How to find cheaper flights

Demand sets the price, not the day you book

There is a lot of advice about buying on a particular weekday, but what really moves prices is demand on that route. During school holidays, long weekends and local festivals, fares are high whenever you buy. Off-season weekday departures are visibly cheaper. Asking whether you can shift when you travel beats agonising over when to buy. Even on the same route, departure time matters: very early or late-night flights are often cheaper. But getting to the airport at those hours may be impossible or expensive, so include that in the total.

Search without fixing the date

Most search sites can show a whole month of prices at once. Moving your departure by a day or two often changes the fare substantially. If the destination is open, you can also enter only your origin and see where is cheap. Once a price calendar shows you a cheap date, check the same date on the airline's own website too. Booking direct often makes it easier to deal with schedule changes or cancellations straight with the airline.

• Use the month-view price calendar
• Compare departure and return within ±3 days
• Check nearby alternate airports
• For connections, count total travel time

Cheap fares are cheap for reasons

The lowest fare usually cannot be changed or refunded, excludes checked baggage, and charges for seat selection. Once you add a bag, the ranking often flips. Compare the total for the conditions you will actually use, not the headline fare. Within a single airline, fare classes differ in miles earned, advance seat selection and change fees, so make a habit of opening the fare rules on the payment screen.

Connections and low-cost carriers

Connections save money but cost time and energy. If the legs are booked as separate tickets, the second airline owes you nothing when the first one is late. Low-cost carriers start cheap but charge for everything else, so add what you need before comparing. When choosing a connection, check that the transfer time is adequate and whether you need a visa or transit permit at the connecting airport. On a single booking, the airline will usually rebook you if the first leg is late, but the conditions vary by airline.

Check before you pay

Confirm the name matches your passport exactly, whether arrival rolls over to the next day, and how far the airport is from the city. Name corrections usually cost money, and sometimes are not possible at all. Remember that arrival times are in local time, and that some countries require a return or onward ticket as a condition of entry.

Price alerts and when to book

There is no universal best moment to buy; it depends on the route and the season. What works is setting a price alert on the route you want and watching it for a few weeks until you know its usual range. When a fare is clearly below that range, booking then beats waiting for a further drop that may never come. Peak-season routes tend to climb as seats sell, so for holiday travel move as soon as your dates are fixed. You may hear that searching repeatedly raises the price, but most of the time the cheaper fare class has simply sold out.

After you book

Paying is not the end. Airlines retime or consolidate flights, and if you miss the notice you find out at the airport. If you booked through an agency or comparison site, look the booking up directly on the airline's website with your reference so you see changes as they happen.

• Look up the booking on the airline's site
• Make sure schedule-change emails and texts reach you
• Note when online check-in opens
• Recheck the baggage allowance in the booking

Common mistakes

The most common mistake is paying on the headline fare alone. Add bags and a seat to a low-cost base fare and the gap to a full-service airline can almost disappear. Very short connections, arrivals in the middle of the night when you cannot check in, and secondary airports far from the city are frequent traps. Some fares also cancel the return leg automatically if you do not fly the outbound. Baggage rules and change fees vary by airline and fare and can change, so base your decision on the rules shown on the screen just before you pay.