Finding cheap flights when traveling is always an adventure. I have found a couple of techniques that work well for me. I recently booked tickets from Calgary to Moscow and I will show you the price comparison using the techniques there.
I personally use Expedia, Travelocity, EasyJet (Europe), individual airline websites and travel agents when trying to find the cheapest arrangements. You may also know of other resources to try.
local tour agents
I usually put together a rough itinerary for a travel agent and then email several of the tourist shops in my town. They should get back to you with quotes. If they don’t get back to you soon, they don’t want your business.
go online
Next, it’s time for online research. This is where I almost always find the cheapest flights. Go to one of the sites I mentioned above or one you’ve heard of.
Write your initial and final destination
This is the the worst you can do, but it is the easiest and will show you the worst price you are seeing. For Calgary (YYC) to Moscow (SVO) on Jul 10, 2007, the cheapest price on Expedia was $1,837. It was for Air Canada and Aeroflot-Russian Airlines.
Why is very expensive? Expedia will book them all on one ticket. I’m not sure but I think this can only be done through partner airlines. There are a couple of positives to this.
- If there are cancellations or other issues, they will make sure you get to your end point regardless. The airline you are on and the airline you will be connecting to will know the status of your flight and can sometimes even make arrangements for you before you land.
- You do not have to collect your checked baggage and re-check it in.
If you want an even bigger scare, take a roundtrip or multi-destination trip with your “flight out” and “flight home.” My wife and I were going from Calgary, Canada to Moscow, Russia and then from Beijing, China to Calgary, Calgary. Tickets are over $3,200 now and over $5,000 when we first looked a month ago.
Note: I am showing one-way trips due to the nature of my trip. Try round trips on online sites if that suits your needs. Then try each direction of your round trip separately. Why? If there are more than 8 hours between your layover or you will already be collecting your checked baggage, there is no advantage to being on the same ticket. So booking a return ticket with the same company makes absolutely no sense unless it is cheaper. Find the cheapest round trip and then find the cheapest one way in each direction.
Split flights using connecting cities
There are a million possibilities here, but you can start guessing based on your own knowledge of geography or by the layovers you see in the “most expensive” flights list above.
Choose cities to go to that are large and have large airports with a large number of flights to choose from. I usually look at London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Houston, Toronto, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Seoul, Tokyo, and Copenhagen (just for my trip to Russia).
You will not have your flights on the same ticket, so keep that in mind. This means that you must retrieve your checked baggage and re-check it in. They won’t necessarily compensate you for your missed connector (they will on flights all on the same ticket). I like to have at least 3 hours between international flights if possible.
I already did this myself, so I’m going to use the cheapest flights I found. I wrote Calgary (YYC) to London (LGW). I found a flight that was leaving on the night of July 10, 2007 to $588 taxes included with Air Transat. He arrives the next morning and there is a flight 3 hours later from London (LGW) to Amsterdam (AMS) with EasyJet to $59 including all taxes and fees. You arrive at 3:20 pm, see a bit of Amsterdam and spend the night in a hotel. The next day there is a flight from Amsterdam (AMS) to Moscow (SVO) to $259 including taxes.
Result: Now it takes me longer and I have to stay in Amsterdam for one night. The total cost is $906 all taxes included. This is half the price of our original listing with Expedia. You’re taking an extra day, but saving over $900 per person. I think it’s really worth the trouble.
Back to Travel Agencies
No doubt the travel agent will have quoted higher than this. He gets back to them with his number and gets their opinion. They might think the scale is too short or something else. They should match you and try to get it all on the same ticket for you. If they can’t, no problem, just try to match them. Then you will have a travel agency that can help you if you have more problems.
A good option to try in Canada is Flight Center. These guys will match the price and then give you a $10 per person discount. For a family of 4 that will set you back $40 on your trip to use for something else. Other than I have used it Travel Cuts
conclusion
There is an order in which I have found the cheapest flights. I will list them from most expensive to cheapest. I’m using my recent flight purchase example. I needed to fly from Calgary to Moscow and from Beijing to Vancouver.
- Book an entire round trip online using only your start and end destinations. This would be a round trip or using the multi-destination feature. that is, a multi-destination flight from Calgary to Moscow and then from Beijing to Vancouver. Both flights on the same ticket.
- Book each part of the outbound trip online using only the start and end destinations. that is, a ticket with Calgary to Moscow. A ticket from Beijing to Vancouver. This is the most expensive of the “no hassle” options. There is no reason for me to have both sections of my flights on the same ticket because they are almost a month apart and I will be getting my checked baggage back.
- Book through a travel agency. They’ll be doing number 2 on their own, but they’ll have better resources to search for.
- Book individual one-way flights on separate tickets through connecting cities to your final destination. i.e. ticket from Calgary to London, ticket from London to Amsterdam, ticket from Amsterdam to Moscow, ticket from Beijing to Vancouver.
There are many other possibilities out there. If you know of any other good techniques and good websites, please post a comment and I’ll link you back.