Finding the cheapest flight tickets – why does the prices change constantly? How do you find the cheapest flights? Here are some tips you can use when you book your next flight ticket.

When we were about to book our home tickets after our four-month trip in South America, we discovered how the prices of airline tickets increased when we didn’t book directly. We had found a really cheap flight on Momondos website. A moment later the tickets were very expensive. We downloaded their app instead and were able to book the tickets at the first price.

How can the prices of the flight tickets increase that much?

Airline companies need to know about our spending habits to be able to sell as much as possible. You can try to clear your cookies to prevent the search engines to detect what flights you’re looking for. You may notice that your ads around the web is adapted to the pages you just visited. Searching for flights, you’ll see a lot of ads with different companies that sell airline tickets. In that same way, your cookies will know which flights you’re after. Always check for flights in incognito or private browsing mode to see the lowest prices.

The tickets will be more expensive if there’s only a few vacant chairs left. The cheapest flight seats is sold out first, then they become more expensive the fewer seats that remain. Sometimes you can make a reservation on the chairs without paying until the next day. The chair’ll be seen as sold and the other seat prices will increase. When someone is canceling their reservation, they’ll be released back again for the same price as it was on prior reservation. If you manage to time in such an occasion, you can find a ticket that is cheaper than when you checked the day before.

Book your tickets one by one to get the cheapest price

Sometimes the travel agencies booking systems can’t keep up. This means that sometimes they’ll show ticket prices that they no longer offer. Search for one ticket at a time if you are a group of people. If there’s only one ticket at a cheaper price it will not show up if you are looking for more people at once. The disadvantage of this is that you can’t book seats next to each other on the flight.

When to book the flights to get it as cheap as possible?

Swedes should book their travels 27 weeks before their intended departure to find the cheapest ticket. If that’s not possible, the next period when it might be cheaper to book is 9 weeks ahead. It may of course vary depending on where you are going. November is supposed to be the cheapest month to travel, especially week 46. I noticed that now when I went to Hamburg, we chose the cheapest weekend and it was actually week 46!

• Prices change up to three times per day.
• It’s cheapest to fly on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
• Sundays are usually the most expensive day of traveling.
• Book as early as possible if you’re traveling for the weekends and school holidays.
• Most of the discounts is offered at the beginning of the week.
• Prices are rising fast in the same week as the flight departs, often exceeding 40%.
• If we have a bad Swedish summer, the airfares will rise, but if we have a great summer, you can find cheap flights.
• Do like us, check the prices on the websites first, then download the apps to book from, or delete your cookies.
• Use the best flight search engines. I usually use Skyscanner and Momondo.

Last minute?

One time when I was going home from Barcelona to Stockholm, I had no booked return flight. Emma and I, who I traveled with, had been told that you can find really cheap flights if you buy them at the airport the same day. This turned out not to be true, and I have never dared to try it again. The flights to Stockholm that day were at least 10 000 SEK one way. We decided to stay overnight at the airport and check every upcoming flight. But the trips became more expensive, from 15 000 SEK. That was not an option for us, we went to the train station and bought an InterRail ticket instead. That trip took us three days and offered both positive and negative experiences. Read more about the trip here and here.

Have you managed to find a cheap last minute flight? Please share your experiences!

This post contains advertising links, but all the opinions remain my own.