When is it cheaper to buy plane tickets? How to buy the cheapest air tickets. Cheapest flight times from Russia

Many friends are surprised how I manage to buy air tickets 2-3 times cheaper than others. Some people do not believe that tickets abroad can be purchased much cheaper than within their own country. Yes, there are a few tricks here. I’ve been meaning to write this post for a long time and collect everything you need to know to buy cheap tickets. And finally :)

In this article, I will not tell platitudes about airline mileage programs, and that it is better to buy tickets in advance at sales - everyone knows about this. I'll try to give more practical advice. But I’ll start with the obvious... Many independent travelers They ignore charters, but in vain - this can significantly save money.

Lifehack 1. The first, most obvious thing is to take cheap tours or charter tickets when traveling abroad. But keep in mind that in this case you are limited either by the number of days of stay, or if you use a ticket only “there”, you can buy a return ticket at a very high cost.

Once I was lucky to buy two tours for the price of one flight “there” - this happens especially often in regions from where there are not always direct flights even to Europe, but charters do fly.

On the tour, you can only use the flight, and settle where it is more convenient, or arrange your own trip around the country. You just need to make sure that the return plane does not take off without you - after all, charters are often rescheduled. To do this, arrange for a travel agent to keep you informed, or return to your base hotel the day before departure.

It is better to plan your trip in advance and buy a single round-trip air ticket - usually such tickets are non-refundable and all changes can only be made for an additional fee, so the trip must be planned without changes.

Life hack 2. Round-trip tickets are usually cheaper than round-trip and then return tickets, so always check round-trip tickets rather than just one-way tickets.
Important! It is not necessary to take a return ticket from the same city where you are arriving. The main thing is that you take a return ticket from the same airline using a single route - choose a “composite route”.

But keep in mind that having bought a round-trip ticket, if you do not fly there, the return ticket will be lost. However, you can get sick and not go at all, and then what? Then even a non-refundable rate can be returned by additionally purchasing insurance.

Life hack 3. If you are afraid that you will not be able to fly, buy travel insurance that includes not only medical services, but also “trip cancellation” - this is cheaper than buying additional insurance on the airline’s website. But carefully read in the conditions what is insured - usually the insurance does not compensate for losses if you simply change your mind, but if you get sick and present a certificate from the hospital, then the money will be returned even for a “non-refundable” rate.

I have already written about which travel insurance is best to take.

In the photo: S7 airline specialists skillfully work with each passenger

There is an opinion that the best way to sign up for newsletters about “reduced ticket prices” is on airline websites, but this is just a clever trick by airlines to get your email. This way you will only receive advertising and news about promotions that are already known to everyone. Therefore, it is enough to subscribe to news and promotions from the airline on social networks - there will be more benefits.

Life hack 4. It is better to monitor low prices yourself, because... There are usually few really cheap air tickets, they are quickly sold out and such information never reaches the mailing list.

But how to search correctly? If there are many airlines flying from your city, then monitoring all sites in search of cheap air tickets is quite difficult. I'm telling you:

Which website for cheap flight tickets is better?

You can buy cheap air tickets on the airline's website, or you can use aggregator sites. Where is better? If the price is not as important as the airline, we wait for sales on the airline’s website; if it is important to buy air tickets inexpensively, and at the same time you don’t care which airline, we use aggregator sites, also called cheap airline ticket sites. Moreover, on these sites you can find low prices even for low-cost airlines! Below I will show you how and where to look.

Many people know, for example, Yandex.Avia, but not everyone knows sites where you can not only compare tickets different airlines, but also choose the cheapest month; and if you have already chosen the month, then that’s it cheap destination, where to fly. This is very convenient when you want to fly somewhere, but it’s cheap.

Life hack 5. Using cheap flight ticket websites you can find most cheap city , where to fly, and also cheapest month, not just a day!

Where to look? Where prices are not higher than on official airline websites. Many times I compared prices in aggregators with prices on the official websites of airlines. So far, I like the Kupibilet.ru website more than others - sometimes the prices are even lower than on airline websites. I don’t know how it works, but it’s always nice to buy cheaper, especially since there are no problems with such tickets. After the purchase, you can call the airline directly and ask for the reservation number - they always confirm, you don’t have to worry.

