How to Find the Cheapest Airfare

Arguably, the most expensive part of our travel is the airfare. It could easily set us back at $100 for a one way ticket to Singapore, Hong Kong or Bangkok or maybe even more. Here are some things tips on how to find cheap airfare.

a.    Plan ahead. Take advantage of those dirt cheap airfare promotions from Cebu Pacific and Air Asia. I was able to get a MNL-BKK P25 (including tax) ticket from Cebu Pacific last December 2008. It’s one of their Zero Airfare promotions with no Fuel Surcharge. Yes, it’s not a typo it’s really P25, cheaper than watching Twilight’s New Moon.

b.    Always compare prices of different airlines. Don’t just book Clark to Singapore just because you saw Cebu Pacific offering it for P1000. Check other airlines like Tiger Airways or Jet Star. You wouldn’t know if the other airlines have a promotion unless you check them out.

c.    Check Manila Bulletin for travel ads. We frequently see them and we always ignore them. Some of them are not just travel agencies, they’re also known as consolidators. They buy bulk tickets and sell it dirt cheap. Compare their prices with your online price. I haven’t personally tried this but I’ve heard a lot about people getting good deals getting their tickets from consolidators.

d.    Check online consolidators as well. They’re not always expensive. For example, I booked a ticket in Ctrip.com for one of my travels in China and the cheapest was around P1500 (including taxes) to fly from one city to another. So I checked the website of the same airline, hoping to find a cheaper price and whoaaa!!! it’s more expensive. The price was almost P5000 for a one way ticket. I booked my ticket in Ctrip and I was able to save P3500 for the same flight.

(Lhasa Airport)

e.    If you’re flying long haul, always check the price if you fly from the hub. Like for example, I was planning to go to South Africa and I checked out Cathay Pacific’s RT price (this was last year) from Manila to Johannesburg. And whoaaa!!! it’s like almost or more than P100K. But if you fly using the same airline from Hong Kong, it will just be around P50K including taxes. It is because Hong Kong is the major hub of Cathay Pacific. So book MNL-HKG via Cebu Pacific and then HKG-Johannesburg (just an example). This plan didn’t materialize though due to lack of funds.

f.    Re-route. If the Cebu Pacific price for Bangkok to Manila seems to be expensive why not check the Air Asia price for Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur and then Kuala Lumpur to Manila. This is one thing that I always do. Some routes have more promotions than others. And sometimes Air Asia offers more promotions than Cebu Pacific and sometimes it’s the other way around.

g.    If you’re traveling in a landlocked country like for example Cambodia. You might as well try doing it overland from Bangkok instead of flying. More often than not, especially if there are no airfare promotions, overland traveling is cheaper.

h.    Don’t forget to bank your miles. Check if the airline has a mileage affiliation or something. Sign up and bank those precious miles. You might be able to fly for free because of those miles. There are also some ways of earning miles other than flying. One is to get a credit card that converts your points into miles, the most flexible that I know is Citibank Premier Miles. Another thing that I do to get miles is by answering surveys and getting miles in return. You may try it if you want, check out www.e-miles.com.

If you have any other suggestions or information to share, please feel free to write it in the comments area. Good luck in finding the cheapest ticket and keep on traveling.

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