MoneySavingExpert.com Pay less to get more
Feature by Martin Lewis, MoneySavingExpert
These cold dark days of winter leave many dreaming of summer. Yet don’t let travel lust destroy your wallet. Most people book holidays in the early months of the year, so if you’re jet set on tripping abroad this year, here’s my top tips on how to use the web to pay less to get more.
Slash flight costs using the RIGHT comparison. Unlike package holidays with scheduled flights, leaving it until the last minute means prices rocket. So make sure you’re booking in advance and use the right site for the job.
Cheapest price on normal flights: Here, just use a flight comparison site. I like www.kayak.
co.uk (for gizmos),
www.skyscanner.net (for ease), and
www.travelsupermarket.com (for breadth).
Check cheap charter flights comparisons too: If you’re flying to a traditional package holiday destination, like Majorca, you should also check for spare capacity being sold on tour operators’ own flights. The comparisons that include these ‘charter flights’ are www.
travelsupermarket.com,
www.avro.co.uk and
www.flightsdirect.com.
Find the perfect time to book: Use the Flight Insight tab on comparison site www.
momondo.co.uk, eg, on average 59 days ahead is the perfect time to book, but it varies by destination, so worth a check.
Flight booking - the clever stuff to cut costs. Once you’ve found the cheapest price via a comparison, if you want to push harder, you need to get clever.
Book the wrong date trick. Easyjet’s Flexifares let you switch dates by a few weeks without paying more. So bag cheap term-time flights, then swap for your chosen school holiday dates. One of my users saved £700 on her
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family’s break, yet there are pros and cons. Full step-by-step in
www.mse.me/easyjet.
The codeshare trick. Sometimes two or more airlines sell the same flights and booking via one partner is cheaper, eg, a United flight from Birmingham to New York can be cheaper via Lufthansa.
Ethnic travel agents trick. If you’re going
somewhere with a big UK ethnic or immigrant community, check out niche travel agents catering to them. Eg, London’s Shepherd’s Bush has some Caribbean specialists, or the Jewish Chronicle advertises cheap flights to Israel.
The credit card flight freebie trick. You can get a ‘free’ Flybe flight anywhere or a BA European flight (you pay taxes) just by signing up to a fee-free credit card, and doing normal spending on it. For a full list of freebies see
www.mse.me/ccfreebies.
Cut the price for your hotel room. Forget the star system. There’s no world standard and it’s often about facilities, not quality. To find the hotel you want to stay at read reviews on the ubiquitous
www.tripadvisor.co.uk, but always ignore the best and worst 10%. Check comparison sites, both
www.trivago.co.uk and
www.travelsupermarket.com allow you to see who’s selling your hotel room for less.
Then also be aware there are commonly promo codes available
for the big hotel
booking sites which can cut your costs by a further 15% for a full list of current ones see
www.mse.me/hotelsales.
Tricks to uncover 5-star hotels at 3-star prices. If you’ve time to play and want the really big discounts, then there are two naughty (but legal) routes.
To advertise in thewire t. 07720 429 613 e.
the.wire@btinternet.com Please mention thewire when responding to adverts
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