I tried a cheap flight tip to see if I could save money

If you’re looking to book a summer holiday this year, you might have noticed that flight prices seem a lot more expensive than before the pandemic. I experimented with a travel hack to see if I could save money on a flight by flying from or to a different airport.

School holidays

British tourists who live near the Scottish border can sometimes save money on flights by crossing the border.

Scottish schools often break up for the summer holiday at the end of June and return in the middle of August while English schools don’t break up until July and start back in September.

I found return flights from Edinburgh airport to Alicante at the end of August for just £112 compared to £306 from Newcastle on the same dates. While it might make the journey longer to take a train to Edinburgh first, tourists could save money by doing so.

Scottish tourists could save by crossing the border at the end of June with return flights from Edinburgh to Alicante at £216 compared to £160 from Newcastle.

Fly to a different destination

Granada was recently named Spain’s cheapest holiday destination and the city’s Alhambra palace is one of Europe’s most impressive sights.

But flying to the southern Spanish city can be a pain with only a few direct flights on offer from the UK.

However, Malaga is one of the cheapest destinations to fly to in Spain and is just an hour and a half drive from Granada.

If you’re not looking to rent a car, you can also take a bus from Malaga airport to Granada or get the train from the city centre.

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Do your research

Some top destinations can be reached by multiple airports so it’s worth shopping around for the best deal.

This year there’s a lot of holiday buzz around Albania’s beach resorts, including attractive and good value Saranda.

British tourists can reach Saranda with a flight to Corfu and then a quick ferry across to Albania.

The cheapest flight I could find on August 12 from London to Corfu was £152. However, if you’re planning on renting a car anyway, you could save money by flying to Preveza in Greece with a flight from London for just £88 on August 12 and driving up to Albania.

Preveza is just a two and a half hour drive from Saranda, and tourists could also visit the pretty town of Parga enroute or make a detour to the incredible monasteries at Meteora.

On another date it might be cheaper to fly to Corfu and take the ferry, so it’s worth investigating all the possible options before booking your flight.

Cities with multiple airports

London has six international airports so British tourists who live near the capital have plenty of escape routes.

Stansted or Luton are often some of the capital’s cheapest airports to fly from as they’re further out of the city than Gatwick or Heathrow.

When I looked at flights from London to Palma leaving on August 9 and returning on August 16, I found Luton was the cheapest option with easyJet flights available from £155. However, easyJet flights from Gatwick were barely more expensive at £168 for a return on the same dates.

Depending on where you live, it’s not always cheaper to fly from the cheapest option after you’ve factored in the price of travel to the airport.

Train tickets may cost more to reach an airport that’s further outside the city or you could lose valuable holiday time on a longer journey.

I think it’s always worth considering all the options before booking your flight but I wouldn’t just immediately go for the cheapest choice. Car hire, train tickets and time of journey are all important considerations to think about before booking that cheap flight.

All flight prices correct at the time of writing and found on Skyscanner.

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