cheap airplane tickets

Why You Aren’t Getting Cheap Airplane Tickets

If you work full time and have kids who attend school you can’t just leave on a trip at the spur of the moment, right? No, you are like us. We have to go on vacation with the rest of the nation. With so much demand, it’s no wonder we aren’t getting cheap airplane tickets or super cool deals. You’ve probably realized it by now too. But don’t fret, there are still some tricks up our sleeve that will help you pay less on your next airplane tickets.

cheap airplane tickets

What can you actually do in your situation? Here is ours. We now have a kid who goes to school – hence we can only travel on school holidays. So does almost everyone else, in the world.  And since we both work we also have to figure out how we can fit our time off with the rest of the office – that you’ve guess it, also has kids. If this sounds familiar you know that even setting up the date of your vacation requires a series of negotiations. No wonder you aren’t getting cheap airplane tickets. You are too exhausted or don’t have enough time to do it.

Let’s deal with it one at a time.

Kids in school

I know what you are thinking, but yes they do have to go to school. Despite the fact that travel can teach them a whole lot, there are some things only schools will help them learn. Like being able to answer: “Two trains leave different cities heading toward each other at different speeds. When and where do they meet?” Though after years of school I have no idea nor do I care where the trains meet.

What you can do is take your kids out of school for a few days.

We can get them out for five days with no hassle. For more we’d have to be really nice with the head principal, but it probably could be done.

Cool Kidz Say: We’d be perfectly OK with missing a few days of school.

My first advice would be to use this. Either prolong the school holiday, go in the off season, go early…Use grandparents and everyone who ever mentioned what sweet kids you have to babysit during the school holidays and then when everyone else is back, head out.

You at work

Find a job where your colleagues don’t have kids. Then you can at least count on having the most expensive and crowded periods for travel all to yourself. But you’ll probably die of jealousy at the cheap deals they get for going to Singapore in March – when you are stuck explaining to your kids the thing you still know nothing about –  the speed of trains.

If you all have kids then good luck – bribe, cajole, talk, or negotiate with your colleagues so you are all happy with your dates.

Be nice and make a schedule. Then you’ll know a few months in advance when you will be traveling. It gives you enough time to browse and search for deals.

I like to know up to six months in advance and then jump at every good deal I see.

“Flights to Stockholm only 9 Euros.” But when I check it up, super hyped, I realize it is only valid in November. Are you seriously kidding me! Who wants to go to Stockholm in November? I get it though, they have to fill up the place, since everyone who lives there is in Bali.

Despite the hard situation we parents are in and the fact we aren’t buying just one ticket more like four or five there is light at the end of the tunnel:

 [tweetthis]8 tips to get cheaps airplane tickets even if you aren’t a nomad guru traveler. [/tweetthis] 

1) Know your dates.

2) Use Skyscanner. For us skyscanner.de or skyscanner.ie work wonders. It basically searches different airlines and offers the best deals. It also pays to compare the two. So, if you find a great price on skyscanner.de check how much it is on skyscanner.ie. You also have to know that the provider charges a fee and you don’t see that when you are shown the price of the flight. So click on it and see the full price on both and you’ll know which works better. You can also check other compare sites.

3) Subscribe to newsletters that will keep you informed of the best deals.

4) Try with different airports. We have a few around and I try them all.

5) Delete the cookies after you are finished for the day. Some say that if you don’t then the airplane sites remember your movements and when you come back they offer you higher prices. Though that is likely not true. But better safe than sorry.

6) Be flexible about where you are going. It works if you are open about the end destination. We wanted to find great deals on flights to North America, suddenly I found a terrific deal for Asia. Well, I was sold. This is it. Forget USA, Japan here we come.

7) Avoid flying on weekends. If you can check the difference in the price for different days in the week. It is said Wednesday is the cheapest day to fly. But I get it, who wants to go on a holiday in the middle of the week.

8) Buy it. Click on it and know that maybe next week a better deal will come up or it might not. Two weeks after buying our tickets to Japan, I found them even cheaper. I took solace in the fact that it wasn’t such a great deal after all you had to wait more than 15 hours in Doha for the connecting flight. With two small kids, I am happy to pay a little extra not to wait 15 hours in Doha.

 

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