First, take two hardcore special air ticket pictures
This is the Wednesday pocket money event of Western Airlines . Domestic air tickets generally add 50 yuan to the construction fee of the machine.
This is Zhang Jiuyuan Airlines' Spring Festival travel special ticket, and the round-trip air ticket from Guangzhou to Osaka is only 9 yuan.
Overall air ticket prices are rising during the Spring Festival travel rush, and air tickets from Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai will not be cheap, but some airlines will launch some discount promotions, such as HNA's reverse Spring Festival travel rush, and some special flash sale activities of other airlines are also carried out normally.
PS: This article mainly writes about air ticket guides for non-gold travel times, because unless you can get special air tickets, it will not be cheap to buy air tickets now.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A flight ticket is sent to passengers from the platform OTA, and it has to go through at least four steps:
Airlines → GDS → Agent → Terminal passengers
GDS The full name of Global Distribution System (Global Distribution System), is an information service system, and its function is similar to an intermediary service platform. When we select the date, origin and destination when searching for air tickets from the OTA platform, the agent (OTA) will retrieve data from the GDS. GDS will show the agent the remaining location and prices of the relevant flights for the route on a specific date. The price we found after adding the relevant fees on the OTA platform.
Buying air tickets is not a grocery store. Of course, you have to compare the prices. After many price comparisons, I finally found a cheap air ticket, but when I placed an order to buy, I found that the air tickets were much more expensive than when I searched.
Is this the legendary big data killing old customers?
is not
1. According to the regulations of the State Administration of Civil Aviation, OTA can only charge a fixed agency fee for an agent ticket;
2. The data of GDS will be cached. After the passenger confirms the order, the agent will also obtain the latest cabin number and price from GDS for final confirmation, and the price of the air ticket may have been adjusted many times during this period.
So OTA cannot kill us, although it cannot kill us. But his air tickets are not necessarily the cheapest, because they will push their own agency tickets to passengers, and these air tickets are not necessarily the cheapest.
Then, isn’t it cheaper to cut off the middlemen and go directly to the official website to buy it? is not necessarily the case, because airlines give each agent different policies and offers, and each OTA platform wants traffic, so sometimes it is better to make less or not make money and get more traffic to increase customer stickiness. So how can we buy cheaper air tickets?
1. Comparison prices of multiple platforms
Qunar and Ctrip are OTA platforms, Tianzhang, IGOLA, momondo, and Keya are price comparison products. The prices found in the OTA platform can only be OTA's self-operated air tickets or air tickets of airlines and agents that have cooperative relationships with the OTA platform . That is to say, you can search for self-operated air tickets from China Southern Airlines, Air China and other airlines and air tickets provided by some agents in Ctrip, but you cannot search for the same route, Qunar or Tongcheng Travel's airline ticket prices. However, you can search the OTA platform's air ticket information for comparison on price comparison platforms such as Tianzhang and IGOLA.
Domestic air tickets for Tianzhang, IGOLA price comparison
International air ticket recommendation momondo, Tianzhang, KAYAK (Keya)
PS: All the above websites have APP
1. Tianzhang https://www.tianxun.com/
Skyscanner (Skyscanner) International and domestic air ticket price comparison was founded in 2003 and is the world's largest air ticket price comparison website for . It was 14 by Ctrip (Trip.com Group) in 2016. The acquisition was priced at 100 million euros, but it still operated independently. It provides instant online price comparisons for millions of routes, as well as car rental and hotel reservations. Tianzhang.com provides searches for flights, hotels and car rentals in more than 30 different languages, and can also select different currency units to query and pay.
2.IGOLA https://www.igola.com/
Penguin (iGola) was founded in 2014. It is a domestic price comparison product. iGola has been directly connected to the official websites of more than 130 large airlines and more than 50 well-known OTAs. It can search and compare global air ticket prices in real time. domestic air ticket prices have relatively advantages.
3.momondo is an independent brand of Yake. Their bosses are BOOKING. The search air tickets search function from booking and agoda are all provided by Keya, and they can display the historical price comparison chart of line date in the last three months. It is very convenient.
3.1momondo https://www.cn.momondo.com/
3.2kayak: https://www.cn.kayak.com/
2. When to buy the cheapest
Domestic air tickets are generally one to two months in advance, and international air tickets are two to three months in advance. PS: Because cheap air tickets that are too long in advance have not started pre-sale. Airlines will reduce the air ticket prices to attract passengers to purchase during this period, commonly known as "pad cabin". (It feels so humble~ we can only use it to cushion the cabin) In other words, no matter whether this flight can make money or not, it cannot lose money first, and it must ensure a certain attendance rate.