In addition, the Buy Ticket has a convenient service - selection of smart routes– flights of different airlines connect, and they also provide free insurance against delays at the connection.
They didn’t like their bonus program, but everything else was great. Good support service. After the purchase, they send SMS with flight notifications and reminders - you feel cared for the client, it’s nice.

How to buy cheap air tickets within the country

Don't be afraid of connecting flights. Also check flights not only to final destination, but also to other nearby airports.

For example, when going on vacation to Gelendzhik, check flights not only to Gelendzhik airport, but also to Krasnodar - from there in just 3 hours - this way you can save a lot on air tickets in the summer season.

Before buying a plane ticket, remember that lowest price usually does not include food, luggage, seat selection and airport check-in– carefully read the conditions of what is included in the transportation. For example, at Pobeda Airlines you have to pay extra for all this; they even charge money for luggage inside the cabin (see tariffs).

Lifehack 6. To fly cheaper:
– take only hand luggage with you so you don’t have to pay extra for luggage;
– check in online on the airline’s website, not at the airport;
– board the plane well-fed :)

However, keep in mind that not everything can be taken in hand luggage. Read in detail: . And also keep in mind that different airlines have different conditions - you will only find details on the airline's website.

If you are flying with your family and have a lot of luggage, then first calculate how much money you will end up with: ticket price + seats to sit next to you + luggage + food on the plane. Perhaps flying on low-cost airlines is ultimately unprofitable for you, then choose another airline and check the conditions.

Lifehack 7. Use filters when searching for cheap flights. For example, you can exclude unloved airlines from your search results or search only for direct flights.

What is a low price calendar

If you know exactly where you want to fly, then the easiest way to find the cheapest air tickets is using the low price calendar. We select from where and where, and then open the calendar (click “there” in the form) and select dates with low prices for air tickets:

For example, using the calendar it is easy to find the cheapest air tickets from Moscow to Simferopol or Milan, from Kyiv to Odessa and to any other destinations.

How to buy cheaper tickets for direct flights

Most often, connecting flights are cheaper than direct flights, but this is not always convenient. Therefore, if you want to save money, but still fly on a direct flight, then you need to start looking for a ticket 6 months in advance, using the low price calendar. Or you need to look for the city you need among the Hidden City (intermediate city). This travel hack is based on the fact that tickets with transfers are cheaper than direct ones.

Life hack 8. The passenger does not have to fly all the way, he can get off at an intermediate stop! Such flights are sometimes more profitable than direct ones. This trick is called Hidden City.

Let me explain what Hidden City is. For example, you need to go to Paris, but tickets are very expensive. However, you have learned that there are cheaper flights that go somewhere else but stop in Paris. We take such a ticket, but we check in our luggage only to Paris, and in Paris we get off. Ready!
Keep in mind that this only works on a one-way ticket!!!

Example.
I'll show you what it looks like and where to watch Hidden City.
We need to take a direct flight from Moscow to Paris. We look at the low price calendar - the lowest price is 6348 rubles, here:

In the photo: calendar of low prices for direct flights Moscow – Paris

If we look for flights with “hidden city” (we look at the cheapest flights from Moscow with one transfer - check the box “1 transfer” as in the picture below), we find that a flight from Moscow to Frankfurt with a stop in Paris costs 3,781 rubles.

In the photo: ticket price Moscow – Paris using “hidden city”

We just check in our luggage for Paris, and then get out in Paris! In total, we bought a direct flight to Paris at almost 2 times cheaper.

Finding Hidden City is not easy, but it is possible, for example, on the Skiplagged website.

How to fly abroad cheaply

We are looking for air tickets in the same way as already described above. Choose the desired country and the city.

We just take into account that tickets to popular cities can be significantly more expensive than less popular ones, from which you can comfortably travel by bus for pennies, and at the same time see another city and.

In the photo: wifi even worked on the Flixbus bus during the journey

By the way, such bus trips are especially popular in Europe.

Lifehack 9. Combine air travel with bus travel. If you're planning to visit a city that only has expensive airfare, check ticket prices in nearby cities and take a bus to the main city - you can save up to 70% on airfare!

