Flights can be the most expensive part of any trip. Flight prices can also fluctuate wildly, and airlines have all sorts of tricks to squeeze every last dollar out of you. If any of the following scenarios sounds familiar, you might be spending too much on flights.
Take a moment to see if you can change anything about the way you travel:
- You’re paying for hidden fees at the airport
No-frills airlines seem like enticing choices. Their upfront prices can be up to a hundred dollars cheaper than the closest competitors’, but they tack on fees for options the more established carriers provide for free. Baggage fees can easily add an extra $80 to the cost of the ticket, and the option to choose a seat might cost $50 more. If you’re truly okay with the no-frills experience, then the discount airlines might be the way to go. However, passengers often decide last minute that they need to pack an extra bag or don’t want to sit in the last row.
- You’re not comparison shopping on multiple sites
The average traveler checks more than three sites before booking a ticket. Prices for the exact same flight can be different on multiple sites. Even price aggregators like Kayak or Google Flights can differ by as much as $50 for the same flight because of fare rules, ticketing systems and partnership agreements. One site might cost more on some routes while others cost more elsewhere.
At cleverlayover, these small fluctuations can affect whether we show the cheapest price for direct routes. Our main advantage is showing you cheap route hacks that can save many hundreds of dollars when a non-partner airline connection is possible. On those routes, we can safely say we have the cheapest option, but when a flight hack isn’t possible, then we’re on average providing the same prices as competitors and subject to the same price fluctuations.
- You’re purchasing travel insurance
Traditional travel insurance is the most useless product ever. The only reason you’d prefer purchasing travel insurance to lighting your money on fire is because burning money is illegal.
Most insurance policies allow you to recover the cost of the ticket only in tragedy situations that might be covered by the airline’s terms of purchase anyway. At cleverlayover, we’re working to develop insurance that will protect the user from delays, but in the meantime, take a pass on insurance purchased on other sites.
- You’re not taking the cheapest routes
When you search a route on most search engines, they only show you direct flights and layovers that have been chosen by airlines. Those aren’t always the cheapest flights. By picking a layover location yourself and then separating the legs into two separate searches, you could potentially save hundreds of dollars. Choosing the right layover by hand will be difficult. That’s why cleverlayover searches all the possibilities for the specific purpose of finding the cheapest one. Try using cleverlayover if you’re interested in automating the process.
- You’re not flexible and opportunistic in your travel
The same flight routes fluctuate in pricing depending on seasonality, time of the day, day of the week and more. If you’re only travelling during the holidays and summer, then you’re probably paying more for your vacations than travellers during the off-season.
You can save money by avoiding any of these pitfalls. Do you pay too much for your travel? Hopefully you’ll be able to pay less in the future!
By Phil