Experts reveal their top tips for getting cheaper flights

Book plane tickets on a Sunday instead of a Friday for a saving on price of up to 20 per cent. Then make sure you leave on a Friday or a Tuesday, rather than a Sunday or a Thursday, to slash the cost by a possible 23 per cent.

And opt to travel the last week of the January school holidays, rather than the first, and the bill could be a staggering 32 per cent less.

Experts expect international airfares to start falling for flights after Easter in 2024.Credit: Wolter Peeters

These are the new air travel hacks that have emerged in the post-COVID world for Australians still keen to roam either internationally or domestically but hard-hit by expensive airfares, mortgage rate hikes, cost-of-living rises and the slump of the Aussie dollar.

“We know people are now considering travelling and our goal is to encourage them by showing the real savings that can be had,” said Daniel Finch, managing director of Expedia Australia, whose app has a new price-tracking tool. “Until greater airline capacity comes through, fares will continue to be high but we’ve found huge savings are possible.

“If you can be flexible on dates and times, then you can pick up some very good deals.”

Skyscanner’s Jarrod Kris: Australians are searching for deals at the wrong time.

Airfare comparison site Skyscanner is also on the case, with a new “Savings Generator” tool that travellers can use by punching in their destination, the month they want to travel and their place of departure; they can even factor in school holiday dates. It then gives them the cheapest week, day and time for them to take their trip – or if they enter ‘everywhere’ for the destination, it will display special deals to holiday favourites.

Jarrod Kris, Skyscanner’s travel trends and destination expert, says that can produce savings of up to 32 per cent for a family of four.

“It’s a supply and demand thing,” he said.

“The sooner you book, the cheaper a trip will generally be, and this tool allows people to mix and match different data points, even for complex calculations, and then spits out the cheapest day and time to travel.

“Often people can be more flexible now, with so much working from home, and they’ll be surprised by how much they can save.”

Skyscanner’s research shows Australians are still hungry for travel, but 64 per cent are leaving it until the last moment to book, and that many of us think we’re more travel-savvy than we actually are. While 83 per cent feel like they’ve found good deals, only 3 per cent are searching for travel in the cheapest week of summer.

The travel hacks have come to light after the analysis of tens of thousands of data points, using AI and algorithms, in the face of average ticket prices for economy flights (according to Expedia figures) increasing by up to 20 per cent, and 17 per cent for premium economy.

Among Expedia’s tips are the aforementioned days of the week to book (more people book on a Friday than a Sunday, hence the cheaper prices on Sundays) and travel, booking domestic flights at least 14 weeks before travel and international flights at least a month prior, and departing after 3pm to reduce the chances of cancellation.

Skyscanner recommends travellers stay open-minded about their plans and search ‘everywhere’ to find deals like flights to Auckland from $314 return and to Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur from $240 return.

Flight Centre is another business encouraging people to save money on travel with a series of tips, also recommending that people stay flexible for the best results.

With flexibility, you could fly to Kuala Lumpur for less than $250 return. Credit: iStock

“Mixing and matching airfares from different carriers can make a trip much more affordable, rather than maybe just flying all the stages there and back with the same airline,” said Andrew Stark, global managing director of Flight Centre.

Airfares are also cheaper when they include longer layovers, which travellers could factor into their travel plans and use to explore other cities, Stark advises. Bundling airfares with hotels, car hire, insurance and cruises or tours can save about 10 per cent on average.

There’s hope that airfares will fall in the not-too-distant future, too. “European airfares from March 2024 will be under $1800 return, down from the $2200 we saw six months ago,” said Stark. “I think it’ll be a slow burn with prices coming down and from June to December 2024, prices will be back to what we saw in 2019.”

In the meantime, these travel hacks could save travellers hundreds of dollars, and sometimes more than $1000 in costs, and make the difference between deciding to take a trip and staying home.

Finch said forward bookings to Easter next year are looking strong “but, from Easter, we’re not seeing a resurgence in travel as fast as we have seen. I think household financial pressures are convincing people to hold off, but these hacks could help them decide.”