I have been traveling alone since I was 16 years old. When I say traveling alone is completely alone. I’ve been buying my tickets since I was 18, when I used the savings from my odd jobs to be able to travel. Today I am the one who buys the travel tickets and makes reservations for my whole family and whom my friends turn to to ask everything about prices and destinations.
I have been lucky enough to live in three countries and know more than 37 on four continents for prices that amaze many friends. Here I share some tricks that I use to get the best possible prices:
1. Let’s start with the basics: use the incognito browser
We must try to keep our information private: by selecting the Incognito Browser, they will be able to search for information on the network almost anonymously. It is very easy to select it, Google Chrome gives us this option and you can use it by clicking on the upper right corner of the browser, and then choose the option New Incognito window and… ready! Now, I said almost because there is information that is stored, but this helps.
2. Delete cookies after your search
Has it happened to you that a few hours after or the day after looking for travel tickets they will have a higher price or that notices of hotels, tickets or other things they are looking for begin to appear? That’s because of cookies: the information with which they identify us.
I usually dedicate two days to buy my tickets: I do an exhaustive search on Monday and buy them the next day. This causes my information to be stored, then at the end of the first day i delete the cookies. Another thing I also do is use another computer when I already know what I’m going to buy 🙂
3.- What days to buy?
The million dollar question! The latest report for this 2018 prepared by Expedia and the ARC (Airlines Reporting Corporation) tells us that, although there may be exceptions in some markets, Sunday it’s the best day to buy domestic flights. What I can tell you according to my experience is that Nor buy on a Friday! In all my searches for tickets on weekends they always offer you the highest dates and it is better to buy tickets at least 2 months in advance, so I have always obtained better rates.
For international flights what I recommend is to make constant comparisons on different platforms (below I tell you which ones!), apply the recommendations to use the incognito browser and delete cookies.
4. In which months to buy international travel?
To all those who want to know other continents, I have a super news! In 2016, the same report by Expedia and the ARC found that tickets to international destinations ¡they are going down in price around the world! This is a trend that continues, they also tell us when it is cheapest to travel to North America, Southeast Asia and northern Europe:
To North America and Southeast Asia: Buy your tickets in September!
To Northern Europe: Buy your tickets in January!
I bought my ticket to Shanghai 6 months in advance at a cost of USD 980 in a promotion that I got with an airline thanks to the fact that I am registered to their database (database) I recommend you to register to the databases of all airlines so that they receive promotions and can decide in time!
5.- Where to find the cheapest tickets?
The travel search engine that I use the most and where I have bought most of my tickets is Skyscanner. What I love is that it allows me to see the prices of the whole month to check if there is a day when I can get a little cheaper. In addition, it shows me the total cost of the ticket from the beginning and in our currency. If you don’t know where to travel but you know you want to go on vacation, you can select the Anywhere option and they will show you the cheapest destination for your travel dates 🙂
Another search engine that I recommend is Google Flights. It not only shows you the prices of the various airlines but, if an online travel agent has a cheaper price, it also shows you it and refers you to their page for the purchase. In addition, it shows you the cheapest months and destinations. I just found a ticket Lima-Amsterdam-Lima at USD 630!
On the other hand, place the alerts to receive price change information on these platforms as soon as you are looking for tickets.
6. One of the most popular international destinations:
According to the same report by Expedia, Cancun has been one of the most popular travel destinations in Latin America! so you will find more offers (better prices for an international destination) for this destination if you are looking to relax on this Mexican Caribbean beach. From now on you can go looking for offers for July 28th or the end of the year!
