How To Book Low Cost Flights

To book low cost flights, be flexible with your travel plans, compare different routes and airports, and most importantly, know where to look when airlines drop their prices.

Finding a genuinely cheap flight is not always as simple as searching for a destination and choosing the lowest fare that appears. Airfares can change quickly, with prices affected by demand, available seats, seasonality, competition and airline promotions. A fare that looks expensive one day can suddenly become much more affordable the next, which is why timing and flexibility can make such a noticeable difference.

Be Flexible With Your Travel Dates

One of the easiest ways to reduce the cost of a flight is to avoid being tied to a particular date. Travelling during school holidays, weekends and peak periods can push prices considerably higher, while travelling at quieter times can open up much cheaper fares.

If you have some flexibility, look at a range of departure dates rather than searching for one specific day. It can also be worth considering early morning or late evening departures, particularly for shorter European trips.

The same applies to your destination. Instead of deciding that you must visit one particular city, look at several destinations that offer a similar type of holiday. A cheap flight to Amsterdam, Portugal, Spain or Italy could be a better option than paying considerably more for one specific city.

Consider Different Airports

Your nearest airport is not necessarily the cheapest place to fly from. Looking at several departure airports can reveal a surprisingly large difference in price.

For UK travellers, this could mean checking London airports as well as regional airports where practical. You should always factor in the cost and time of getting to the airport, but if the saving is substantial, travelling a little further could still leave you with more money to spend when you arrive.

It is also worth checking whether flying into a nearby airport could work. A flight to one city followed by a short train or bus journey can sometimes cost less than flying directly to your preferred destination.

How Does Secret Flight Club Find The Best Low Cost Flight Deals?

This is where Secret Flight Club takes a very different approach from simply searching for flights yourself. Rather than expecting travellers to repeatedly check hundreds of routes and airlines, our service monitors thousands of routes and looks for unusually low fares, limited time offers, special promotions and error fares.

Our team then checks and hand picks deals before sharing them with members, meaning the focus is on finding opportunities when prices fall rather than waiting for travellers to discover them by chance. Members can select their favourite departure airports and receive relevant flight deals directly, while the service also provides access to live deals through the members area. 

The real advantage is that you do not necessarily have to know where you want to go before searching. Instead, a particularly cheap flight can become the starting point for the trip.

One day you might see flights to Tenerife for £48 return, while another deal could uncover flights to Marrakesh from £56 return. Recent Secret Flight Club deals have also included long haul destinations such as Bangkok, Tokyo and Toronto, demonstrating that low cost flying is not limited to short European breaks.

Examples Of Recent Low Cost Flight Savings

The percentages below are calculated from the advertised fare at a given time point, so they should be viewed as indicative rather than guaranteed discounts on every booking.

These examples show why it can pay to look beyond the conventional idea of booking a flight months in advance and hoping you have found the lowest possible price. Secret Flight Club members can save up to 81% on flights, with an average saving of around £143 per return journey.

Do Not Ignore Error Fares

Error fares can be particularly interesting for travellers searching for exceptionally cheap flights. These can occur when an airline or booking system displays an incorrect price, sometimes making a route dramatically cheaper than usual.

The catch is that these fares may not remain available for long. Airlines can correct pricing errors quickly, so discovering an unusually cheap flight is only useful if you are prepared to act when you see it. Secret Flight Club specifically includes error fares among the types of deals it monitors and sends to members.

This is also why constantly searching manually can be frustrating. You could spend hours looking at the same route without seeing the price drop, only for an exceptional fare to appear and disappear between searches.

Think About The Whole Cost

A cheap headline fare is not automatically the cheapest trip. Before booking, check baggage allowances, seat selection, airport transfers and any other charges that could increase the final price.

A £30 flight that requires expensive luggage fees may not represent better value than a £50 fare with more included. Looking at the complete cost gives you a much more realistic picture.

Be Ready To Travel When The Right Deal Appears

Ultimately, booking low cost flights is often about changing the way you search. Instead of choosing a destination, date and airline first and then trying to force the price down, keep your options open and watch for opportunities.

That is the principle behind Secret Flight Club. Deals are continually monitored and sent to members, allowing travellers to discover destinations that they may not originally have considered.

For anyone who enjoys spontaneous trips, flexible weekends or simply wants to make their travel budget go further, this approach can make finding cheap flights much less time consuming. The best fare may not be waiting on the route you searched for yesterday. It could be a completely different destination that suddenly appears at a price that makes booking the trip an easy decision!