How to find cheap flights from Ireland – read our expert tips
1. Be flexible with your destination
One thing to keep in mind when looking for cheap flight deals is to consider flying into alternative airports or cities to save money. By flying into a lesser known airport or a nearby city that provides bus or shuttle transfers to your destination, you can often save hundreds of euros. Jyostnsa from Wander With Jo says she loves using the Skyscanner “search Everywhere” feature when looking for cheap flight deals.
“My #1 tip for finding cheap airfares is using Skyscanner‘s “Everywhere” search box. All you need to do is plug in your departure city and leave the destination blank to see lowest airfares. I also look out for error fares on sites like SecretFlying.com and the Facebook page – Airfare Watchdog.”
Irish travel blogger Ciara Mc of My Suitcase Diaries uses a similar strategy when looking for cheap flight deals from Ireland.
“I try to keep my options open if I want to go on a city break. I leave the destination as flexible and search the entire month instead of specific dates so I have a wider choice of destinations. Then I focus on cities or countries I’m interested in visiting. It cuts out trawling through dates for availability and often throws out locations I hadn’t thought of! Win!”
2. Consider indirect flights
“If you are flying outside of Europe, try to fly from a country that has a lot of incoming passengers coming from the country you want to visit. There will be more airline competition, which means cheaper flights. For example, when flying to Brazil, start from Portugal, add on a cheap Ryanair flight from Dublin to Lisbon and it’ll still be a lot cheaper than a direct flight from Ireland.”
Another way to make your hard-earned cash go further is to fly from a large European airport instead of buying a direct flight from Dublin. Els Mahieu, a travel writer based in Northern Ireland, uses this technique to find the cheapest airports to fly out of.
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3. Sign up for price alerts
While booking early is often a good plan and can result in snagging a cheap flight deal on a new flight route, airlines can also release discounted seats at any time, so you need to stay alert. The best way to keep an eye out for flight deals is to sign up for price alerts via email. Another trick to stay ahead of the crowd and get cheap flight deals before everyone else is to follow your favourite airlines on Facebook and Instagram, so you’ll be one of the first people to know if they’re having a flash sale. Budget airlines like Ryanair often announce 24-hour sales on social media, so it pays to stay tuned in.
“As soon as you have a destination in mind set up an alert with Skyscanner. By doing this we’ve managed to bag cheap flights for our family of 7 on numerous occasions. We’ve even managed to fly from Dublin to Birmingham for a weekend costing us less than €100!” writes travel writer Corrina Stone.
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4. Compare various days of the week
Megan Jerrard, of top travel site Mapping Megan says she always tries to book flights on Tuesdays to save money.
“We’ve always found cheaper flights by booking on a Tuesday. Airlines tend to announce deals on Monday evenings, which means by noon the next day, competing airlines are scrambling to match the lower prices so they can stay in the game.”
Justin Carmack, one of the world’s top male travel bloggers, says he uses Skyscanner’s search feature to find the cheapest day to fly.
“The first way that I find cheap flights on Skyscanner is by planning far enough ahead. They have a great feature so you can compare days as well. For instance I just booked flights for my whole team for January to Palau, and it’s a fraction of the cost it is last minute.”
5. Use Skyscanner or delete your cookies
While you don’t need to worry about deleting cookies when using Skyscanner’s flight search engine (we only show prices passed on to us by travel agents or airlines, therefore it isn’t possible for the Skyscanner cookie to influence these prices) certain airline websites do cache cookies, so it’s best to change browser or delete your search history. Allison Green, a US travel blogger who shares travel tips on her site Eternal Arrival, says this is one of her top tips for booking cheap flights.
“Some airline websites track your cookies if you’ve searched a flight multiple times and raise the prices accordingly. So I always clear my cookies or browse incognito mode”.
Donna from Haute Culture Travel agrees, saying, “I jump from my phone to my laptop to my desktop so cookies don’t track what I am doing.”
6. Don’t just turn up at the airport
It is a common misconception that you can simply turn up at the airport last-minute and bag a cheap flight. Just because an airline has some empty seats does not mean they will give it away for a bargain basement price. Ticket prices usually increase within the 48 hours before a flight is due to leave, so try to book your flight at least a week before departure to get the best price deals.
Irish travel writer Corrina Stone says that being flexible with her dates and booking in advance has saved her hundreds of euros.
“My tip is that the best way to secure bargain flights is to be flexible. Even if it means adding or dropping a day from your holiday. As a family of 7 we’ve saved hundreds of euro just by choosing to fly a day later than originally planned.”
7. Choose to fly when business travellers aren’t for cheap upgrades
While the days of free upgrades seem long gone, you can still purchase discounted premium and Business Class seats if you book on the right day of the week. While ticket prices for economy seats often rocket during public holidays and at the weekends, the reverse can be said for premium seats, as these are the days when few business people travel. You can also still try your luck at bagging that free upgrade – simply follow our tried and tested suggestions.
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8. Be loyal to one airline
Nobody likes their email inbox filling up with spam, but consider signing up for a few airline newsletters if you want to be the first to hear about sales. You’ll also find out exactly when tickets for new routes go on sale, allowing you to nab the bargains before anyone else. Airlines are also getting much more savvy with social media, with many announcing sales through Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook. Being loyal to one airline will also allow you to build up air miles on their loyalty scheme, which can get you free flights or free upgrades once you have enough miles collected.
9. Consider a stopover
While direct flights are most definitely more convenient, indirect flights can save you a lot of cash. This especially applies to long-haul flights, such as flying across the pond to the United States. Certain airlines such as Icelandair often offer free stopovers in Reykjavik if flying from Cork or Dublin. You can also find cheap flights to certain US cities, such as New York or Boston, then fly an onward flight to the city of your choice from there.
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More expert tips for booking cheap flights:
- Multi-city flight tickets – Skyscanner guide 2019
- How to save time and money with the Skyscanner app
- Insider secrets – how to find the cheapest last-minute flights around
*Prices correct at the time of publication but may be subject to change and/or availability.
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