How Do I Find Cheap Flights When Traveling Alone?

As I just finished booking a solo flight to the Balkans for this summer, I want to share with you how I got a round-trip flight from the U.S. to Serbia for under $800 round trip.

Flexibility With Dates

Many people talk about credit card points, what day of the week to book, and from what location of your city to book in an effort to get cheap flights.

None of these things are as important as being flexible on your travel days.

As a solo traveler, you can travel when you want to, and you don’t have to wait for your friends to coordinate time off work, etc.

Take advantage of this freedom. Give yourself a window of one or two months, and search for the best prices. 

Tip: If you’re traveling internationally, try to book 2 to 6 months in advance.

I started to look for flights to Serbia back in January 2022. I used Google Flights tracking. I set my months for April and May.

Flights to Serbia, Croatia, and even Italy were not that good until March.

But when the flights dropped in March, I bought my ticket.

Note: Being flexible with dates is not the absolute best way to get cheap flights, but it is the most practical. You will see why next.

Flexibility With Places

The absolute best way to get cheap flights is to be flexible about where you want to visit. There are amazing flight deals every day for international travel.

The problem is that you may not want to go to these places, or during the time of year that the deals are showing. 

I found this to be a problem. I’ve had a list of 10 places I want to visit, but a few (including Serbia) kept rising to the top. You can see why I like Serbia by looking at #1 in my post Solo Travel For Men: 10 Tips

It’s hard to fight human emotion. I knew I wanted to go to Serbia. And I also want to go to Singapore someday. Well, during my research to Serbia, a great deal to Singapore came up. 

The deal wasn’t enough to make me cancel my plans to go to Serbia and go to Singapore.

But if you don’t care, and you have an equal list of 15 places you want to visit, you’re in luck. Just monitor the flight deals on Twitter and 100s of internet sources* and when a great deal comes up, take it.

* I use Google Flights

Fly to a Cheap Nearby Destination

Many travelers and I use this trick. I know it works for Europe, and people use it for Asia, so always keep this in mind: 

Don’t fly directly to your final destination.

That’s right, instead, find the cheapest city near your desired destination and fly there. Then take a short flight or a train to your final destination. Often, all in, you’ll save hundreds of dollars.

For example, flying to Nice, France, may cost $900. However, flying to Barcelona, Spain, may cost only $350. After you get to Barcelona, take a $35 flight to Nice. ($385 v. $900)

Again, this is much easier to do if traveling solo because of the friction involved. 

How To Buy a Cheap Airline Ticket

After you’ve figured out when and where you want to visit, the next thing is buying your ticket.

I like to use Skyscanner.com and Google Flights. As I mentioned above, Google flights has an excellent tracking system that will email you when prices drop and increase on places you want to go.

Kayak.com also has a tracking system that will email you too, but Google’s is better.

Day of The Week to Purchase Ticket

Despite folklore, it doesn’t matter what day you buy your ticket. However, it does matter on what day you fly. Generally, flying on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday is cheaper.

Length of Stay

You’ll probably want to stay at least ten days when you travel overseas. This is because you lose days traveling, and your final day or two of your vacation is often used for planning to leave. Basically, you always lose two days when traveling.

Tip: Always stay over Saturday night. Generally speaking, you will get cheaper flights when you stay over the weekend. The reason is that the airline considers you a tourist and not a business traveler. 

Airlines make their money off of business travelers. 

Be Careful of One-Way Tickets

You would think that if a round trip flight to Prague, Czech Republic, costs $900, then a one-way ticket would be half that or $450. Unfortunately, this is not usually the case. In fact, a one-way ticket may cost more than $900. 

This makes no sense, but it is the case.

This does not apply to domestic flights. One-way domestic flights are usually cheaper than round-trip tickets. When I say domestic, I also mean within Europe or within the region. 

Flight Times and Layovers

If you follow the guidelines above, you will be in the ballpark for cheap flights. However, cheap flights always come with some hardships. 

For example, don’t be surprised if you have a departing flight at 6:00 am, you have an 8-hour layover, or you have to change airports for a connection. 

I’ve done all of the above. But this is the benefit of being a solo traveler. We can deal with these issues.

I don’t suggest you get the cheapest flight possible when traveling with girlfriends, parents, etc. 

But if you follow all the above, you will save some money on your flight.

Summary 

Finding cheap flights is easy. The problem is finding a cheap flight for where and when you want to go. But if you are flexible, you don’t have to pay $1,350 to go to France.

Have fun!

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