Air travel is an annoying and tiring process, but it doesn’t have to be expensive as well.
I make the flight between Vancouver and Sydney about twice a year via Air Canada. Normally, the average return ticket would cost about $1600, even if I book 6 months in advance.
I pay much less than that. This is how much I pay:
As you can see, I can buy a return ticket from Sydney to Vancouver for $898.
How do I find these cheap flights?
1) Join the frequent flyer club & sign up for their special offers updates
Nearly every airline has a frequent flyer club. As well as this, you usually have the option of signing up for the special offers newsletter as well.
Whatever airline you prefer to fly with, sign up with them!
I know we’ve all become trained to be skeptical and ignore headlines like “Great deals if you sign up!” but for once, it’s not a lie. Make sure you fill in your correct location as well, because the airline may send you deals related to that location.
In particular, with Air Canada, I can select my home location and the destinations that I am interested in. This means that whenever a new deal is available, I’ll get a customized newsletter from them that lists the current offers for those destinations.
2) Keep an eye on their special offers page
Some airlines won’t email you offers regularly. That’s okay, you can find the deals directly on their website.
Every airline will have a special offers page somewhere. You may have to look a bit but you’ll find it. In some cases they may call it something else.
Example – Singapore Air uses the term ‘Local Deals’ for their offers page
These pages will have whatever specials they have available and will usually get updated anywhere from once a week to once every few weeks.
The trick to this method is to actually keep in mind destinations that you might be interested in and plan ahead. I keep a mental note or write down dates/destinations that I’m interested in. Every once in awhile I’ll have a look at the special offers pages for the airlines that I fly with and see if I spot any destinations that I’d want to visit.
That’s it! I told you it was simple.
ps – Am I the only one that watches everyone walking down the airplane aisle hoping that none of them sit next to me? I’m not antisocial, I just like to stretch out! It’s like winning the mini lottery when you get a whole row to yourself.