Are you a frequent air traveller? If so, paying extravagant rates for flight tickets can be annoying most times but you pay, most likely, as you don’t have a choice.
Saving on air fare requires a lot, especially from The Point of purchasing tickets. According to travel experts, saving money at The Point of buying tickets may look far-fetched but can be achieved.
the easiest way to save for the holidays and the Ramadan feast is by not going for expensive food items and drinks all in the name of entertaining guests
The experts insist that not only are airfares becoming more unpredictable in Nigeria, they are also becoming more expensive. According to the data released by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, a return economy class ticket on the Lagos-London route, which previously cost about N648, 500 or less, at the end of the second quarter of 2017, when the inter-bank rate was N305 to a dollar, rose to N690,000 or more by August of same year, depending on airline or time of travel. This represents an almost six per cent increase.
Also, the famous Lagos-Dubai route, which a few months ago had a return economy ticket costing N240,000 or less, rose to N260,000 or more, representing a 7.6 per cent increase.
But is there still any hope for finding cheap airfares? Yes, there is. All you need to do is follow the four ways listed below:
Research prices of many carriers
Fares for similar flights can vary dramatically from airline to airline. A quick search for a non-stop flight (both local and international) on the online travel sites reveals tickets ranging from different prices.
To explore such opportunity, a travel expert, Mrs. Funmilayo Adeniji, said, “It’s crucial to research the prices on as many carriers as possible before making a purchase. There are several places to search for airfares online. You could search each airline’s website individually, but that could take some time. A more convenient way is to search a travel web site like Orbitz.com, Travelocity.com, Kayak.com, Hipmunk.com or Dohop.com.
“These sites will search fares across a number of airlines and provide all results together in an easy-to-read table. Though, the sites don’t include results from all airlines, and the prices they display aren’t always lower than those on the airline’s website, but a thorough search of each travel website and each carrier’s website is always best.
RECALL
- Stick to your budget
- Shop smartly in bulk
- Buy and cook what you can eat at a time
Sign up for alerts
To save more, you need to sign up for online alerts designed to inform you about great deals. These alerts often promote deeply discounted fares on a few seats in order to earn the airlines some goodwill and free word-of-mouth advertising.
Most carriers allow you to sign up for these messages on their websites and customise them to your favoured airport. Many alerts are delivered by e-mail, but airlines are now using social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to distribute them as well.
Adeniji added, “Airlines have been known to give away last-minute deals on flights via Twitter and Facebook for as little as N3,000 or N5,000.
“You can also receive alerts through a number of third-party websites, which will send you alerts about low prices on a variety of airlines. The sites will let you know when a great fare becomes available for your area. Whichever method you choose to receive alerts, remember that cheap tickets typically go very quickly; so it’s important to act fast.”
Book different flights
Are you flying a long distance that involves you transferring or transiting? Instead of choosing a long haul, choose different flights. The trip to a particular stopover might be cheap for one airline, and the trip from that stopover to the final stop cheaper for another. If you can afford a layover of a day or two, then book the flights separately. Though you are likely to get to your destination a little later, you would have saved some thousands of naira.
Book one-way
Booking one-way tickets affords you the opportunity to book another airline on the return trip if that airline is cheaper, or book at the time of the return trip at a cheaper rate than when setting out. If you have a business meeting in the morning and intend returning in the evening, rather than book a return ticket at double the morning rate, you could fly one way and when returning, book a late evening ticket, which is usually cheaper.