For example, I want to fly to Vienna. Flights to Vienna are usually expensive. We open a regular map and find the nearest cities where air tickets are cheaper - Bratislava, Budapest (usually a flight is 2 times cheaper than to Vienna). From Bratislava to Vienna it takes 1 hour by FlixBus, costs 5 euros. From Budapest to Vienna it takes 3 hours by bus, costs 14 euros.
FlixBus is a very convenient low-cost bus service in Europe, I traveled with them a lot. See instructions. In general, if you don’t have children, it’s very convenient to move around. Val D'orcia – best views And most beautiful places in Tuscany, Italy

How to find out the cheapest destinations? I already wrote about this above, but I’ll add a list of the most popular:

From Moscow, the lowest round-trip prices

Bratislava (Slovakia) from 60 euros
Cologne (Germany) from 70 euros
Memmingen-Allgau (Germany, Munich) from 70 euros
Minsk from 70 euros
Milan (Italy) from 85 euros, Rome

From Kyiv, the lowest round-trip prices

Warsaw (Poland) from 34 euros
Tbilisi (Georgia) from 40 euros
Prague (Czech Republic) from 45 euros

I talked about the most important thing, I just want to remind you that:

Lifehack 10. If you found favorable air ticket, then it’s better to buy right away. While you are making a purchase, the price is fixed for you, but as soon as you leave the site, the price may change next time.

Also, don’t be afraid to discover new things! If you are tied to work and have a vacation every year in the same month (not at all cheap for a flight), then at least change the place of your vacation.

By buying cheap air tickets, you can travel not 1-2 times a year, but much more often. The cost of an air ticket depends on the day of the week, season, number of days before departure and much more, which is useful to know before you start booking. Read our tips for buying cheap flights and start saving on your flights now.

Buy air tickets at night or early in the morning before the start of the working day. Ticket prices are lower at this time and there is more choice.
Choose flexible dates. See all flight options for the coming dates (± 3 days). Look for favorable dates through the low price calendar.
Best price for air tickets happens 2 months (50-60 days) before the flight departure. It is more profitable to buy tickets to summer destinations in December. The fewer empty seats on the plane, the higher their cost.
Subscribe to airline newsletters and be the first to know about promotions and special offers. Regular sales take place from February to March and from October to November. Keep an eye on Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions (end of November) - airlines offer good discounts.
Buy air tickets with departure/arrival in the middle of the week. The cheapest tickets are sold on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and the most expensive tickets are sold on weekends and holidays. Try to spend the night from Saturday to Sunday at your chosen destination.
Flights departing in the evening or at night are cheaper than in the morning or during the day. In this case it is necessary to take into account additional expenses by taxi (other modes of transport may not be available).
Fly in the off-season. The off-season doesn't necessarily mean bad weather, it's just that fewer people travel during this time, which means prices drop not only for air tickets, but also for hotels.
Buy air tickets in both directions at once (RT–Round Trip). A one-way ticket (OW–One Way) may cost more than a refundable one.
Look for last minute flights to charter flights. Unsold seats on charter flights appear several days before departure. Flight destinations include resorts and popular cities to which tours are sold.
Fly with transfers. Flying with one airline with a convenient connection can save a significant amount. Be sure to pay attention to the time between connecting flights and the total duration of the flight.
Fly low-cost airlines. Budget airlines (low-cost airlines, discounters) always offer the lowest prices for air travel. The ticket price will be especially favorable if you do not pay extra for Additional services: luggage, seat selection, meals. There are currently two low-cost airlines flying from Russia and wizzair. Each country has its own low-cost airlines.
When searching for air tickets, use search engines. Metasearch engines immediately find all flight options for a given destination and all you have to do is choose.

Buying a plane ticket these days is not difficult - a simple query in a search engine will immediately give you dozens, even hundreds of links to sites where you can make a purchase. These can be official websites of airlines, websites of travel companies and agencies. But how to choose the optimal one from all the variety of offers? How to search for cheap flights? How to save on buying air tickets? How long before departure is it better to buy? Having studied your own experience, the experience of fellow travelers, as well as information various airlines and agencies on the Internet, we have collected answers to these and other questions in the form of 18 life hacks. After studying them, you will receive the necessary knowledge in order to buy the most profitable air tickets.

