5 Myths About Buying Flight Tickets Online Busted!

 

The COVID 19 pandemic of 2020 and subsequent lockdown saw travel plans get cancelled much to our dismay. This new year, let’s get back to globetrotting with renewed gusto! While travel reservations can be easily made online, there are also quite a lot of myths doing the rounds that can unfortunately stop you from getting the best deal on your bookings. To make sure you don’t get waylaid by rumours, we have listed out 5 myths about buying an online flight ticket that you must not believe.

Myth 1 – It’s always better to book tickets as much in advance as possible

Truth – While it is true that booking well in advance of your travel date gets you great pricing, you cannot book too early either. This is because airlines start proactively managing flight ticket pricings only around 3 to 5 months prior to the departure date. So, booking a ticket around 7 or 8 months in advance might actually cause you to pay more than what you would if you had waited a bit. Bottomline – book early but not too early.

Myth 2 – Booking tickets on certain days of the week guarantees lower fares

Truth – You may have heard people advise you to book an online flight ticket on certain days mid-week, such as a Tuesday. According to a popular myth, booking on certain days guarantee lower fares on air travel. However, that isn’t the case as airlines are known to keep revising their offers and deals based on many other factors. So, you may even end up with a fabulous discount closer to the weekend if you are lucky!

Do note - It is true that booking your flight for the middle of the week – say a Tuesday or Wednesday – will most likely see you get the best deal on your ticket price.

Myth 3 – Online flight tickets always fall cheaper if booked in bulk

Truth – It is common practice to get a discount if you buy anything in bulk. However, that logic may not always hold true when reserving flight tickets online. Sometimes, booking multiple seats at one go might see you pay a range of different prices for the same class of tickets. This occurrence could be blamed on online algorithms of booking.

If you are booking 2 or 3 seats on a flight, the variation in pricing should not be too a costly of a problem. However, if you have a large number of family members in tow, you might want to contact the airline’s office directly so that you get uniform pricing for each seat. Plus, they would mostly likely be able to help you with the lowest fares for your travel dates too.

Myth 4 – Aggregator websites always offer you the best prices for airline tickets

Truth -Aggregator websites do help you easily compare the ticket prices for many airlines flying to your destination. Using these platforms can, thus, help you save a lot of time. However, when making your reservation, it is important to bear in mind that aggregator websites often levy their own services charges on the final figure you are billed for. So, use aggregator websites to get an approximation prices and then, book your online flight ticket on the airline’s website.

Myth 5 – Clear off cookies for price reductions in airline ticket costs

Truth – This belief is nothing more than a myth born from the fact that cookies are commonly used to track consumer behaviour online. However, there is no concrete proof to show that airfare reduces after you delete your cookies and search for the same tickets again. The same holds true for shopping for airline tickets on incognito mode. If you do happen to come across a discount for an online flight ticket after deleting cookies, it is quite possible that the prices for that particular route got revised anyway – a coincidence of sorts.

With these myths out of the way, go ahead and make your reservations for your next trip.  

Bon voyage!