How to find cheap flights: tips to know

As air tickets are one of the most important aspects of the cost of a trip, it is useful to know the best ways to find cheap flights.

Although slightly down in early 2023 compared to a few months ago, airfares are still expensive, not so much due to rising fuel prices, but due to high demand.

Every day, airlines offer thousands of bargains, special offers or price reductions to compete with other airlines.

Cheap rates are available if you know how to find them.

Here are some tips for finding cheap flights to Thailand or elsewhere.

1. Be flexible with your travel dates

Airline ticket prices vary considerably depending on the day of the week, the time of year and upcoming public holidays such as Christmas, New Year's Day and school holidays.

July - August are important months for travel in Europe, and everyone wants to get warm in winter or travel when the kids are out of school.

If you fly with everyone else, your ticket will cost more.

Try to be flexible with your dates.

It is always cheaper to fly in the middle of the week than at the weekend, as most people travel at the weekend and airlines raise their prices.

Prices are also cheaper if you travel after a major holiday, as are early morning or late evening flights, as fewer people want to travel (who wants to get up early?!).

The difference of one day can represent hundreds of dollars in savings.

Airlines are not stupid. They know when a festival, holiday or major sporting event is coming up - and they raise prices accordingly.

Example: Lowest prices per month :
Flight to Thailand : find the best price and the best periods) :

2. Be flexible with your destinations

If you can't be flexible when you travel, at least be flexible with your flight destination.

It's best to arrange both, but if you really want to save a lot of money and get a cheap flight for your trip, you should at least do one!

Airline search engines have made it very easy to search the world for the cheapest ticket - you no longer have to search manually.

Kiwi offers the "Explorer" tool which allows you to set your home airport and see a world map with all flights and prices.

This is a great feature if you don't know where to go!

When you become flexible, the whole world opens up to you and you can easily find cheap air tickets!

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3. Cheap flights: think low cost

Years ago, if you wanted to fly over continents, you mostly ended up on expensive airlines. This is no longer true.

Low-cost airlines now fly many long-haul routes, making it possible to fly around the world for very little money.

Norwegian sometimes offers incredibly low fares to Thailand.

AirAsia offers low-cost deals for flights in Asia.

Indian and Middle Eastern airlines offer budget flights throughout the subcontinent and Africa.

You can travel almost anywhere in the world with a low cost airline!

You get fewer benefits, but you can save a lot of money.

Just make sure you pay attention to the costs.

That's how they make money!

Low-cost airlines sometimes charge for checked baggage, carry-on baggage, printing your boarding pass, using a credit card, and anything else they can afford to do.

Eat and drink well before the flight, you won't be tempted afterwards!

Be sure to add up the cost of the ticket AND the fees to ensure that the price is lower than that of a larger carrier.

4. Cheap flights: don't fly direct

Being flexible with dates and destinations is good, but being flexible with the itinerary you take is another way to get a cheap flight.

There are so many low-cost carriers in the world that taking advantage of a good deal in another city or country and then taking a low-cost flight to your destination is sometimes the best option.

For example, flights between Reunion Island and Thailand are very expensive, but as there is a large Indian community in Reunion Island, it is easy to find a cheap flight to India, then from India there are many low cost flights to Thailand!

If you want to try this method, make sure you have at least 3 hours between connections, as booking tickets with different airlines will mean that if something goes wrong, you can't just put it on the next flight.

Your second airline won't care about your delay, because they didn't fly them!

This method is more laborious, as you have to determine many different routes and check different airlines - and the connection adds more time to your trip.

But it saves even more money on your flight, giving you more money to spend at your destination.

You can also look at inter-regional land transport, find the cheapest neighbouring country and reach your final destination by train, bus or boat with search engines like 12go.asia.

5. The best search engines

You should conduct several searches on several websites to ensure that nothing is left to chance.

Many search sites do not list low-cost flights because these airlines do not want to pay booking fees.

You won't find AirAsia, Ryanair or most other low-cost airlines on sites like Kiwi or Skyscanner.

All flight search websites have advantages and disadvantages.

There is no perfect airline search engine.

Even the best have their faults.