Search on airline ticket aggregator sites

To quickly and easily find the right air ticket at a good price, it makes sense to use metasearch engines or, in other words, aggregators. These are sites that do not carry out sales themselves, but perform the function of collecting information from airline websites and travel companies. Thanks to this service, you can literally in half a minute see offers from various carriers for the desired flight, sorted by ascending price, and choose the option that suits you. In addition, you can customize search filters to suit your wishes. For example, show only non-stop offers, select only evening departure times, show only certain airlines, and so on. In a word, customize the search for yourself and get only offers that satisfy your own needs.Once the choice is made, the aggregator site will redirect you to the website of the airline or sales agency to pay for tickets.

The most popular and convenient metasearch engines for air tickets are Aviasales and Skyscanner. See how it works - try searching for the direction you are interested in:

Aviasales has a very convenient mobile app, which is a pleasure to use on both iOS devices (download) and Android devices (download).

Use incognito mode in your browser

Modern browsers with which you view pages on the Internet save your browsing history, and sites selling airline tickets can easily use it. For example, you monitor ticket prices for a destination you are interested in for several days in a row, and the system gradually increases the price, or displays a message that tickets are completely running out and there are only a couple of seats left. All this is done with the sole purpose of giving you the impression that prices are rising, seats are about to run out and to encourage you to buy a ticket as soon as possible. These tricks can be circumvented by turning on the “incognito” mode in the browser, which does not save or take into account browsing history and cookies. To launch this mode, you can use a keyboard shortcut, depending on your browser:

Chrome or Opera: Ctrl + Shift + N (Windows), Cmd + Shift + N (Mac).
Firefox: Ctrl + Shift + P (Windows), Cmd + Shift + P (Mac).
Safari: Shift + Cmd + N (Mac).
Internet Explorer: Ctrl + Shift + P (Windows).

The same function is available for smartphones. For example, if you have an iPhone, then in the Safari browser for iOS it is called “Private” or “Private Access” in Russian translation. And if you have an Android smartphone, then in the Chrome browser you can use “New incognito tab”.

Browse the Internet anonymously

The incognito mode described above does not take into account the history of your previous visits, but at the same time does not hide other available information about you. This may be the browser and device from which you access the site, as well as your physical location. For example, if we try to access the flight aggregator Skyscanner from Indonesia, we will automatically be shown the Indonesian version of the site, and will also select the local currency (rupiah) to display all prices. From this we conclude that information about us is accessible and successfully used. But it can be used not only for the convenience of users, but also for separate pricing. With a high degree of probability, Macbook owners (as expensive products) or people located in a developed country (USA, UK, etc.) will be offered higher prices.

To avoid this, you can use a service called VPN (Virtual Private Network), in Russian it is a “virtual private network”. The service allows you to replace your real IP address with a virtual one, so sites will not know your actual location, as well as the device from which you access the Internet.

One of the most popular and easy to use is the Hola service. It is installed as a browser extension and supports all the most popular ones - Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Android, Internet Explorer. Through Hola, you can choose the country whose IP address we will imitate. Thus, you can, for example, use the Yandex.Music service, which is available for free only to people in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus or Kazakhstan, even while outside these states. And also compare prices for air tickets under different countries. Of course, there is no point in looking at all countries of the world; it is enough to check one developed western country(Great Britain, Germany), one Eastern European (Romania, Hungary), one Asian (Thailand, Vietnam) and Russia. And choose the most inexpensive option.

Don't fly during high season

Modern pricing almost everywhere involves the principle of seasonality, in which the highest price is offered during periods of greatest demand. For example, if we go to the cinema on Friday or Saturday evening, we will pay 2 or even 3 times more for watching the same film compared to Monday morning. The same thing happens with air tickets. For flights from Russia, the high season is the end of December, new year holidays, May holidays, and also almost all summer. During these periods, you will have to significantly overpay for tickets in almost all directions. The most favorable time for flights from Russia is the period from mid-January to the end of February, as well as from the beginning of November to mid-December. At this time you can save up to 30% compared to the high season, and sometimes even more. If you don't believe me, compare the prices yourself. It is understandable that many people find it difficult to find the opportunity to go to the cinema on Monday morning or go on a trip in November, but with a lot of desire and a limited budget, nothing is impossible! In addition, you can try intermediate options, such as September or October.

