How to get Insanely Cheap Flights
Photo by: Andrew Hux
If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me how I manage to afford all this travel I get up id be absolutely minted. The truth is however much less glamorous than people expect… I’m just tight. As I’ve mentioned before, I have some pretty good tactics (as far as saving goes) already worked out and I team that with a passionate lust to haggle. My golden rules for getting the best holiday deals are;
- Never settle for the first offer
- Always ask for a deal
- Use what you already have available to you to get what you want
- Shop around
- Only settle for the insanely cheap
This might sound time consuming and a bit of a faff but it really doesn’t have to be! For the purpose of this article I’m going to focus on actually getting to Asia, Southeast Asia to be precise and our starting point will be my homeland – the UK.
How to get insanely cheap flights – Southeast Asia for less than £100
Email newsletters are the key!
Getting on the right newsletter can save you hundreds of £££ (These techniques are not exclusively for this route, they can be applied to just about any airline, any country, anywhere). Air Asia’s Red alert newsletter is an absolute godsend, they’ll email you every time there’s an offer on the table – effectively doing all the leg work for you!
Air Asia fly out of London Stansted to Kuala Lumpur – usual economy tickets are easy to come by at £199 (one way) but if your signed up to their newsletter, about twice a year, they have a massive sale and give away seats for free leaving you to pay only the taxes (around £50). Now if you keep yourself flexible and your dates fluid that’s where you can save a large chunk of your budget!
I just picked up a pair of insanely cheap flights from London to KL for exactly that £60 each, waited for another offer to land in my inbox (which happens most months) for connecting flights to Cambodia at £8 each (one way).
Now here’s the magic….
Thing is I don’t want a return flight, and even if I did the dates I think I want would fall outside of their amazing offer meaning I’d have to fork out for a full price return flight… What seems like an unavoidable truth is again just a way to part you from your hard earned cash. Cambodia happens to be pretty free and easy as far as visas go, they also don’t require an onward ticket so….
You can board at Stansted because you have an onward from KL and you can board at KL because Cambodia doesn’t require an onward ticket… From there it’s overland all the way and once your outside of the world of departure lounges and international airports it’s much easier to pass from country to country in your own time and your own way.
If you are lucky enough to have plenty of time then it’s just a waiting game as to when to get another flight. Like I said these tactics will work in just about every country in the world, you have to have patience, flexibility and do your homework... But it will definitely pay off.
If you really wanted to get super frugal then team this with a well paying air-miles credit card and before you know it you’ll be flying everywhere for next to nothing! (The best BY FAR resource I’ve found on air-miles is the unconventional guides – Frequent flyer master guide, have a look – Unconventional Guides Product Page
So there you have it, I have a flexible plan, patience and have done my homework and when I land in Phnom Penh, Cambodia I will have spent less than £100… Now that’s an insanely cheap flight
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Excellent Information! I signed up for Air Asia as soon as I read this. I didn’t know about these awesome deals! Thank.
Hey guys! Hell yeah, I’ve got all the way over there 3 times now for the price of a train ride in the UK… It’s a bit of effort signing up for it – Air Asia doesn’t make it easy but it’s well worth it!
Here’s the online version of the email they sent me – I’ll be posting them on Twitter from now on so everyone gets a bite at the cheapness http://www.airasia.com/nl/nl10051464ox_gb.htm
Same. Website was a bit dodgy, coding-wise, but I managed to sign up.
Katrina recently posted..Cork-surfers
Hi Aaron: I almost always fly on a one-way ticket, despite country requirements for onward travel reservations, and I’ve never been stopped or even asked to show proof of an onward ticket, including when I arrived here in Malaysia three weeks ago. Maybe someday I’ll get nailed, but my impression is that it’s rarely enforced. Actually, the airlines and travel agents are the ones to question it more than the countries! Great tip for AirAsia. I use them all the time, but hadn’t signed up for their emails, which I will rectify right now.
Barbara Weibel recently posted..Seeing Georgetown- One Cautious Step After Another
Got to do it Barbara, they really can’t be beaten… I posted the link to the email I got above.
As for the whole return flight thing… Once did I get asked and like you say that was at the check-in gate in the UK, they were a bit bothered that I had no outbound ticket from Malaysia but I did have a pre-0arranged Visa for Thailand, took some convincing but eventually they let us on. I did think I might have to buy a ticket at one point though!
Gotta love AirAsia. That is my same tactic, except coming from the other direction in Australia. Being flexible with dates certainly helps.
If you are coming from Australia I would get the onward ticket from KL. Even if you are not going to use it, get an 8 quid ticket or whatever, as I notice that in Australia they now always ask if you have an onward ticket from your next destination. I know a few people who have had to buy tickets at the airport. I have been asked flying with Qantas, Jetstar and AirAsia.
I’ve been using Air Asia for years. I’ve snagged quite a few of their free flights. They’ve just started to fly out of Seoul, which can be an expensive hub to travel from. I’m thrilled.
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[...] fluid that’s where you can save a large chunk of your budget!..– Read the full article: How to get to Southeast Asia for under £100 on BeforeYOUBackpack.com [...]
Great tips, as always, Aaron.
Keep ‘em coming.
Jason
Jason recently posted..Ten Reasons Why Your Family Shouldnt Take A Year Off- Reason 8 How Will You Communicate Without Speaking The Language
Thanks Jason…
Great advice, and I love the photo!
Best of luck with the new blog.
-Catherine
The Fashionable Traveler recently posted..The Colors of Santa Fe
Very useful tip.
Jeremy recently posted..Valencia- City of Art and Sciences – Spain
Dude, great info! Wish I’d read this before I’d visited
Johnny Vagabond recently posted..Photos- The Holy City of Pushkar- India
Get on it man, in fact they are having another sale RIGHT NOW – 1 million free seats in the next 24 hours to fly between jul-nov 2011 …
[...] fly one-way and then spend your time touring Asia by land, I suggest you check out our article on How to get to Southeast Asia for less than £100 as I can’t beat it. However, if you want to fly return, I can give a few pointers.Obviously, my [...]
Great tips, I totally agree with the e-mail news letter, if you’re flexible you can get a real bargain!
I didn’t know about Air Asia and the massive sale you mentioned! Thanks for the tip. I’ll definitely subscribe to the newsletter
Denise recently posted..Spring and Cows are back
When I was in Australia a few years back I booked a one way flight to NZ and I wasn’t allowed to board the flight! I had to run around Melbourne Airport at 4am to try and find an airline to sell me a return ticket (which was pretty hefty and I never ended up using it anyways).
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[...] said. Travel bloggers have written endless posts about ways to bag cheap flights, even how to get from London to Cambodia for £100. So imagine the collective gasp of horror when last month when Air Asia announced that they were [...]