Six ways to save money on flights

Flights can be one of the most expensive aspects of a holiday, especially if you’re travelling long haul. But they’re pretty essential if you want to get out of the UK!

There were a few years when I went away almost every month and I couldn’t have done that without saving some pounds on flights. While the prices of everything has increased you can still grab cheap airfares to Europe for the same as you’d spend on a meal out or a gig ticket. I once went to Copenhagen for the day (yes the day) and my return flight on a Saturday was cheaper than I’d have paid to get a train into London. So it is possible.

Andy has previously written his top tips for saving on flights, and we have a guide to cheap flights, but here are my updated thoughts on how you can save money on flights in 2024.

Use flight comparison search engines

There are a number of different websites where you can compare flight prices. My favourite is Skyscanner where you can choose your destination and dates and see which airline is going to be the cheapest. It might not always be Ryanair or Easyjet depending on your location and dates. If you can take a taxi to the airport, you'll be able to pick cheap flight combinations where the departure airport is different to the return one. For example, you'll depart from London Stansted but return to London Gatwick. 

You can also choose to search a date with the destination empty if you’re unsure where you want to go. I’ve done this quite a few times to see where I can travel cheaply to if I’m strict on dates, for example wanting to make the most of a bank holiday.

Be flexible with the day of the week you fly

Flights to tourist destinations tend to be most expensive between Friday and Sunday as they’re premium dates. You can save yourself a lot of money by being open when you travel. A midweek flight can save you money, or one really early in the morning as most people don’t want to be up at 3am. I’ve done so many of those 6/7am flights to maximise a trip and yes you’ll be tired by the evening, but it’s worth it for more time at your destination and less expense. For traditional business destinations (like Hamburg or Zurich) you might find that fares are actually cheaper at the weekends, particularly from London City Airport or London Heathrow, which serve a lot of business travellers. Play around with dates to find out which dates are best for your destination.

On Skyscanner you can leave the date as the ‘whole month’ or even empty and choose flights depending on when it’s cheapest to jet off.

Look into alternative airports

Airports aren’t always in a city centre, or even in the city itself (yes I mean you London Luton!) And in some countries like Germany or Italy you may find a few airports not too far away from each other.

It might not always be the cheapest option to fly directly to the location you want to go, especially if there’s an event happening. It could be cheaper to fly to another airport and get a coach or train to the actual location you want to go to. It may add some time to your journey but you’ll see a bit more of the country and save some money.

For example when I go and see Taylor Swift in Edinburgh later this year it was cheaper to fly into Glasgow and get a coach than it was to go directly into the capital. Another good example is Pisa and Florence in Italy. They are a short train journey from one another.

Don’t let stopovers put you off

Yes, sometimes stopovers can be awful, but sometimes a few extra hours of travel time can save a lot of money. When I went to Hawaii I had two short stopovers on the way back and it shaved a few hundred pounds off my flight prices compared to if I’d just had one stopover.

If you’re doing a longer haul trip then consider a longer stopover. It might be cheaper to have a half day, or even a few days in a location before travelling on as flights designed to connect can be more expensive. And it means you can add an extra part onto your holiday such as a stopover in Singapore when flying to Australia, or a stop in LA when going to Hawaii.

Browse incognito

I’ve spoken about this in a previous post about ways to save money when booking a holiday. But companies will track your history on the internet through cookies and they’ll know what you’ve previously searched for. If you keep looking at the same flights they’ll see them as high demand and may increase the prices. This price increase is designed to make you panic so you buy straight away.

If you use an incognito browser window then there won’t be any history attached and you can get the true prices. It’s always worth double-checking on another IP address before you commit and click the book button.

Look into credit card bonus’

Some credit cards offer air miles, airline points or bonuses for travel. It’s pretty much the only reason I got an American Express credit card was to save Avios points to use with British Airways.

This option is only relevant if you’re responsible with your money and won’t abuse the use of a credit card. I use mine quite a lot for purchases that are always paid off later that month and I'm earning points every time. The only thing better than cheap flights are free flights (although to be honest, they are rarely free even with points).

Over the past few years I’ve had quite a number of free or low cost flights including those I’ve booked for me and my husband before going on a cruise in September.

Good luck finding cheap flights!