Fly midweek

The same applies to the days of the week. Weekends are traditionally in higher demand because most people usually go on vacation on Saturday or Sunday, after the end of the work week, and return on the same days, at the end of the vacation and the beginning of a new five-day work week. Monday and Friday are popular days to start and end business trips. We conclude that the most profitable days for flights are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Don't be tied to specific dates, be more flexible

It often happens that we plan a flight on a certain day and do not consider any other options. However, it may well be that by checking dates a couple of days earlier or later, we can find a much cheaper ticket. The largest aggregators Aviasales and Skyscanner have a low price calendar function, which clearly shows in the form of a table or graph the most favorable dates for flights in the desired direction.

Fly on low-cost airlines

Low-cost airlines (English: low cost) are airlines that offer lower ticket prices, while cutting down on service and all additional services. On such flights, the price does not include luggage (hand luggage only), there is no free food on board, there is no refund option for a paid ticket, self-pre-registration online and printing is required boarding pass. If you are not confused by any of the listed nuances, you can save a decent amount. Here are the most popular low-cost airlines: RyanAir (all of Europe), easyJet (Europe), WizzAir (central Europe), AirAsia (all of Asia), TigerAir (Asia), GoAir (India) and many others.

Fly from major hubs

There are many cities in the world that are large transport “hubs” with large developed airports and a huge amount flights in various directions. Because of this, since there are many more flight options and more competition, it is often much cheaper to fly from such major hubs. In Russia, as you might guess, such a city is Moscow. Therefore, if you are going, for example, to India, then even if you live in St. Petersburg, do not be lazy to check flights from the capital. You can get from St. Petersburg to Moscow by train or bus, spending only 1000 rubles, but you can save a much larger amount on a flight from Moscow. There are quite a lot of similar examples. If you are in Phuket in Thailand, check flights from Bangkok. If you're in Penang, Malaysia, check flights from Kuala Lumpur. And so on.

Using the example of air tickets to Bangkok, we demonstrate that flights from Moscow are much cheaper than from other major Russian cities:

Share your route and use local low-cost airlines

Sometimes, to save on flights, you can try to divide the route into 2 or more sections. To get started, you can fly to one of the major transport hubs, which were described above, if you wish, stay there for a day or two, and then fly to your final point by plane local airlines. This method can be much cheaper direct flight. For example, we are from Moscow and want to relax in Thailand on the island of Phuket. Instead of taking a more expensive direct flight, we can first fly with the same Aeroflot to Bangkok, see the capital of Thailand, and then get to our final destination with the local low-cost airline AirAsia. The money saved will just allow us to live one or two days in Bangkok.

Consider exchange rate information

If your future flight is international, then the ticket price in rubles will be calculated based on the dollar or euro exchange rate. Where does this course come from? Most often it is installed International Association Air Transport(IATA) once a week. This happens on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. The new rate is formed from the rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, rounded up to 50 kopecks, and begins to operate at 0:00 every Wednesday. The established rate will be valid until the end of next Tuesday. Accordingly, for example, if you see that the ruble is growing, then it makes sense to wait until next Wednesday to buy a ticket at a more favorable rate. If the ruble falls, then, on the contrary, have time to make a purchase before the end of next Tuesday. However, it is worth noting that the IATA rate is not forced to be used by airlines; some can calculate it themselves.

Use search in all directions

If you have not yet decided where you want to go and are free to choose your destination, try searching in all directions. It will show you all the airports you can fly to from your current location in ascending order of price. With this approach, you can find the optimal solution that combines your desires with your current financial capabilities.

Buy tickets in advance

What is the best time before departure to buy air tickets? The question is quite ambiguous. The well-known American airline ticketing agency CheapAir conducted a major study, examining data from 1.3 billion fares on almost 3 million flights (a flight in their case is a round-trip route from point A to point B with fixed dates). As a result of the study, the optimal time to purchase tickets was calculated - 54 days before departure. According to statistics, this is when they have the lowest cost. Of course, this is an average result and may not work for every specific case. Therefore, for greater clarity, CheapAir has allocated 5 time zones for purchasing air tickets. Airlines typically begin selling tickets 11 months before departure, setting fairly high prices, which tend to decline thereafter. The decline can continue until there are only 3 weeks left before the flight. The most profitable period for purchase is 21-112 days before departure, and the least profitable period is 0-13 days before departure. It is clear that the spread of the optimal time was almost 3 months, which is quite a lot. But it is precisely at this time that it makes sense to most actively check changes in ticket prices.

