How do people save hundreds on flights or even thousands? Its easy with a little time , research and comparing.
With the Australian dollar being so strong against the major currencies, I would like to take you through some simple steps to how you could save on booking airfares for your next family holiday with kids.
1. First step is to establish your search criteria
- Flights : Sydney to London Return
- Passengers: 2 Adults plus 2 Kids.
- Pick our Dates: 16th April to the 29th April
- Pick Our Flights: Any mainstream airline, with 1 stop over included in the flight.
- Allocated Time: task about 20mins to 40mins
- Sites we like to start with: wego.com , expedia , kayak.com
2. Second step – Research stage
After the first step, you will need to locate the best rates using a “travel search site” like Wego. This will also set a ” bench mark” for the current market price on cheap flights across a range of sites for the flights you have chosen.
Once you have placed your criteria into the search function, and the site has returned a bunch of results for your flights. You will want to record the flights, rates and airlines that take your interest for your selected period.
3. Third Step – Compare your results
With the first results in mind you will need to move into the third step, and go through the process of cross checking your results with some other comparison sites. In our example we like to use Kayak and Expedia.
You should always check against three sites to find the lowest rate for your flight. By checking across three sites you are more likely to start finding savings within your flight search.
In our example with Kayak we have have been returning Virgin Atlantic airlines as the cheapest for our search. If you have favourite airline that you prefer to travel on, you can also set the filters to your favourite airlines. However, by switching off the filters you may be reducing your chances of locating a cheap flight for your family.
In our example with Expedia we have also returned Virgin Atlantic at $1749 as the cheapest option for our flight search of cheap flights.
Tip – Be mindful before booking your flight check the terms and condition of the ticket, along with check the fees that might be associated with the site, Expedia offer no booking fees. However you will notice there is taxes and credit card fees that are applied.
4. Step four – Check the airlines own site
By now you should have a good indication of the price that is available for your time period. Our next step we want to check the airlines own site to see what the price is for booking direct with the airlines website.
We have checked and compared over three sites, and the best fare for our example is with Expedia at $1750 per ticket, in the initial search with Wego it should be noted that the lowest fares being offered was from Zuji at $1706. Though we investigate a little deeper to the Zuji site and were being returned a price of $1906, due to the added taxes and fees.
After you have fired up the airline of choice, in our case its Virgin. Run a search on the criteria for your preferred flights as in step 1. You may find the airline may not return the same options or it could provide you with a range of different fares and options. Be sure to pick the cheapest fare available for the exercise as we are only comparing on price at this stage, fo your search.
In our example for booking direct the price returned is more expensive with the price returned being $2012 per passenger.
Step 5 – Finding currency exchange savings
Our next step is try and check the same airlines website from the arrival destination, so in our case we are going to open the UK version for Virgin Airlines which is Virgin Atlantic airlines. Depending on the currency markets you may be able to reduce the amount you pay in the savings against the currency strength, so for Australians at the moment the AUD is strong against the pound, so we should try to get a better rate by purchasing the tickets in another currency.
Wow in this example we just provide a massive saving – As you can see by visiting the UK site we were able to shave another $1036 AUD from the virgin site in Australia.
Final steps
In your final steps you will now need to go back over your notes and check the fares that offers you the best value for your family. When checking, ensure you check the terms and conditions of the ticket, also make sure you have noted the full fare including the taxes and duties that are payable on the ticket. With this information at hand you should now be in a better position to go ahead and book flights for the family holiday while saving a little extra for your time and research.
More tips to help find cheap flights
Extend your search
When travelling with your kids its sometimes a case of just get us to the destination! However if you want to look for a lower fare again try adjusting your days of departure in your search by 2 days either side of your original dates of departure.
Find Alternative Routes
Look for alternative routes and flights that might offer code share routing via other ports. The only thing you need to be mindful about is that the more variables you start to include a flight, the more demands you will place on your family. Extra stopovers and layovers sometimes just add extra time to your travel, along with extra distance and more room for errors if connecting flights are not met etc. I always like to arrive at destination ready to go not in position that is going to see me recovering from a hell flight.
Inside Tips for Beginners
The best way to save on fares we have found is to book early, look out for the airlines special early bird deals, if you can try and fly with the kids outside of peak periods like school holidays and try and travel and take the holidays in during periods that are not peak tourist seasons.
Other tips to getting a cheap flights for the family is looking for other airlines that fly from the original departure point the best place to check this details is with the airport websites to see what airlines are departing from that airport.
Don’t get emotionally attached to the price
There is no real exact science to scoring cheap flights for the family, though be patient and have a budget in mind and a clear time frame when you want to book. You also need to realise you could book the flights only to discover in one week you could have saved another $500, don’t get caught up in the decision emotionally.
Our Check list of things to consider when booking flights for the family.
- Travel Dates pick dates outside of peak periods.
- Your family travel budget for flights – Know your budget.
- Use flexible dates for flights if you can pick 2days either side of original dates
- Track your results using a spreadsheet or pen and paper as you go.
- Cheaper flights are often available by booking mix tickets
- Compare on foreign websites, for currency exchange savings.
- Compare research flights over three sites, we like to use Wego, Expedia and Kayak.
- Look at flying alternative routes to the main route to your destination.
- If you have frequent flyer points, available consider using points if redemption seats are available.
- Think of your family, you may have saved $500 on the tickets, but it might not be fun being stuck in transit with tired kids for an extra 12 hours.
- Most important thing – HAVE FUN you’re booking a family holiday with your kids enjoy the moment.
What’s your tips and hacks to getting great deals on flights for your family. Let us know with a comment below. How far do you go to save a little extra on your flights for the family holiday?
