Read PART 1 for 5 more tips to book flights online!

1. Book Cheap Air Tickets

Buy Air Tickets in Advance

Cheapest domestic flights are purchased 30 days to 3 months in advance.
Cheapest international flights are purchased up to six months in advance.

Shop for Last Minute Deals

Either you book as an early bird or book at the last minute to enjoy great airfare deals. Good for the spontaneous. These last minute flights are typically deeply discounted because airlines are filling up the remaining seats.

Consider Flying and Booking on Certain Days

Generally, the cheapest days to fly are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Also, the best day to book is rumoured to be on a Tuesday (even Scoot Morning Glory promotions are on Tuesdays!).

2. Open Jaw

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An open-jaw ticket is a round-trip ticket in which you arrive and depart from different airports.

Consider booking an open-jaw ticket if your first and last destinations are miles apart. Such as when you have cruises departing and arriving at different ports, or want to explore several countries/cities at one time (by bus, car or train).

This will avoid back-tracking, that is going back to your arrival airport, which costs a lot of time, money and energy.

For example, if it is your first time to Japan and have a week, you will probably do the standard route: Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka. Kyoto and Osaka are close to each other in the Kansai region while Tokyo is located all the way in the east. With an open-jaw ticket, you can fly into Tokyo, en route Kyoto and out from Osaka. In this case, you wouldn’t need to go back to Tokyo for the return flight. You can also fly into Osaka and out from Tokyo.

Tips

• For promotional airfares, it is often possible that open-jaw travel is permitted as well.
• If you are planning visiting different cities/countries in a trip, you can consider a multi-city booking.
• If you cannot book an open jaw ticket online – you can always call the airline to book your itinerary.

3. Miles Redemption

To save costs on travel, you may wish to explore the miles redemption option. Sign up for the airlines’ frequent flyer program before booking your air tickets. Also, from time to time, your airline might have redemption promotions, which allow you to redeem air tickets for lesser miles.

Be sure to register the names of redemption nominees exactly as per passports! Refer to Part 1, Tip #3 for more information on inputting names. This will save you trouble when doing retrospective mileage claims.

Tips

• For promotional airfares, it is often possible that open-jaw travel is permitted as well.
• Singapore Airlines offers a 15% discount on miles required if you make a redemption online. If the lowest Saver Class is unavailable for redemption, you can still call KrisFlyer to add on a waitlist for you.
• Budget airlines: You can also redeem KrisFlyer miles for travel vouchers on Scoot and Tigerair.

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4. Insurance coverage

I recommend being covered by travel insurance for all travel. If you travel often, consider getting an annual plan. Single trip insurance coverage can be very affordable as well, with insurers offering 30% to 50% discount during promotional periods. Some credit cards also offer insurance coverage for the cardholders.

Refer to the guides below when buying and claiming your travel insurance.

A Guide to Buy Travel Insurance
A Guide to Buy Travel Insurance

Part 1: A Guide to Claim Travel Insurance
Part 2: A Guide to Claim Travel Insurance

5. Perks for Booking Air Tickets Online

Book on the original website

If you don’t mind providing the travel and payment details online, the best way to book is through the airlines’ websites.

Travel agents? As mentioned in Part 1, most airlines have cut the commission off travel agents. As such, it is common for travel agents to charge a transaction fee or a service fee to book and issue the tickets for you. Though travel agents provide the flexibility to issue the tickets for you at a later date – giving you a chance to change details without penalty.

Online travel agents? They may include additional cost into your total bill.

Manage booking

After the booking is done, some airlines have modern and sophisticated websites that allow you to access your reservations on their websites. To do this, you will need to input the travellers’ Last Names as well as the airline’s booking reference

Online Check-In

The best part with online booking for me is that I can do an online check in — to beat the queue and arrive at the airport later than the stipulated 2 hours before departure time. Usually, you can do the online check in from 48 to 2 hours before your flight, depending on the airline.

For more tips to book flights online, read PART 1.

What other tips do you know of? Comment and share with us! 

Post was written by Christina and Ms S.Koh

Guest Writer: Ms S.Koh, Dedicated Travel Advisor at a Reputable Financial Services Company

Having been a professional in premium and customized travel service for more than five years, I endeavour to continually delight and deliver exceptional travel service with my extensive travel knowledge. Travel is my interest and service my passion!

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