The most popular sites to find a cheap flight are the following:

Jetradar - the newcomer

Jetradar radar is not yet very well known, it does not have all the options of the other big engines, but often allows to find cheaper flights than its direct competitors: Skyscanner and Momondo.

See the website: Jetradar.co.uk

Skyscanner - for safety and prices.

Skyscanner is recognised as one of the best flight comparison sites and they have some useful features, such as allowing you to see the price differences on a calendar and find the cheapest day in a month.

They have an excellent user interface (and an excellent mobile application).

It is the ideal solution to quickly find a cheap flight with all the guarantees you expect when buying a plane ticket.

See the website: Skyscanner

Momondo the direct competitor

With similar features, Momondo is often compared to Skyscanner, the two best flight search engines on the market, the ones that dominate the list in many comparisons.

See the website: Momondo

Kiwi, to find the cheapest long haul flights

With Kiwi you can find the best prices and you can use several airlines, but this requires more organisation, as you have to plan the spaces between flights and the journey between airports.

Kiwi looks for the cheapest route, regardless of the shared code, which is what makes Kiwi so great.

While other search engines will try to book your entire itinerary on the same airline or code-share airlines, Kiwi will look at all the cheapest options, even if it means putting you on two completely separate flights (where you'll have to check in again during your layover) or sending you to a random airport that's completely off the beaten track.

Although it is not ideal for people looking for the quickest and easiest way to get somewhere, it is perfect for people looking for theabsolute cheapest option.

See the website: Kiwi

12go for low cost flights in South East Asia

If you want to travel to Thailand via a city in a South East Asian country, then 12go.asia is a good solution.

Their search engine allows you to compare the prices of the main low cost companies and they do not limit themselves to flights, but propose various means of transport, such as bus, train, boat...

See the website: 12go.asia

Other companies

Of course, sometimes another company will have a promotion, so it's a good idea to spend some time and compare offers everywhere.

Other major search engines include

kayak.com, google.com/flight

6. Keep an eye out for special offers

No one likes to clutter their inbox, but by subscribing to airline and search engine mailing lists, you can get updates on any last-minute or ongoing special offers.

This is one of the best ways to ensure you find a cheap flight.

Why? Because they do all the work for you!

Cheap flights are often only available for 24 hours, and if you don't check the web right away, you'll miss out on a lot of very cheap deals.

These are the best sites to stay on top of travel offers:

Holiday Pirates - The best of European flight offers.

Secret Flying - A great site for flight offers from all over the world.

7. Search for single-person airfares

Don't search for and buy multiple tickets in one purchase.

Airlines always display the highest ticket price among a group of tickets.

For example, if you are a family of four and are looking for four seats, the airline will find four seats together and show your fare based on the highest ticket price.

So if seat A is 200 $, seats B and C are 300 $ and seat D is 400 $, the price of these tickets will be 400 $ each instead of adding the individual prices.

Therefore, always look for tickets as a single person.

Then, during the ordering process, you can choose your seats so that you and your family can sit together.

8. Cheap flights: book early, but not too early

Airline fares will continue to rise as you get closer to departure, but airlines are starting to lower or raise fares in response to demand.

Don't wait until the last minute, but don't book too early either.

The best time to book your flight is about 6-8 weeks before your departure, or about three months before if you are travelling to your destination during the high season.

9. Request a discount

It's always a good idea to ask for discounts when booking flights to Thailand, as you may be able to get discounts you don't know about.

Many airlines offer discounts to students, seniors and other travel groups, and these discounts can be very attractive.

If you are a student, it is worth checking with the airline whether they offer student discounts.

Some airlines may offer discounts to students with a valid student card or proof of enrolment, while others may have partnerships with student travel organisations that offer reduced fares.

Senior citizens can also benefit from discounts on flights to Thailand.

Some airlines offer discounts for travellers aged 60 or over, while others may offer discounts for travellers aged 55 or over.

It is worth checking with the airline to see what discounts are available and what documentation is required to qualify.

Overall, it's always worth asking about discounts when booking flights to Thailand, as you may be able to save money on your trip.

If you follow the above tips for getting a cheap flight, you will always get a good deal, save time, stress and avoid being the person who paid the most for their ticket!