When booking any flight, the more flexible one can be, the more likely it is that a savings can be made; this often includes repeating searches as costs can go up and down, day to day, just as exchange rates do. Travelling at a time of day not initially considered could also be cheaper, for example, a late evening outbound flight could provide a savings that would pay for an extra night of accommodation, therefore, effectively lengthening the holiday.
LONDON – Flight prices can vary significantly depending on the day or time of departure, so being truly flexible with travel dates and time of booking is the best way for consumers to reap financial benefits, according to CheapFlightsFinder.com, the world’s first meta metasearch engine, which compares up to 16 flight comparison sites.
It stands to reason that Fridays and Sunday evenings are popular times for people to fly because weekend travellers want to maximise the period they are away without having extra days off work. Therefore, flying on these days will often be the most expensive, but in fact no day should be ruled out if the maximum saving is to be made. Wednesday is usually the cheapest day of the week to fly, followed by Tuesday, but the best way to find cheap flights is to compare as many providers as possible, both travel agents and airlines, over a period of time.
Shahab Siddiqui, founder of Cheap Flights Finder, says: “The day you travel can have a massive impact on the price you pay, but there will also be a significant difference in the price people on the same flight pay. There’s nothing more frustrating than finding out someone on the same flight as you has paid considerably less, so don’t be tempted to shop too early or too late for your seat – both of these tactics can result in a higher price paid.”
Shahab also advises consumers to shop around and not rely on a single comparison site to discover the best deals: “Whilst a metasearch engine, commonly known as a comparison site, will save people the time and effort of trawling individual airlines and travel agents, your preferred tool will never be able to show you every offer available. Each of these types of sites has a different relationship with flight providers and agents, meaning you must use more than one of these sites if you’re to find the most competitive option; this can obviously be confusing or misleading for consumers and is why I founded CheapFlightsFinder.com, a meta metasearch site that searches a large number of comparison sites to offer a flight finder service like no other.”
