12 Hacks To Help You Find Cheap Flights For Your Next Trip

We love traveling. Don’t we? We prefer taking flights as well because they cut the travel time and the best part is that you get the aerial view of the cities as if you are watching a survey map. 

However, good things come with a price, like literally. The only thing that stops us from taking flights is the sky-high prices and honestly not all of us have that kind of money. 

You also want to save a few extra bucks to use on your trip. The fact that you are reading this article is proof enough to show how much you would like to get cheaper flights.

Well, you may not be aware but there are some hacks that you can try to get cheap flights and just by being a little smart and a little before time, you can save a lot of money.

Let me tell you how you can do it. 

Start Planning Early

Don’t let your art of procrastination get in the way, and get up and start planning a little early at least 2 months before the trip. 

The thing is that when you book your tickets last minute or even a week before, you are most likely to get robbed by these airlines. They are going to charge a hefty amount and I’m sure you will not be happy about it. 

What you can do is start doing your research beforehand. You wouldn’t believe that your little smart work will go a long way in saving your money not only for this particular trip that you are planning but for future trips as well. 

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Book Individual Tickets

When you are traveling with a bunch of people and you book all the tickets together, the fares will be unbelievably high, so the best thing you can do is book individual tickets even if you have to sit away from your friends or family.

So, you gotta prioritize whether you want to sit with your folks or you want to save money. 

You will be spending the entire trip with them anyway, so why not sit separately, have your own quiet time, and save some money in the process? 

So this is one super hack you can use while booking your flight tickets.

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Don’t Be Rigid With The Dates

If you are not flexible with the dates then you may end up paying a lot of money for your flight tickets. When you are booking your tickets near a weekend or near a holiday, then you are definitely not going to find cheap flights.

You must be thinking about how to find cheap flights that you can book for your trip. Well, for that you have to be a little flexible with your dates. 

You must have seen that on some dates the fares are comparatively cheaper. You can book your flight tickets on these dates and save an extra penny. 

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Try Some Cheap Place

If you are juggling where exactly to plan your next trip and you are looking for just an escape for a few days then you should plan for a cheaper place. 

Cheap Place equals cheap flights.

When a place is not so much in demand then from the price of your flight tickets to the price of your hotel, both will be reasonable. 

This is a smart choice because a change of air doesn’t necessarily have to break your wallet. 

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Use Special Deals On Social Media

You must have seen ads on social media where they are giving you some special deals on flight tickets from some specific airlines. 

You can grab this offer because you don’t wanna miss out on this occasional discount that you came across just by scrolling through your feed. 

Often these deals can be seen on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. These deals are usually to lure people into spending their money on traveling but they are a treat for you especially when you are running a little low on budget.

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Choose Connecting Flights

More often than not, it happens that when you choose to fly directly to some destination, you will find the airfares to be quite expensive which takes you back to your question: how to find cheap flights in India?

Try choosing connecting flights, or try going for flights that are not going directly to your destination. 

When you don’t choose connecting flights you might find cheap flights. For instance, flying directly from Lucknow to Bangalore may be more expensive than flying from Lucknow to Bangalore via Hyderabad. 

Compare For A Better Fare

If you are really looking forward to booking a cheap flight then you have to put your laziness aside and compare the fares on different search engines.

Search engines such as Skyscanner and google fights are a lifesaver and in your case, money savers as well. 

I always look for flights at Skyscanner because the prices are relatively cheap and help me in saving a lot of money just by comparing the prices.

Budget Carriers To The Rescue

If you can keep your comfort aside and your primary motive is to just book cheap flights then you should go for budget carriers.

These carriers are not as comfortable as your regular premium flights where you have everything at your disposal but since saving money is your priority then flying with budget carriers is your safest bet.

Some examples of budget carriers flying throughout Asia are Spicejet, Indigo, Air Asia, Peach Air, Spring Airlines, and several other airlines as well.

These budget carriers don’t have long routes and fly short distances but since you are flexible with your destination, that wouldn’t be a problem. 

Student Discounts

Have you heard of student discounts? Well, if you haven’t then you have wasted a lot of money that you could have saved just by showing your student ID Card. 

Student Discounts work almost everywhere, amusement parks, airlines, sports matches, and so on. Check out Flight Center and Student Universe websites that allow you to find cheap flights.

Wondering why you haven’t heard of it? It’s probably because this information is not easily available. You need to put in a little effort and do a lot of digging to see how you can apply for a student discount.

This will definitely give you approximately 20% of discount and you will be able to book cheap flights from here. 

This is the time when being a student actually pays off. However, you need to keep in mind that student discounts are only for students and not for old people who have long been out of school or college.

Don’t Believe in The Myths

The problem with the internet is that there is too much information, all of them varying from one another so there is a possibility that you might find false information and myths as well.

Common myths that people believe are that booking your flights on a Tuesday will help you find better fares. Not true, Tuesdays have nothing to do with cheap fares. 

The flight tickets can vary anytime and that is the only truth. 

The operating system cannot be fooled, it works on an algorithm that is smarter than the rest of us combined! 

So there is no fooling the system, however, you can still be smart enough to make the right move to get things the way you want them to. 

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Grab Points And Miles

Once you decide to travel somewhere, you can join the travel airlines’ reward programs. You must be wondering how to find cheap flights through this program. 

These programs help you gain miles points and you have no idea how beneficial this is for anyone even those who are not looking to save money. 

You will be surprised to know that you can earn a million miles in a year just by being in the program, even if you are not flying. 

The program would give access to airport lounges, hotel stays, bonus credits, free flights, upgrades, and things you cannot imagine. 

You won’t be spending a lot on this program but the perks are just too good to be true, except that it actually is. 

Take The Road Less Traveled

Where there is a will, there is always a way. You just need the right source and the right effort to get what you want. 

Talking about making ways, there is one way which by the way is frowned upon and a little risky but if you are so hell-bent on saving that extra buck, in that case, there is this option too. 

Just to be clear, I am not suggesting this option, this is just me sharing random information. If you know what I mean 😉 

This involves you getting off the plane when there is a layover at your desired destination and you actually left the airport. People do this because the place where they get off the plane is actually where they were planning to go in the first place.

However, the flight tickets were expensive on other routes and somehow they found a layover at their destination at a cheaper price. 

For instance, you were planning to go to Lucknow but direct flights were expensive and then you come across a flight going to Delhi with a layover in Lucknow, which coincidentally is cheaper than the direct flight. So you book the flight with a layover and get off the board in Lucknow. 

I know it sounds absurd because Delhi obviously is more expensive than Lucknow, but this is just to make you understand better. 

This practice is frowned upon by the airlines because it’s not very ethical and apart from that, you should also know that there are some consequences that one has to face because of this act.

First, you cannot book a round trip if you are planning to do it. You will lose your checked-in luggage because they will go to the destination for which you booked your ticket. You cannot plan a round trip because your return ticket will be from some other place and that would be canceled. 

Lastly, you may get flagged if you continue the practice and I’m sure you don’t want that, so my suggestion would be to go for other tricks and avoid this one for it may land you in trouble and there are tons of ways to save an extra buck on flying, why go for something that is frowned upon or not accepted in one way or the other. 

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Conclusion

The above tricks are the answer to the question of how to find cheap flights in India.

Once you try any of the tricks, you may find some amazing deals. So be a little smart and a little less lazy, do some digging, make some phone calls, and get creative, you will definitely find something worth the effort.

 Like I said, there is always a way, you just have to find it.