Why is the special ticket so cheap?

Air ticket is a kind of thing with extremely low marginal cost and high fixed cost. Special/discount tickets are usually off-season tickets or morning flights, and few people buy these tickets. However, no matter how many people buy it, the plane must take off. The fixed cost of driving a drone is tens of thousands of dollars, and one more person will not increase this cost.

If you are an airline and only a few people buy it now, it is obvious that you are losing money. Will you choose to sell tickets at a reduced price or fly directly?

Another possibility is that they are low-cost air tickets. The exit ticket of low-cost airlines is only a few hundred dollars.

But many people have misunderstandings about "low-cost airlines". In fact, "low-cost airlines" does not mean "low-cost aircraft". Low-cost airlines are cheap because their services (such as plane meals, baggage check-in and lounge) need to be purchased separately, and "no refund, no change, no change", you just give the ticket+tax+engine oil.

The fare paid by the more traditional airlines we usually see is = air ticket+tax+engine oil+insurance+change/refund right+plane meal+luggage consignment+unlimited supply of drinks.

The service standards of these airlines are also somewhat different:

1. The seat is relatively small.

2. Low-cost airlines generally do not include checked baggage and need to be purchased separately. Generally speaking, it is much cheaper to buy luggage online in advance than before boarding.

3. Low-cost airlines do not include free meals. Can only be purchased.

4. Many low-cost airlines will have different terminals from non-low-cost airlines, and some of them are separate terminals, which need special attention.

I'm not a travel expert, but I have a lot of travel experience and have been to more than 20 countries during my working holiday. Although I am not rich, fortunately, I have successfully purchased special airfare every time I travel.

I bought cheap air tickets not to save money, but for a higher cost performance. Here are some ways I usually buy cheap air tickets (special air tickets). My humble opinion is for reference only. ：

1, buy tickets in advance

Booking domestic flights 30~60 days in advance, that is, 1 and 2 months before departure may be the cheapest. At this time, domestic flights will monitor the billing rate and adjust the price to ensure that the tickets can be sold out.

International flights are booked about 0/70 days in advance, that is, 5 to 6 months in advance.

Tips: Returning from Thursday to Monday may be the cheapest combination of international airlines, which is 20% cheaper than other time periods. I found the little rule myself. Don't hit me. )

Pay attention to the official website of the airline.

Special fares and preferential activities will be released in official website as soon as possible, which is not available on other agency websites. In addition, airlines usually have a quarterly promotion/annual promotion/membership day, and the promotion frequency of low-cost airlines will be greater than that of traditional airlines.

3. Use some special ticketing software that students' party/poor tourists prefer to use.

This is what I choose to use. In the past few years, I have tried dozens of airline ticket search engines. The only good experience is:

(1) Sky Patrol Network (the route covers all airlines in the world, but it is more troublesome to search, so you need to observe it frequently, change the time and departure place, and hardworking birds will get worms);

Take me to the APP (the route is mainly in Asia, but it is convenient to display the lowest price and departure time directly, without changing the time search. And there is no need to download, and the official account of WeChat WeChat "Take me to fly" also has an entrance, the page is as follows)

4. Take X and go to the area of large OTA such as X 'er.

But I remind you, don't expect too much, because the ticket here either doesn't have your destination or doesn't match your travel time. Some didn't come back for more than a month, and some came back the next day. Anyway, it was an awkward time.

5. Try to change the starting point.

If time and energy permit, you can try to change the starting point to neighboring cities.

There are some unwritten general rules. If you travel abroad, air tickets from Hong Kong or Macau will be cheaper. Tianjin will be cheaper than Beijing.

6. buy a tail flick ticket

"scalping" refers to the tickets that have not been sold out before delivery.

Generally speaking, the ticket on Tuesday before the departure of domestic flights is the cheapest, because airlines usually check whether the flight is full on Tuesday before the departure, and if there are many seats left, they usually reduce the price on this day.

Tips: But this does not apply to outbound tourists who have definite travel time/need a visa.

7. Use the mobile terminal to purchase air tickets.

In order to get customers on the mobile side, some websites will have a slightly cheaper ticket than the PC side when searching for APP, or there will be some small discounts/gifts/vouchers. But the price difference will not be particularly far. This is not a way to buy a special ticket, but a small way to save money.