With airfares soaring and hotel rooms following suit, we’re all for finding ways to cut down on costs — and then sharing them with you. So, when we stumbled across a TikTok that revealed one of the best flight-savings mottos we’ve heard since, well, ever, we had to share.
“In 2023, make sure you’re following the easiest travel hack possible,” says TikToker ‘Pat, travel tips & tricks’ in the clip. “It’s ‘follow the deal, not the destination’.”
“Let me go ahead and show you what I mean,” he says, pulling up a Google Flights search. “Let’s say that we want to go from Denver to Split, Croatia. If you’re looking for any date in April or May, they’re all over $800.”
Pat then pans over the flight price search for the two months, proving all flights between those two destinations in that timeframe are in fact over $800. So, rather than searching that way, he shares what you should be doing instead.
“You’re going to go ahead and click ‘Explore’,” he says, showing an icon on the left-hand side of the screen. “We’re instead going to put in the entire continent of Europe into the Explore tab.”
He then filters the flight options from Denver by “Under 15 hours” and “April”. A flight from Denver to London for $402 pops up. Then, he shows his flight search from London to Split, which brings up a non-stop flight for $81.
This means he’d be paying a total of $483 for a Denver to Split flight, instead of the original $800+ flights he was being shown, amounting to considerable savings.
“When you do this, make sure you give yourself plenty of time for a layover, or even just stay overnight in that city,” Pat shares.
Watch him explain it here.
@travelwithpat One of the easiest ways to save money while traveling. Just make sure you give yourself plenty of time for a layover and ideally don’t check a bag #travel #tiktoktravel #greenscreen ♬ FEEL THE GROOVE – Queens Road, Fabian Graetz
Related: You Thought Euro Summer ’22 Was Exxy? Get Ready for Next Year
Related: 5 Destinations Where It’s Hot In October If You Missed Out on a European Summer
Late last year, we shared a few other travel hacks we’d stumbled on, courtesy of Expedia’s 2023 Air Travel Hacks Report, which leveraged insights from its air ticketing database.
Book Flights on a Sunday
Travellers who booked on Sundays instead of Fridays tended to save, on average, 20% on both domestic and international flights.
Book Well in Advance
Expedia found that travellers who booked at least three months before domestic flights and six months before international flights saved an average of 25%. Specifically, travellers who booked during this period saved on average 30% for domestic flights and 25% for international flights compared to those who waited until the last minute (0 – 30 days out for domestic, 0 – 90 days for international).
Choose a Midday Flight to Reduce the Risk of Cancellation
A midday flight means less chance of cancellations. Based on year-to-date flight status data, flights that depart between 3pm – 9pm have a 30% higher chance of being delayed, on average, than those that depart at midday (9am – 3pm).
Travel at the End of the Week
Starting your trip at the end of the week can lead to you saving up to 20%. Expedia’s data found that travellers who started a trip on a Saturday, versus on a Monday saved up to 20% on domestic flights. For international flights, travellers who departed on a Friday instead of a Sunday saved 10% on average.
Read more stories from The Latch and subscribe to our email newsletter.