The times are changing as there used to be a time in order to get a cheap last-minute flight, all the traveller needed to do was show up at the airport and ask for a standby ticket at the counter. If you were lucky enough, you’d get the Cheap Plane Tickets even hours before the departure time. Even few years ago, there also you could find last-minute tickets for cheap and airlines who were about flying at maximum capacity were willing to lower down the air fares shortly before the departure to prompt impulsive purchases. The budget airlines still existed and made use of every single-bit of opportunity to offer last-minute flights.
The age of digitisation makes us believe the airline seats are quickly sold-out or even the flights have been overbooked, amazing isn’t it? The browser cookies of your system don’t feed your appetite but help online travel agencies and airline’s appetite for profit. Stranger are the cookies that have been tracking your behaviour on their website and provides them the probability of purchase for a flight and adapt the air fare on a user-per-user basis. So, is it cheaper to Book a Flight at the last minute or will it remain as a myth only?
Do the airlines drop prices at the last minute?
Airlines have been slashing the air fares only a couple of days before the flight but these attempts were to enhance the plane’s filling rate, the mission to fly as close to full capacity. The airlines goal has always been to maximize profit and in order to achieve that they should sell as many tickets as possible, to make up for the cost of flying the aircraft. It’s recommended to sell at half the price than not to sell them at all.
The frequent fliers and flight hacking pioneers understood the airlines strategy and waited for the last-minute to score the best deal. Airlines realized the fact those were the people who were to pay full price for the Plane Tickets. By dropping the fares, they had changed booking behaviours and encouraged people to wait for the last-minute to purchase their ticket. The quickly realized they could make more money by jacking up the prices at the last-minute on certain popular itineraries as business travellers would accept to pay full-fare for the last-minute flight.
So, as to summarize, airlines don’t cut prices at last-minute unless they really have to. Once they used to lower the last-minute flight fares but airlines who are looking to maximize profit find this strategy detrimental in short run. New-age air fare algorithms have concluded the fact, increasing prices at the last-minute maximizes the airline’s profit, because of last-minute ticket purchases for business travel.
How to Get a Cheap Last-Minute Flight?
We all make travel plans and sometimes at the very last moment we are forced to either change the destination or make some urgent adjustments in the itinerary. The question arises, how to go about it. It all depends on using the right tools and you can get the cheap flights even at the last-minute by:
- Setting up an air fare alert.
We all know the fact that last minute flight deals are rare, so when they do show up, you want to make sure you know about them. And as a human, you can’t spend your precious time refreshing the travel website page in the hope that the air fares will lower down.
But definitely a machine can do this for you.
Few travel Websites have built-in tools that constantly monitor price changes. Browse their website or log into their app and set up a price alert for the flight or travel date you’ve chosen. If luck has it and there’s a last-minute price drop, you’ll be the first to know and to be in position to act on it.
- Staying flexible with your destination
Setting up an air fare alert only works the best if you know where you’re going. But it may happen for a certain trip, you fall under the category of travellers who don’t have a specific destination in mind, only a limited budget. That’s a major benefit for someone relying on last-minute cheap flights to travel.
If you’re a frequent flier with the same airline, head over to their website and check the flights available from your airport on the next day or the one after that.
If you don’t confine yourself to a single airline, few flight aggregator sites can make the process much easier. When browsing for flights, set your departure airport; but instead of personally inputting and checking several destinations at random, select ‘Everywhere’ in the ‘to’ field. Set the departure date, and the flight aggregator website will pull a list of destinations automatically sorted by price, from the cheapest flights to the most expensive ones.
Another useful tip when using these travel websites: if you don’t really bother from which airport to leave from or arrive to, tick the “nearby airport” box when searching for flights. It will pull up the results that are not confined to the airports that you indicated but expanded to airports near those.
- Staying flexible with your flight time
Travellers have understood that air fares are primarily determined by demand as regards how many people are making reservations for a specific flight. It shouldn’t amaze you that most people like to fly at the same times as during the day and also before & at the end of the weekend or holidays. Searching for cheap last-minute flights at those times will prove near impossible.
But if you don’t mind waking up little early to catch the flight or traveling in mid-week, this could increase your chances. In specific, the red-eye flights are more likely to have their air fares drop at the last minute if the plane is far from full when the departure date is near.
For the best deals, you want to make reservations for flights without being too choosy about the time of the flight. Flight prices can change dramatically for the same route, based on at what time the flight is scheduled to depart.
- Making Reservation as least “last-minute” as possible
You always have an option to plan ahead of time, but the earlier you can confirm your travel plans, the better. Because as you get nearby to the departure date, every day is crucial. Travellers should never procrastinate the flight booking process to the last-minute as air fares can rise very steeply and due to heavy demand, flight can easily reach its full capacity.
This implies the fact, in general, booking your plane ticket ten days in advance is cheaper than five days in advance, which is cheaper than two days in advance. The least last-minute booking you indulge in, the better.
- Make use of those accumulated air miles
Don’t forget to utilize the air miles which have been getting accumulated while you’ve been shopping for daily groceries, and paying for services & subscriptions. Last-minute flights are a great time to make use of them if you don’t want to pay up the steep air fares. If till now, you’ve not signed up for frequent flier program, you should definitely consider it. The perks that come along with the program if you are a frequent flier, are well worth it.
The Frequent flier status is workable these days, especially if you are informed as to which credit card to use, as the right card can help you achieve frequent flier status much quicker. On becoming a frequent flier, you have control to great deal of discounts, special deals, better service, free upgrades and other great perks.
Spin-off on Last-Minute Flights
The objective of playing the waiting game until the last-minute to Book Cheap Flights Tickets is to save money. But when you play this hit-or-miss game, you should be ready to pay more than you would’ve if you had booked your flight earlier or even look to not flying if the airline increases the price due to a high demand.
- Last-minute flights aren’t cheaper and on the contrary, they tend to get more expensive as we move closer to the departure date.
- If you have no option left but to book at the very last minute, make use travel website tools like everywhere search to get the cheapest deals.
- In general, to search cheap flights in your budget, be flexible, both with your dates and destination and subscribe to airlines newsletters.
More Information: How Can I Cancel My Flight Without Penalty?
Book Cheap Flights: Cheap Airlines Tickets & Hotel Booking 