Here are our top tips for slashing the cost of your next flight, including how to get rewards, discounts and even free flights.
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Flight comparison websites such as KAYAK, Skyscanner, Cheapflights, momondo, Fly.com and Google Flights may help to cut the cost of your next holiday.
Most of these sites have features that let you do so much more than simply look at prices for a particular route and day.
Most sites will let you look at the cheapest prices over entire months, alternative airports you can use, and highlight destinations and prices on a map to help you easily compare prices.
Particularly within Europe, flying to a less well-known airport can lead to considerable savings, although you should consider airport transfer costs.
Also, don't forget to check the airlines' own websites. You could find a cheaper price and even perks, such as a free stay at a hotel during a stopover.
It is also usually cheaper to amend or cancel flights booked directly with an airline.
If you go to a foreign airline's website and change your location to that country, you may be able to find cheap domestic fares (EgyptAir is one example), or domestic fare packages.
If you do opt for this method, bear in mind that you'll be paying in a foreign currency, which could incur extra charges from your card provider.
Look out for age-related discounts for kids and under-30s with STA Travel, although frustratingly there's no mandatory discount for children.
Ask these questions
Book your seats separately
Booking as a group can get you a great discount but, in some cases, can lead to you paying more when it comes to flights.
Airlines have a set number of seats available at different price brackets.
Once these seats have been sold, you’ll be paying the next higher price, which is when you’d see alerts such as ‘one seat remaining at this price!’.
If you decide to book as a group of four, for example, you won’t get the one cheaper seat and then three from the more expensive bracket, but rather all four seats at the higher price.
We looked at some flights with British Airways and Ryanair to see if booking separately would make a difference.
British Airways:
We chose a flight from London to Berlin with British Airways, which advertised ‘five left at £101’.
Booking those five tickets and then the sixth separately came to £644, or £107.33 per person.
But booking all six tickets together came to £834, making it £139 per person, as we were automatically given six from the more expensive price bracket.
Even if you factor in paying extra to select your seats, which can cost between £7 and £50 in Economy with British Airways, you’ll still save money by buying separately.
Ryanair:
For Ryanair, we looked at return flights for four from London to Rome and were told there was ‘one seat remaining’ at the price of £76.98.
By booking that one seat separately, and then the other three together, the four tickets came to £349.92. When we looked at buying four tickets in one go, the total was £363.92.
Flight comparison site KAYAK refused to comment on whether or not booking separately made flights cheaper for customers but did highlight some of the possible problems of not buying flights together.
“There can be a number of risks when booking flights separately. For example, the flight may sell out before the whole group has booked all of their flights, or travellers may not be able to sit together,” says Sophie Gough, senior director at KAYAK Europe.
It is possible to work around these potential problems by booking early and reserving seats. If you are willing to take the above risks, there are definitely savings to be made.
Get an airline credit card
Join an airline flight club
Both British Airways' Executive Club scheme and Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club are free to join, and you can find out more about the perks on offer here.
It's important that you only sign up to a frequent flyer scheme that suits your needs.
You can usually begin to get free (taxes-only) flights once you've earned a few thousand points with British Airways, or slightly more with Virgin, as its flights are generally longer.
There are good benefits to be earned through both flight clubs and you've got nothing to lose by signing up, but it is quite difficult to earn enough points by only flying short haul.
It's also worth noting that airlines often restrict the number of seats available to those using frequent flyer points, so you'll need to book early to reap the rewards.
Volunteer to be bumped
If you're fairly flexible with your travel times and dates, you can volunteer to be bumped from your flight.
Check the seating plan on the flight in advance as it could be a good indicator of whether it'll be overbooked. In fact, some flights might already be overbooked before you get there.
After you arrive at the airport, get to the gate early and let the flight crew know that you're willing to be bumped if there aren't enough seats for everyone.
They won't know if the flight is overbooked until boarding, so be patient. You're also more likely to get bumped off if you only have hand luggage, so that’s worth keeping in mind.
While you're waiting, listen out for announcements asking for volunteers who are happy to give up their seats.
Compensation varies if you volunteer to be bumped, but you'll often get flight vouchers worth more than the price you paid or other rewards such as upgrades and cash, as well as a seat on a later flight.
You're also entitled to a refund if you no longer wish to fly at all.
For travel inspiration and destination guides, take a look at our sister site loveEXPLORING