently a friend mentioned that flights from Europe to Japan (where he used to work) are expensive in late summer, due to holiday season in Europe. So this seems to be the most probable reason.

So there is not only high season and low season in Thailand (for arriving tourists), but in Europe as well (for leaving tourists).

But I finally found a flight (Ethihad with stop in Abu Dhabi) that was the cheapest available, perfect times for the inbound (to Thailand), but horrible times for the flight back: starts at 8:35 am (at that time, I'm usually sound asleep) and a 14h stop on the return. I never had such a long stopover, but I will survive it. When it comes to flights, I'm really a cheapskate, for a mere difference of about 200 EUR (about 9000 THB) I'm ready to get up early and endure a long stopover.

[Gaybutton]

14h stop on the return.

What's so terrible? You get a break from the long haul flight. You get a chance to see Abu Dhabi. You can spend time in an excellent hotel and/or touring the city. And I understand Abu Dhabi is one of the best places in the world to buy electronics.

[christianpfc]

Flights from central Europe to Thailand take about 12h, which is fine for me without stop, as with the right timing I leave Paris at night, than have a long nap (not really, as I can't sleep well while sitting, so it's rather a rest) and when I wake up I'm in Thailand! Same for the flight back. I even save a day, as I will be working the day before the flight starts at night. On my return trip however, I will lose one day which I have to take as holiday, but cannot spend in Thailand. (With perfect timing, I could leave Thailand in the evening and arrive in Paris the following morning and go to work in the late morning).

But I think I will have a short look at Abu Dhabi (the stop is from 12 noon to 2 am), maybe I can see the Burj Khalifa in Dubai from there (highest building in the world).

[Jun]

If I am slightly flexible on travel dates, Kayak shows almost no difference between a direct flight and an indirect one for my next trip from LHR.
I shall probably take the direct one, just like on previous trips.

As for saving money, there are often other more effective areas on which to concentrate efforts.
e.g.
1 Rent your spare room out to a cute student
2 Find some expenses from your everyday life in Europe that can be deleted, or substituted without any significant effect on your quality of life.
3 Keep your old car for another 5 years
4 Invest the savings from the above wisely.

Having said all that, I shall probably ignore my own advice and still spend an irrational amount of time optimising some minor expense for my next trip.

[lexusgs]

I will have a short look at Abu Dhabi

Christian,

I have lived and worked in the UAE a few times. Some useful info here:

Dubai City Check-in
Located on Sheikh Zayed Road, close to Etihad’s Dubai office, this facility offers free, round-the-clock check-in service: all you need to do is check in 24 to 4 hours before departure, collect your boarding pass and leave the rest to us.*

If you are a Coral Economy Guest, we take you to Abu Dhabi International Airport in one of our luxury coaches. Please make sure that you arrive at the Dubai City Check-in at least 3½ hours prior to departure to board the coach dedicated to your flight. Diamond First and Pearl Business Guests can avail the services of Etihad Chauffeur.

* Service not available for US-bound flights.


You could take a FREE coach to Dubai from Abu Dhabi Airport or a taxi (although it's expensive)

My advice would be to take a look here as well as contemplating Dubai:

http://www.yasisland.ae

Yas island has a new state of the art F1 circuit and Ferrari World...no expense spared and only 5/10 mins from Abu Dhabi Airport. In addition check out GR and Manjam.com for Abu Dhabi. Lots of hot guys guys there. Thousands of Philipino expats work there ....very cute too and all free