Top 10 Tips to Find Cheap Flights Anywhere

Many of you may know that I always strive to save money on travel so that I can take more trips. So, when a fellow budget-savvy travel blogger, Lora Pope, asked if she could write a post on how to find cheap flights anywhere, I absolutely agreed. Here is what she has to say.

One of the most common questions I get is how I can afford to travel so much. There are many layers to that answer, but a large part of my strategy is not blowing my travel budget all on flights!

I use the strategies in this post to consistently find cheap flights anywhere worldwide, so I have more money to spend on bucket list adventures instead.

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Top 10 Tips for Finding Cheap Flights Anywhere

Flights are generally the most significant expense of a trip. If you’re only going somewhere for a short period, do you want to spend half of your vacation funds just on the flight? Use these travel tips to find cheap flights anywhere in the world so you can travel more.

1. Be Flexible with Your Dates

The difference in one day can be astronomical when it comes to flight prices. For example, I once flew from Toronto to Belize roundtrip for $300. If I had left a day earlier or stayed a day later, that flight would have cost me over $1000. That’s a crazy difference!

A great way to get a visual look at the cheapest travel dates is on Skyscanner. Put in the destinations you want to fly in/out of, but instead of picking a specific date, choose the month option. That way, you can easily see the cheapest day to fly there.

In the screenshot below, I searched for one-way flights from Toronto to London for June and pulled up the monthly view.

If I had just selected June 22nd as my departure date, the flight price would show me $591. But by looking at the monthly view, I see that if I can Ieave a day later on the 22nd, I can fly for $387 (2/3 of the price).

The more flexibility you have, the better this will work, but even changing your dates by a day or two can make a massive difference in the price.

2. Consider Alternative Airports

Often, there is more than one airport in larger cities. And the price differences between them can be huge. Discount airlines can’t afford larger airport taxes and fees, so they will base themselves out of a smaller one.

Hamilton Airport is a great example of this. It’s further than Toronto’s main airport, Pearson, but they have low-cost airlines like Swoop and Norwegian Air.

I once bought a flight from the Hamilton airport to Dublin directly with Norwegian Air for $250. If I had flown out of Pearson, it would have cost me over $400. Some people go as far as to drive to Buffalo, New York from Toronto because flying out of the United States can be that much cheaper.

London is another great example of this. There are six different airports in the area surrounding London. If I search for flights from Dublin to London, the flight prices range from $20 to London Southend all the way to $100 for London city center.

Of course, you must consider where you’re going in the city and if the transport cost from the airport outweighs the flight difference. But generally speaking, you can save a lot of money by choosing an alternate airport in the same city.

3. Be Open with Where You’re Willing to Go

I want to travel to every country in the world, so it doesn’t matter much to me where my next destination is. In fact, I often base my trips on where the cheapest place to fly is.

Skyscanner is great for finding the cheapest places to go. You can put in the location you’re leaving from, choose “everywhere” as the destination, pick a month, and it will bring up the cheapest destinations available to you.

Even if you’re set on a specific type of trip, like an all-inclusive beach holiday in Mexico, you can still save money by having some flexibility in the city you pick.

Maybe you want to go to Cabo, but Puerto Vallarta is hundreds of dollars cheaper to fly to. Cabo and Puerto Vallarta are both amazing destinations, so can you really go wrong?

Unless you have a specific reason why you want to travel somewhere, I would just go with the cheapest option right now. If you have an extensive list of places you want to go, great! Check them all out and see what the most affordable option is.

4. Be Creative with How You Get There

Even if you’re set on a specific country or city, be creative with how you travel there.

I once wanted to travel to Sri Lanka, but flights from Vancouver were almost $1000. Instead, I searched for the cheapest place to fly in Asia from Vancouver. Then, I found a flight from Vancouver to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for $370.

I flew to Kuala Lumpur and bought a separate flight to Sri Lanka for $100. I saved myself a few hundred dollars, and I got to spend a few days exploring Kuala Lumpur, which is a fantastic city.

Flying between countries can be extremely affordable once you are in a region like Europe or Asia.  It’s different from flight prices within Canada, which are notoriously expensive.

Long-haul flights across continents can be costly, so just get to the continent the cheapest way possible and fly regionally.

5. Take Advantage of Stopovers

Stopovers are one of the best strategies for visiting more places for the cost of one ticket.

Some airlines offer free stopovers in the airline’s home country if you’re booking a ticket with them. I took advantage of this with Icelandair a few years ago.

I bought a ticket from Edmonton to Helsinki, Finland, but stopped in Iceland for five days on the way there. Two trips for the price of one is a pretty sweet deal!

