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How to book cheap flights?

Figuring out all those little tips and tricks that your perpetually travelling friends use to pick up cheap flights can feel like a behemoth of a task. Lucky for you, here at Moonsand we’ve bundled everything that’s worth knowing about booking cheap flights in a short, easily digestible package below. With these hot tips in hand, in no time at all you’ll be a veritable cheap-flight-guru and ready for your next adventure, no matter where that might be.

What are the cheapest days of the week to buy airline tickets?

You could probably fill a medium-sized pond with studies debating the best day of the week to book airline tickets. Some say Tuesday, others Sunday, and if you look hard enough you can find studies supporting pretty much any day of the week being the cheapest to book flights.
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Except for Fridays and Saturdays, that is. Regardless of what they say is the cheapest day for booking flights, researchers as a whole are adamant that Fridays and Saturdays are the most expensive days for buying airline tickets. Provided you buy your tickets outside of these two days of the week, you should be getting a fair price.

Which months are the cheapest to fly?

In terms of the cheapest months to fly it is best to go during your destination’s off-season. Off-season is dramatically different depending on where you’re headed, in Europe, it lasts from November to March. Whereas in say, South Africa, it stretches from April to September.
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If you want to fly for as cheap as possible and don’t mind potentially underwhelming weather, check when the off-season is for your destination and then book accordingly.
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Of course, major holidays and celebrations during the off-season will cause airfare to spike again so avoid travelling at these times for the cheapest flights.

How far in advance should I book my airline tickets?

The margins as to when you are most likely to find the cheapest airfare for your chosen route are pretty wide. Prices can tumble dramatically as much as four months in advance, or as little as just three weeks before a flight.
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But, here at Moonsand, we generally recommend booking 6-8 weeks in advance.
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Realistically though, it’s important to remember that there’s never a golden week etched in stone when an airline ticket will hit a nadir in terms of price. Pricing algorithms are constantly updating flight prices and if you see a good deal on airfare, you should snap it up regardless of how many months or weeks away the flight is.

What are some easy ways to save money on airfare?

There are plenty of ways to quickly and easily cut down on airfare costs. Flexibility regarding travel dates (including travelling during off-season), destinations and the will to endure potentially long layovers are a few super easy ways to cut down on airfare costs.

Undoubtedly, choosing to fly economy will considerably reduce the cost of your ticket. But also keep in mind that flying with a budget airline is another way to effortlessly cut down on your ticket price.

Moonsand has the ideal filters for this, which allow you to screen out the more expensive airlines in your search results. We discuss in detail the top 10 tips for booking insanely cheap flights here.

How can I book a flight through Moonsand?

Booking through Moonsand is a straightforward process. Just input your departure city, destination, journey type and trip length into the search fields. Press search and wait for the results to come rolling in. Remember the flights will be sorted by the cheapest first. Use the filters on the left-hand side of the results page to filter out results depending on factors that are important to you such as flight length, price, number of layovers, and airline.
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Upon finding the flight for you, hit the juicy green “book” button which will take you to the airline or travel agents’ site where you can complete your booking.

What are the cheapest destinations to fly to?

The cheapest destinations are usually those with plenty of flights arriving on a daily basis. With this in mind, it’s best to consider major air transit hubs as potential destinations. For example, if travelling in Europe you’re pretty much guaranteed to be able to find cheap flights to Dusseldorf, Germany and Milan, Italy.
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Hand in hand with this, airports primarily served by a single, budget carrier are usually cheaper to fly into than the larger airports served by multiple airlines.

Is my flight refundable?

As a metasearch platform, you won’t be booking your flight directly through us, we just find all the tasty flight deals for you. This means, that if you need to cancel your flight and want a refund you will need to contact the relevant airline or online travel agent which you booked your flight with.
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You’ll be able to track down further information on cancellations relevant to your specific trip in your booking confirmation.

If you require further help please feel free to contact us.

Which days of the week are the cheapest to fly?

The cheapest days to fly fall in the midweek - Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. This is largely attributable to the fact that most people generally do their travelling on or leading up to the weekend. This applies to both domestic and international flights.
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Keep in mind, that this rule probably won’t apply if there happens to be a major holiday/event midweek at your planned destination. In such cases, it’s best to be as flexible as possible regarding dates.

In our blog we talk about what day of the week is cheapest to fly and why, here.

Should I wait until the last minute to buy flight tickets?

While it can be tempting to try and bag an incredible last-minute deal, it often ends in disaster. The sheer frequency with which flight tickets change price, coupled with the risk of the flight selling out means that waiting for that mindblowing last-minute deal is far more risky and time-consuming than it’s actually worth.
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If possible, book your flight three weeks before departure at the very least. After this, prices usually start to climb dramatically.

Read more about when flight prices drop here.

How can I find brilliant last-minute flight deals?

If you’re still hoping to pick up a last-minute flight deal, despite our gentle advice not to, then there are things you can do to help you in achieving this goal. Keep in mind that Moonsand will give you the cheapest option first. And, don’t forget to make use of Moonsand’s many filters to help filter out the last-minute flights that are obscenely overpriced or those that simply just don’t work for you.
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Provided you’re set on trying to find a last-minute flight deal, as the date of the flight approaches search for flights multiple times a day. Don’t be afraid to wait to book until well into the week in which you’re actually travelling. If you’re seriously committed to this idea you can even wait until the day before if you’re willing to risk the flight entirely selling out or being ludicrously overpriced.

How can I find cheap flights on Moonsand?

Moonsand will sort search results by cheapest first. So, finding a cheap flight on Moonsand could be as simple as checking out that top result. Making use of Moonsand’s many filters can also help you go through the results and find the cheapest flight that still fits your specifications. Particularly handy is the filter that allows you to select how many layovers you’re willing to endure.
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If you’re looking to stick to a strict budget you can use Moonsand’s budget slider on the lefthand side of your search results. This will enable you to only include flights that are within your budget.

What should I keep in mind when booking a flight?

It’s crucial to keep your wits about you when booking a flight. Otherwise, you could wind up making an expensive mistake.
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Keep in mind the departure and arrival airports - most major cities have more than one. Make sure your luggage allowance is enough to accommodate your massive suitcase. Check, re-check and check again your departure date and time. Check to see if there are any layovers, and if there are how long they are and whether they’re self-transfers.
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Some of these may seem obvious, but the excitement of booking a cheap flight can lead to even the most level-headed of us making mistakes.

OK, so where precisely can I fly to on the cheap?

Outside of the above-mentioned destinations, you can also find affordable flights in Europe to Dublin, Ireland and London, the UK. Within the US cheap flights to Las Vegas, New York and Canada are frequently available. While in Asia, hub airports in the Middle East alongside Southeast Asian hubs such as Bangkok and Manila are usually your best bets for low-cost airfare.

Why should I choose Moonsand?

Moonsand is quickly becoming one of the easiest, most user-friendly flight search engines out there. The abundance of filters, the fact that flights are ranked by the cheapest first and being able to see approximately how much adding checked baggage will cost, making booking with Moonsand an incredibly smooth experience.
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Another key component of Moonsnand’s utility is the fact that Moonsand draws from a huge pool of resources to find the cheapest flights possible. While some flight comparison sites only provide results from airlines, Moonsand provides results from airlines and a whole host of online travel agents as well as other travel aggregators who in turn often have brilliant deals.

We discuss in more detail the benefits in this article comparing the top 10 flight comparison websites.
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Rather than just reading about why Moonsand is so great, why not get back to searching for cheap flights and see for yourself?

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