Buying airline tickets online is an increasingly common practice among travelers. Nowadays by using the Internet, there is no need for an intermediary, you can easily buy your airline tickets and take advantage of the best prices.
With the wide range of websites, mobile apps and travel search engines, information and tools are within reach but we don’t necessarily know which ones to take advantage of. In this article, we are sharing some tips that will allow you to even use them effectively and save on buying your airline tickets online.
Use airfare price comparison websites
Several websites offer airfare comparison prices. Skyscanner, Kayak, Jetcost, Google Flights, Liligo are among the most popular. These websites gather offers from several airline companies and allow you to easily compare prices and flight itineraries. By using them, you can save a lot of time when searching for the best deal. In order to have a better overview, we recommend that you compare a few of them, since they don’t offer all the same flights and prices.
Here is an example of the results that you can have by running a search. In this case, by using Google Flights:
Subscribe to a price alert
Subscribing to a price alert allows you to track the price of the flight for which you have created the alert and see if its increasing or dropping. By doing that, you can know the right time to buy your tickets. If you have a flexible itinerary, it may be worthwhile to create several alerts, since the price may greatly vary depending on your dates and your itinerary.
Using the Hopper application
Hopper is a mobile app that, as well as airfare comparison websites, gathers a majority of flights offers. It not only allows you to buy your airline tickets, but also tells you when they will cost you less.
When you run a search, the application presents a calendar showing the price trend for the requested itinerary. In this example, a round trip flight from Montreal, Quebec (YUL, YHU) to Rome, Italy (FCO).
Once you have selected your dates, in this example the departure date on May 3, 2017 and the return on May 24, 2017, the cheapest fare will be displayed followed by several recommendations.
The application will tell you if you should buy your tickets now or wait for a better price, will give you a price prediction and provide tips to save even more on your itinerary. Hopper also allows you to subscribe to price alerts so you can be notified of the right time to make your purchase while keeping an eye on the price variation of your flight. Once you have found a flight that is right for you, you can proceed to the next step where you will have more information on flights offers, airlines and prices.
Browse in private while shopping for your flight
Most airlines companies use cookies on their website. When you browse their website, they identify you and keep track of your preferences and behavior. After your first visit, they are therefore able to recognize your interest in some deals, which can keep up the price of the airfare you want. To avoid this, use private browsing to prevent the use of cookies by the websites. Here’s how you can browse in private on Chrome by using one of your devices.
Browse in private while shopping for your flight
Using a virtual private network (VPN) while shopping for your airfare can save you a substantial amount of money. This type of network allows you to browse anonymously and change the country settings of your connection. This way, you can make a website believe that you are in Paris when in fact you are in Montreal. You need to consider that the country where the purchase is made is a variable that influences the prices of flights set by the airlines companies. You can also ask friends or relatives who live abroad to trace your itinerary and then make a comparison in order to get the best offer available.
Here are two popular VPN services recommended by our team: Hotspot Shield and ProxySite.com.
Use a virtual private network
Most of the time when we have specific travel dates, we prefer to shop our airfare by selecting a “round trip” itinerary. However, it may be interesting to compare the price of tickets bought separately by choosing the “one-way” option. This way, you can see the most interesting prices and even buy from two different airline companies to save on your tickets.
Finally, buying airfare online can be a daunting task if you don’t have the resources to maximize your research on the web. That’s why we all benefit from being informed of the many resources that can be found on the web and that can help you take advantage of the best offers available.