Tips for finding the cheapest flights (Q&A with Andoni Arandia)

Have you ever wondered what’s the best way to search for cheap flights? We’ve asked Andoni Arandia who loves flying and keeps track of every single flight (over 270) he has taken so far.

What’s your recommendation to buy cheap flights?

Being a budget traveler translates into being flexible with travel plans and going a step further when planning the trip.

As far as the flexibility is concerned, longer layovers and alternative airports may provide the best travel deal. Low cost carriers have found the operational taxes to be lower in smaller airports, usually located further from the main tourist spots and translate this saving to the seats’ prices. Travelers can choose to fly to an alternative airport such as Reus or Girona for Barcelona, Stansted for London, Prestwick for Glasgow, Bergamo for Milan or Beauvais for Paris.

As for the planning, the travelers must scan all fares from low cost airlines and even make up connections that may result in a cheaper travel option than a non-stop flight. As an example, the Amsterdam – Madrid route is operated by four carriers, one of them the low cost airline EasyJet, but the cheapest way to get there might be connecting in London Stansted.

Where do you search for cheap flights (travel portals, flight ticket search engines, airline web pages) and why?

Where to search the lowest fares depends on the route to be flown. Intra-european low cost routes and fares are best captured in skyscanner.net. For those passengers that cannot afford to fly to alternate airports and are restricted in terms of schedule, I always suggest kayak. Kayak’s US website (kayak.com) has different deals to their French (kayak.fr) website or their British website (kayak.co.uk), so I suggest checking them all; however the best deals are usually in the US site.

As a traveller who always is connected to the internet, which applications do you recommend to buy airline tickets and keep track of your flights on the go?

As an iPhone user, the do-not-miss applications for me are Kayak, XE Currency and AroundMe.

Kayak has a feature to display trips, called Kayak Trips. All your trips can be managed there, no matter whether they have been book on Kayak or not. Flight itineraries, hotel stays and car reservations are arranged by trip and can be navigated through conveniently.

XE Currency is the easiest currency convertor in the market and AroundMe allows travelers to search for bars, restaurants, hotels, hospitals and other venues around them.

Thanks Andoni for sharing your tips with us.

Photo by David