Buying a ticket. Part 2.



We’ve already gone through the process of buying a plane ticket and the little tricks you can apply to make your search easier and your purchase cheaper. However, it’s important to note that when travelling to a faraway destination, more often than not, you need to have a connecting flight from your country to a bigger and busier airport first. This post will go over some details around arranging them and will give you some more useful tips.

Tip №1: get all the "big flights" in one ticket (meaning if you have a flight from Europe to another continent and there you have a connecting flight to your end point). In this case the airline you’ve chosen is obliged to get you to your destination. They take responsibility for you if there is a delayed flight that causes you to miss your next one. Furthermore, your luggage is checked in to arrive at the final destination so you don’t have to worry about it during the flights or transfers.

My mom found an amazing offer for her trip to Cuba:
 Amsterdam - Varadero - Amsterdam,
visas and 7 nights on all-inclusive for €650 pp


Tip №2: Always make sure to leave at least 12 hours before your "big flight" if it doesn't depart from your own airport: anything can happen and you wouldn’t want to miss even a day of your vacation because of slight miscalculations. Then, you also have to think if you’d have to find a place to spend the night. It is advisable to stay somewhere near the airport if you’re not planning to spend more time. This big gap between the flights gives you the opportunity, if, for example, the first flight is cancelled, to find another way to reach the city where your second flight takes off.

On our trip to the Dominican Republic
we first arrived in Belgium and had the chance to see Bruges,
while on our return trip we explored Brussels.


For closer destinations it’s better to look for direct flights. If that’s not possible, travel with hand luggage, and have at least a 2-hour gap.

Glasgow - Manchester - Lyon, for example was pretty convenient for me
and travelling with hand luggage only made it even easier.


And finally, Tip №3 check if your connecting flights plan is actually cheaper than a direct flight. Sometimes the connecting flight might be too expensive, or getting to it too difficult, and spoil the initial good offer for the “big flight”.

 
The next adventure that awaits me is the following:
Glasgow - Rome - Moscow - Tokyo for the amazing €290!




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