Check charter flights

If you like to buy air tickets at the last minute, a few days before departure, or you simply have such circumstances - you urgently need to fly in the very near future, then it makes sense to try to find an inexpensive charter flight. Such flights are usually purchased by travel agencies and are intended for package tours. But almost always last days before the departure date still remain free places, which are offered for sale at very attractive prices. The most popular site for finding last-minute tickets for charter flights is Tourdom.ru. The downside is that you can only find popular ones there tourist destinations. For example, from Moscow they usually fly to Bangkok, Phuket, Goa, Nha Trang, Rhodes and other in great demand Russians have places.

Subscribe to price update newsletters

From the largest aggregators air tickets Aviasales and Skyscanner has a subscription feature for price changes. By selecting the direction and date of the expected departure and leaving your email address, you will receive an email when the cost of tickets changes. Don't be afraid, letters will arrive no more than once a day. As soon as you understand that the price suits you, or you get tired of waiting for it to go down, you can proceed to purchase!

Follow airline promotions

Airlines like to organize various promotions and Special offers, when tickets can be bought at very interesting prices. Such promotions bring them a significant percentage of sales, so they organize them quite often. To stay informed and not miss a profitable ticket, you can subscribe to our newsletters. However, we are unlikely to want to litter our Mailbox hundreds of letters from all possible airlines, so it makes sense to look at sites that find and collect interesting promotions in one place. Try it vandrouki.by, 100500miles.ru and piratesru.com.

Buy round-trip tickets

If you know the date of your return flight and are sure that you will not want to stay longer where you are flying, feel free to buy a round-trip ticket. It will always cost an order of magnitude cheaper than if you took flights separately. See for yourself using the example of the Moscow-Phuket flight:

Earn miles

Many airlines have bonus programs. If you fly often, then by participating in such a program, over time you can accumulate enough points (miles) for a free ticket. Aeroflot, S7, AirAsia and many other airlines have similar programs. If you are an avid traveler, take the time to register and provide your account number with every purchase. It will take a minimum of time, but in the future there is a chance to fly for free.

You can earn miles not only by purchasing tickets, but also on any purchases in general - many airlines cooperate with banks that issue special debit or credit cards. By paying with them, you can accumulate treasured miles. An example of such a card is “All Airlines” from Tinkoff Bank. Once you sign up, you will immediately receive 1,000 welcome miles to your account. Further, when paying for any purchases with this card, you will receive 2% of the total cost in your account in the form of miles. And for certain purchases the size of bonuses can be 5% or even 10%. When you have accumulated enough miles for the desired ticket, you can travel for free!

Act smart

And finally, the final, but no less important piece of advice - act wisely. There is no point in spending several hours, bothering with a VPN, and so on, in order to save 300-500 rubles on a flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Most likely, you will earn more if you spend this time on your work or business. Compare the time spent searching for profitable tickets and the benefits you can get as a result. And if you feel that it is not worth it, just make a choice and make a purchase.

The hot season is coming. Be prepared so as not to be deceived.

This summer many of us will remain in Russia. These are the realities. Let's go to the South, and extreme sportsmen will go to the North. Thanks to the sanctions, interest in my native country has appeared; everything has its advantages.

Let's take into account 10 clever lifehacks for saving on tickets, which were recommended to us by professionals.

1. By visiting the site several times, the price increases

Automatic algorithms constantly monitor your actions on the Internet in order to withdraw maximum money from you. For example, prices automatically increase if you look for tickets on several sites in a row.

Many people are beginning to think that tickets are becoming more expensive right now, they are breaking, and they are being bought at an increased price.

2. Ticket prices are higher with Mac and iPhone than with PC

Mac and iPhone owners are said to be seeing increased ticket prices. We are, like, richer than Windows users. We may also be shown more often that there are (supposedly) few seats left on the plane. The list of tricks is huge, we will write a separate article about this.

How to avoid: initially choose a service that sells tickets, and does not collect offers from dozens of sites and is not responsible for future fate passenger when purchasing a ticket. The fewer intermediate links, the better.

3. Tickets must be purchased 3-4 weeks in advance

Some say that you have to wait, while others say that you should take it in advance. If you look at the general price statistics for Russian destinations, you will never get low prices a couple of days before departure.

