Dare to Share

I’m off to Cape Town on Wednesday and so two weeks ago I had the horrible task of finding a cheap flight to Cape Town. I say horrible because flight prices go up and down like a yo-yo and so you may find the cheapest flight only to find out that it’s already been sold and replaced by one that’s twice the cost. Anyhow, here’s how I found my cheap flights.

Firstly go to Kayak and enter your flight criteria - this really is a fantastic site and very easy to change dates and see the price differences at-a-glance. Whatever you find as the cheapest flight then go directly (that is not click on the actual link from the Kayak site) to the site. Enter your details again and see if that’s any cheaper. It might be so it’s worth a try.

Now, check out the Cashback Sites to see if any of those sites offer you cashback for booking with them. If they do then go ahead and book with them.

Another great way of getting a cheap flight is to buy some Airmiles on eBay. For example for 8000 airmiles you can get a non-stop return flight to Cape Town. These normally cost in the region of £600-£800. Doing a quick search on past eBay listings I found 8027 airmiles sold for £480 saving you at least £120.

Another tip is not to fly direct. Now, this really depends on whether you can be bothered - I totally understand that getting on one plane and getting off at your destination is easy and stress-free but if you’re travelling on your own or with a group of friends then it could be the way to go. For example, the cheapest non-stop flight I could find to Cape Town was £607 with Virgin whereas the actual flight I booked was £515 (not including the £7 cashback I got through Quidco). Now, this does involve me flying from Heathrow - Istanbul - J’Burg - Cape Town all in all taking 18 hours instead of 12 but hey I’ll be saving £100 by doing so and I’ve got my iPod and a book to read so it won’t all be bad. I’ll actually be getting my money’s worth as I’ll be going 6 times in total instead of 3! Great if you love flying.