Other times, you might come across a flight with a long stopover in another destination that you can turn into a fun extra trip!

If adding a fun extra trip sounds exciting, but you need to know if your flight has a cheap stopover option – Hopupon can be a great resource to help find you one.  Hopupon is a search engine specializing in finding cheap stopover flights between cities.

Travel Tip: Common cities you can take a stopover at are Paris, Amsterdam, Reykjavik Iceland, and Singapore.

6. Think Outside the Plane

While you can’t take a bus across international waters, I have saved hundreds of dollars by flying to an airport close to my final destination and then taking a bus or train.

A couple of years ago, I wanted to visit Guatemala during Easter. The flights from Canada were over $1000, but a flight to Cancun, Mexico, was only $400. So I bought the flight to Mexico and went to Guatemala by island-hopping through Belize.

Ultimately, I made it to Guatemala for half the price of the original place ticket and also visited many other amazing places along the way. Busses are generally relatively cheap, especially in Central America.

7. Find Cheap Flights Anywhere: Set Price Alerts

If you have your heart set on a destination and have some time to spare before you want to go, set up a price alert for the dates you want. That way, you will get a notification via e-mail if the flight suddenly drops in price.

I set up price alerts through Skyscanner.

When looking at flights on Skyscanner, it even tells you if the price is high or low compared to the average. This gives you a sense of whether you should wait or buy now. If it says the prices are high, it might be worth waiting.

It’s hard to predict the best time to buy a flight. I’ve gotten amazing deals two days before and also two months before.  I recommend setting up price alerts if you don’t want to check daily.

Remember that you can’t predict flight prices at the end of the day. Don’t second guess yourself if you find a fare you’re comfortable with.

8. Clear Your Cookies

If you are frequently searching for a flight, make sure you clear your cookies or use an incognito browser.

There is some evidence to show that flight networks will increase prices if you are frequently searching on them and browsing for the same destinations. I’ve noticed this in my own experience!

9. Travel Off-Season

If you travel to a destination during peak season, the flight prices will be higher because airlines know they can get away with it.

I’ve saved significant money traveling during the off-season. For example, I recently saw a flight to Costa Rica from Toronto for $220 return in October. During the busy season, you would pay 3x as much as that, if not more.

Generally, tropical destinations have a rainy and dry season, and the dry season is the most popular/expensive. But unless it’s a full-on monsoon, you can still travel there during the ‘off-season’ and have lots of sunny days.

I just spent my first summer living in Puerto Vallarta during the rainy season, and it was still a wonderful experience. It mostly rained at night, so I could still spend the days on the beach. And it was super cool to watch the thunderstorms from home.

10. Travel-Hack Your Way to Free Flights

Travel hacking is the strategy of using point reward systems to get free travel. It’s completely legal. And if you’re a frequent traveler, I recommend starting, especially if you live in the United States, as they have much better credit card reward systems than Canada.

The idea is to sign up for credit cards with huge point sign-up bonuses over and over again. A lot of credit cards even have promotions where they waive the annual fee for the first year on top of the signup bonus.

You just need to spend a minimum amount in the first couple of months. I sign up for cards, spend what I need to make the bonus points, and then cancel the card before I’m charged the annual fee.

I keep a few cards in circulation to maintain good credit and use the ones that will give me the maximum points for my daily expenses. For example, I have a Visa Infinite credit card with TD, allowing me access to the Expedia for TD portal. If I book travel through there, I get 9 points back for every dollar spent. That helps me get more free travel for booking travel.

For more information on travel hacking and a free course to help get you started, check out 10x Travel.

Note: I don’t recommend this if you are not good at managing credit cards. It can be easy to rack up debt, and managing multiple credit cards requires organizing and diligence.

While I think using credit cards to pay daily expenses to get points is smart, I realize this isn’t suitable for everyone. Be honest with yourself before trying this.

My Top Cards to Check Out:
Capital One Venture X
Chase Saphire Preferred
Chase Freedom Flex

Final Thoughts on Finding Cheap Flights Anywhere

So, there you have it – my top tips for snagging those budget-friendly flights and making your travel dreams a reality without breaking the bank. Remember, it’s all about being flexible, creative, and a little bit savvy. By adopting these strategies, I’ve managed to explore breathtaking destinations around the globe while keeping my finances in check. And you can do it too!

Traveling doesn’t have to be a luxury reserved for the few. With some planning and these insider tips, you’re well on your way to stretching your travel budget further. Imagine all the incredible experiences and memories waiting for you, just a smart flight booking away!

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