I notice that flight tickets are always a cause of worry for trekkers – especially when they book a trek or they are put on the waitlist. After all, flight tickets involve a huge amount of money. So in this post, I’m putting down some hacks that I learnt while booking my flight tickets.
Over the past four years, I have been traveling a lot — not only in India but abroad as well. Since I took many flights, I learnt some tips to put a check on my budget. The hacks I am putting down are primarily from my experience. I am sure you will find them useful.
1. Never open a flight search engine on main window
Three years ago, I had to book a flight from Kolkata to Bangkok. On the search engine at night, the flight fare was at 4875 INR. I closed the window, and thought of booking the flight in the morning. When I tried to book in the morning, the same flight showed 5395 INR.
I am sure all of you have experienced this while booking your flight tickets.
This happens because your server keeps record of the search. The next time when you search for the same flight, the fare will show higher.
So when you’re booking a flight ticket, or even browsing to check fares, always use an Incognito window (Ctrl + Shift + N). This ensures no data gets recorded and the flight fares appear the same even the next day.
2. Don’t book your flight through a digital agent
Never book on or trust third-party agents like MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, Cleartrip, etc.
Almost always, these agents have a mandatory convenience fee that ranges between 249-499 INR. they may call it other names, “service fee”, “other services,” etc, but it’s mandatory nevertheless.
Instead, book directly on the website of the flight you plan to take. Or use search engines that are specifically made for this and don’t have a convenience fee. I’ll get to that next.
3. Look for flights through these specific search engines
The websites I’m about to recommend are easy on your pocket. They are not agents. They are search engines that give you a cumulative result out of all agents like Makemytrip, Goibibo, etc. They don’t charge a convenience fee either.
I generally search on three search engines — Skyscanner, Kayak and Google Flight.
Out of these, Skyscanner is my personal favourite.
Happyeasygo is also very popular and budget friendly in India amongst travellers. I would recommend choosing these over the more popular search engines.
4. Before booking, get a fare prediction
This is a very important step. Any time between 4 to 12 weeks before your travel is a good time to book your flight. But before booking, get a flight prediction through a Play Store app called Hopper.
This app tells you when exactly, on what day and at what time, you should book to get the best flight fares.
When I’m booking a flight ticket, I follow a 2 step process.
I search for flights on Skyscanner first, select a flight and then track that particular flight on Hopper to get an idea of when should I book. That way, I know the best flight fares and I know when to book my ticket too.
5. Avoid direct flights to obscure airports
As a trek leader, I have to constantly move one place to another. I am from Kolkata. So when I need to go to Dehradun, I generally take a flight to Delhi from Kolkata. It costs me around 2300-2700 INR and then I take train to Dehradun from Delhi, which costs 600 INR. However, If I take a direct flight from Dehradun to Kolkata, it costs around 3700-4200 INR. So you can imagine how much money I save by not taking a direct flight to an obscure airport.
In our country, airports like Bagdogra, Bhuntar and Dehradun are not very big. Unlike larger airports in New Delhi or Kolkata, very few flights run in a day in these obscure airports. If you take a direct flight to these airports, the fare will naturally be very high.
Instead, split your journey. Take a flight to Delhi and take a train from there. That way, you can save nearly 2000 INR and have a comfortable journey on a train. Most of our trekkers do this. It works well for most treks in Uttarakhand.
6. Try and be flexible with your dates
This is a no brainer. Flights are more expensive on some days (weekends), cheaper on some days (mid-week). If you’re flexible with dates, you can choose a flight 2 days before the reporting date of your trek and explore regions around the base camp. If you are worried about accomodation, your trek coordinator usually has a list of hotels that are good and cheap, close to your pick up point.
7. Avoid booking any flight through IOS mobile & MacBook
It might sound unbelievable but it is true. If you search through your iPhone or MacBook, the flight fares will show little higher price.
I have no understanding of why it happens, however if you book through IOS or MacBook you will find the fare is 50-170 INR more expensive than booking through Android or other Laptop. I never experienced it as I am not very fond of iPhone. However, my friends and colleagues have.
So if you’re booking a flight, try using a less “elite” gadget.
I’m sure there are many more ways to reduce your flight costs.
If you have hacks you follow to book the best possible flight for your trek, drop in a comment below! It’s a learning that we all can take from you.
Will definitely tray and save money, thanks 🙂
Very useful tips shall try and adopt . Thankyou Tanmay
Book in IRCTC website, even this don’t have the convince fee as that of MMT, GOIBIBO or others
This article is very helpful. Thanks for sharing.
Excellent article.
Very very useful trick and will surely be helpful for my next bookings.. thankyou so much for such useful articles.. Indiahikes always makes life easy..
Great tips. Will definitely keep them in mind while booking.
VERY USEFUL TANMAY. THANKS FOR THE GUIDANCE.
Very useful tips Tanmay!! Thanks!!
Nice to see this article from you Tanmay!
See you again in another trek 🙂
Booking via paytm can also be tried.No commission
Hi, it will be good as well if Indiahikes can put up cheap and decent accommodation near base camps before the trek. Eg: Trekkers may need to reach Simla a day before the trek starts and will end up hunting for acco so any partnership with hotel, B&B with decent, clean accommodation could benefit hugely.. please consider.
Thanks so much for nice advice on travelling. It is definitely going to be useful.
Nice useful one thanks
Loved the article for sure !!!
This is one my experience of using the third party websites.
I would like to share with the benefits, by booking through (MMT & GOIBIO). They are massively tied up with corporate banks and they offer huge discounts with various credit cards on day to day basis. If the people who carry the credit cards and identify the benefits carefully, they are one of the reliable services to go for to grab the tickets for less cost. As the direct air serviced sites doesn’t haven those many offers, I mostly prefer those third party websites, and I was never disappointed. And yeah, only when necessary travel through the obscure ports, or else travel via international procured airports for less fair. When we had set for mind to trek, an additional journey for few more hours over train save more than what we actually think. Cost effective, might now show up in one journey, but eventually you would realize the benefits for sure.
Cheers & happy traveling
wow! this is so useful
Thanks
Cool information. thank you.
Very useful. Thank you so much.
Thanks for the wonderful tips Tanmay. Circulated this to a few of my friends too.
Nice article Tanmay…
I always used to book using websites like makemytrip, which wont happen anymore….
I made some notes when you discussed these tips and other tips during our trek to BuranGhati…
Planning another trek next year… hoping that you will lead our team again with all that care, seriousness, safety and enjoyment.