Holiday beachChristoph Mohr/DPA/Press Association Images

How would you like to shave hundreds of pounds off the cost of your holiday next year using a handful of insider tips? Which? has revealed the secrets of getting a cheaper plane flight, and if you can be just a tiny bit more flexible next year, your summer holiday could be far less financially painful.

So what do you need to know?



Holiday tips

Travel Insurance Tips



Thousands of Brits are nursing bruised and battered bank accounts after paying for their annual holiday. For those who were lucky enough to travel overseas this year, the combination of prices and taxes meant that by far the most painful part of paying for the break was likely to be the flights.

Which? Has published its secrets to bagging a bargain flight. Richard Lloyd, executive director of Which?, said: "We found that people can save a significant sum of money if they shop around and can be flexible, changing the day or time they choose to travel."

Holiday tips

Travel Insurance Tips


1. Fly on a Tuesday.

If you can fly mid-week you are likely to get a cheaper seat on a less popular flight. Which? looked at flights to Dublin, Bercelona and Athens from London this September, and discovered that Tuesday was the cheapest day for those flying with British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair, while Sundays were found to be the most expensive. It calculated that flying midweek could save over £200 on a family holiday.

2. Check all the times

Traditionally, flights very early or very late tend to be cheaper than those during the day but it pays to do a thorough check for the destination. British Airways follows the traditional pattern, and you'll pay far less for a flight out before 7.30am - and a return flight in the evening. However, easyJet's most expensive tickets are those leaving between 5.45am and 11am, so early birds don't necessarily cash in.

3. Use a flight 'scraper'

This wasn't something recommended by Which? but is a good way to get a decent over-view of the cheapest flights to your destination. A site like skyscanner.net will pull together flights from a host of sources, and let you search across a day, a week or even a month to ensure it is hunting down the cheapest options.

4. Book early

Again this isn't a Which? tip, but it's how the holidays market works. Flights don't get cheaper as the date of the holiday approaches, in fact they get more expensive because the plane gets fuller and the cheap seats are the first to go. It's best to check in advance how far ahead airlines release seats for sale, so you can be first in the queue for the bargains.

5. Consider a package

In many cases a DIY booking, where you put together a cheap flights with a private villa rental, is cheaper. However, if you are planning to go to a hotel in a popular tourist destination for 7 or 14 days, then don't neglect to check the packages. If you're looking for something very standard they can often be the cheapest ways to buy a bargain holiday.

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