Example:

Moscow – Adler – Moscow: June 10 from 7,000 rubles.
Moscow – Adler – Moscow: August 10 from 9,000 rubles.

Check it yourself: find out how much a ticket costs now Moscow-Adler, What are the options:

4. Keep an eye on charter flights - they may be cheaper

Many online services do not show offers for charter flights. But in vain, because the price for many charters is often lower than for regular airline flights.

Most importantly, tickets for charter flights actually become cheaper as the departure date approaches. Such planes need to be filled to capacity, so the price tends to go down as demand falls.

This is a foreign version, but very interesting. Check out charter flight Moscow – Burgas:

Charter flights can be viewed in the Aviakassa application for iOS in a special tab.

5. Not about Russia. The best deals appear from Tuesday to Wednesday

These days the exchange rate in the reservation system changes. You will have to buy quickly, because there are a lot of “smart” ones on the Internet. Remember that the price may also increase at this point. This is roulette.

6. Plan your flight before or after the busy season

By the way, their application was placed by Apple on the main page in the top position - that is, it received official"approved".

P.S. People, if you know any other life hacks or tricks that work inside Russia and in general, share them in the comments. And write where you are going to fly (or go) this summer. Maybe you know a good place, a hotel where you can relax in a European way?

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How to get the cheapest air ticket

Everyone knows the mythical Vasily, who flies from Moscow to Bangkok for 20 euros.

It's very cheap. But you go to the site with tickets - and everything is expensive there, as always. To fly cheap, you have to be smart. In this article we will tell you how to get the cheapest possible air tickets.

Ekaterina Kachalina

journalist

1. Hide from surveillance

You are not faceless on the Internet. Search engines know what city you live in, what kind of tickets you are interested in and what device you are looking for them from. On the same flight, a New Yorker will see more high price than an Indian from Delhi.

If you are looking for tickets on an iPhone or iPad, the tickets will cost you more than if you were looking on an Android. And if you enter the same search query twice into the aggregator, you will see how the price increases with each query. You are tempted to buy right now so that you don’t have to pay even more later.

These are all marketing gimmicks.

Outsmart the system: clear your cookies or set your browser to incognito mode. This way, the aggregator will not know whether you have looked for these tickets before.

To open a new page in incognito mode, use the following hotkeys:
Ctrl + Shift + N in Google Chrome or Opera
Ctrl + Shift + P in Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer
Command + Shift + N in Safari

It’s even better to use an anonymizer - a program that “hides” all data about your device and location. Download the Tunnelbear program (you need to register) or go to an online anonymizer website, for example hideme.ru. Try playing with the settings of such a program with your computer’s IP address: pretend that you live in South Asia or Latin America and you will see lower prices.

Don't forget about currency conversion. If the site shows prices in pesos, then when paying, the money on your ruble card is converted twice: first into dollars, then into pesos. The bank will write off a commission for each transaction. Calculate whether such a purchase is profitable.

2. Don't get attached to a place

It is usually cheapest to fly from Moscow because it is a large hub and many airlines fly through it. But if you live in another city, don't worry. Go to Moscow by train and fly out safely.

St. Petersburg residents were even luckier. You can easily get to Helsinki or Lappenranta, where European low-cost airlines fly from.

You can also save on where you fly. In Europe, the larger the airport, the more money it charges for aircraft maintenance. Choose small airports in non-capital cities. Flying to the Dutch town of Eindhoven is usually cheaper than flying to Amsterdam. When traveling to Germany, check ticket prices to Frankfurt and Dusseldorf.

3. Choose in the budget sector

Airlines are divided into low-cost and more expensive. The best offers are available from European low-cost airlines. If you book a ticket in advance, then for 10 euros you can fly from Helsinki to anywhere in Europe.

Ticket aggregators often ignore these tickets because they have low fees and look more profitable than high-fee regular tickets. You need to look for cheap tickets yourself on airline websites or on special resources: azair.eu, kiwi.com (formerly skypicker.com).

When buying a ticket for a low-cost airline, carefully read the airline's rules. In exchange for the money saved, you will deprive yourself of meals on board, the chance to return a ticket or change a date, and sometimes free baggage allowance. You need to register for such a flight yourself via the Internet. At the airport this service is paid separately.

Wizz Air and the first domestic low-cost airline Pobeda fly from Russia. You can fly to or from Italy with Air Italy, to Latvia with Air Baltic, with Germany with Germanwings and Air Berlin, and the leader of low-cost carriers in Asia is Air Asia.

4. Seize the day

Another inexpensive option is a charter flight. Charters only fly to certain destinations and only during high season. These are the flights that travel agencies use as part of package tours. It happens that the agency does not fill the plane completely - then “last minute” tickets can be redeemed at the last minute on special websites.

A charter flight may be rescheduled at the last minute. But the prices are even lower than those of low-cost airlines:

Screenshot from the website www.tourdom.ru

Look for charter flights on the websites chabooka.ru, clickavia.ru, tourdom.ru.

5. Take advantage of someone else's mistake

Special advice from an expert on erroneous tariffs

Mikhail Lyubich

founder
100500miles.ru

Sometimes airlines offer cheap tickets not as part of a promotion, but by mistake. An employee could have made a typo in the price, calculated the fuel surcharge incorrectly, or put a decimal in the wrong place. No one is immune from such mistakes.

Erroneous rates usually only exist for a couple of hours until they are corrected. But if you manage to book a ticket during this time, it is rightfully yours. Therefore, you need to book such tickets immediately.

Never call the airline or agent for clarification unless you want the erroneous fare to be covered. You don't risk anything. The worst thing that can happen is that the reservation will be canceled and your money will be returned.

Most often, erroneous fares can be found on aggregator websites; sometimes they are also found on airline websites. It is preferable to buy tickets on airline websites, as there is less chance of cancellation.

6. Make it more difficult

On ticket aggregators, connecting flights are almost always cheaper than direct flights. This happens because it is profitable for airlines to fill flights using them base airports(hubs). Aeroflot has Sheremetyevo, Pobeda has Vnukovo, Emirates has Dubai.

Sometimes you can get a significant discount if you create a route with several connections. Many aggregators allow you to create your own difficult route. Experiment with flights to Stockholm via Helsinki and to Asia via Bangkok. Try to get a return ticket from neighboring city or even countries.

In 2014, you could fly on a trip to Dublin - Mahe (Seychelles) - Mauritius - Paris for only 29,000 rubles:

Screenshot from the website www.make-trip.ru

Advanced travelers actively use stopovers - “transfers” lasting more than 24 hours. This is an opportunity to see one more country on a budget. A stopover is issued by the airline after purchasing connecting tickets. Find out in advance if this is possible on your flight. And don’t forget to check what documents are needed to leave the airport at an intermediate point.

7. Cut off the excess

A trick for the most cunning: buy a ticket with a transfer and just ignore the last segment. Let's say you are going to Estonia. Go to the aggregator and find that a flight Moscow - Oslo with a connection in Tallinn will cost less than a direct flight to Tallinn. It's a shame? On the contrary, it is very convenient.

Ask the airport counter to check your luggage to your connecting point or fly with hand luggage and upon arrival in Tallinn, calmly exit the airport. No one will stop you.

To use this life hack, you need to know which airlines fly to the city you need and at which airports they are based. All this information is easy to Google. For example, Bergamo Orio al Serio airport is one of the main hubs for the Irish low-cost airline Rainair, and Air Baltic is based in Riga. Let's see how this works in practice.

You need to go to Riga. Direct flights are expensive:

Screenshot from the website aviasales.ru

We go to the Air Baltic website and see where you can fly cheaply from Riga:

Now we look at ticket prices for each of the destinations where you can fly with Air Baltic. Using the brute force method we find the most profitable option:

Screenshot from the website aviasales.ru

Now you have a ticket to Budapest with a transfer in Riga. Saved 2247 rubles.

Please note that you cannot miss the first flight. This option is not suitable for round-trip tickets either: after missing any of the segments, the ticket is cancelled. Buy your return ticket separately.

8. Sign up for a loyalty program and earn miles

Airlines offer bonuses to regular customers. For registering in loyalty programs, you will receive miles and coupons for duty-free purchases, hotel stays and free tickets.

conclusions

Search for tickets in incognito mode.
Fly low-cost airlines or charter flights.
Try to choose small airports in non-capital cities.
Seen suspiciously low price- buy without hesitation.
Cheat it up: pick up tickets with a transfer and just get off where you need to.
Earn airline miles or just

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