Image source Cheapair.com
markets, analyzed the changes in the ticket price of .917 billion flights. The "2019 Air Ticket Research Report" published divides the time period for early purchase of air tickets into 6 regions:Cheap Air based on
The first is 315 days to 203 days (6~10 months)
The second is 202 days to 116 days (4~6 months)
The third is 115 days to 21 days (21 days~4 months)
The third is 115 days to 21 days (21 days~4 months)
l2
The fourth one is 20 days to 14 days (2 to 3 weeks)
The fifth one is 7 to 13 days ahead of
The sixth one is 6 to 0 days ahead of
The best purchase time period is 21 days to 4 months before departure. The report also mentioned that air tickets on the middle of the week will be more expensive. The air tickets on Tuesdays and Thursdays will be cheaper. . During this period, you can start by seeing air tickets that are relatively in line with the psychological price. Sometimes airlines will release easter eggs in other time periods, especially in the few days before departure, but whether you dare to buy this depends on whether you are big enough.
3. Follow airline discount activities
) Airline membership day discount activities
Domestic airlines:
is led by the four major airlines, namely China Southern Airlines , China Eastern Airlines , China International Airlines, Hainan Airlines . The four major airlines cover a lot of destinations, from domestic routes to Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States, and Africa, all other private airlines are their subsidiaries or hold certain shares.
China Southern Airlines: Xiamen Airlines , Shantou Airlines, Guizhou Airlines , Zhuhai Airlines , Chongqing Airlines , Henan Airlines
China Eastern Airlines: Shanghai Airlines , MTU
China International Airlines: Shenzhen Airlines , Shandong Airlines , Macau Airlines , Dalian Airlines , Beijing Airlines
Hainan Airlines: Capital Airlines, Tianjin Airlines , Hong Kong Airlines -Hong Kong Express (low-air), Xiangpeng Airlines , Western Airlines, Fuzhou Airlines , Beibu Gulf Airlines, Urumqi Airlines , Changan Airlines , Guilin Airlines , Jinpeng Airlines
China International Airlines: Shenzhen Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Macau Airlines, Dalian Airlines, Beijing Airlines
Major airlines will launch various discount promotions from time to time, among which the airlines' membership daily discount is the largest.
domestic airline membership day:
Four major airlines:
Hainan Airlines-Monthly 8
https://www.hnair.com/
China Eastern Airlines-Monthly 9
http://www.ceair.com/
China Southern Airlines-Monthly 28
China Southern Airlines-Monthly 28 twelve 26 twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve twelve
https://www.csair.com/cn/
China International Airlines (Air China) - Repeat several days every month, such as January 1, February 2...
http://www.airchina.com.cn/
Other airlines:
https://www.xiamenair.com/
https://www.xiamenair.com/
https://www.xiamenair.com/
https://shenzhen Airlines-12th of every monthhttp://www.shenzhenair.com/
Sichuan Airlines-Every quarterly Sichuan Airlines membership day has been changed to 3.6.9.19 December
http://www.sichuanair.com/
Juniori Airlines-Every month 25
http://www.juneyaoair.com/
House Airlines monthly daily promotion, January 2nd, February 2nd…
http://www.sda.cn/
China Airlines 9 yuan flash sale: 9 yuan special air tickets are released at 10 am every Tuesday. China Airlines is the main airline for regional routes. The main model of Bombardier CRJ-900 aircraft. The State Administration of Civil Aviation reduces the construction fee of this model. In other words, the promotion price is the final price, the real 9 yuan ticket.
http://www.juneyaoair.com/
Ruili Airlines : Use Yunnan as the base camp to radiate domestic branch lines and Southeast Asian routes, and membership day on the 18th of every month - 5:00 to 8:00 pm every Tuesday "6 yuan instant kill"
https://www.rlair.ne
) Low-cost airlines:
low-cost airlines give people the impression that air luggage check-in and refund and change will be expensive, and the service experience will be relatively poor. However, for the guru and student parties, air tickets usually account for a large part of the money, so if you can save some money on air tickets, it is also quite good to choose low-cost airlines. Some people are also worried about the safety of low-cost airlines. In fact, the safety standards of low-cost airlines are in line with other airlines. Aircraft must pass the safety standards of the Civil Aviation Administration before they can take off. That is to say, taking the plane of an low-cost airline is as safe as the plane of an ordinary airline.
Domestic low-cost airline membership day:
Spring and Autumn: The largest private low-cost airline in China. Anniversary July Spring Airlines - Member Day on the 27th of every month There are rush purchases every day.
https://www.ch.com/
Xiangpeng— "Orange Thursday" promotion, every Thursday afternoon -4 pm, domestic 8 yuan/88 yuan promotion, and purchase it on Xiangpeng's official APP "Xiangpenghui"/official website. Domestic routes are mainly Kunming, Lijiang, Guiyang, and Xishuangbanna , all of which are 8 yuan/88 yuan air tickets!
http://www.luckyair.net/
West— Western Airlines "Pocket Money Promotion" Every Wednesday at 10 am focuses on routes such as Zhengzhou, Chongqing, Hefei, Guilin and other routes; the air ticket price starts at 8 yuan, the ticket price is 38 yuan, 88 yuan, plus the fuel fee is 50 yuan, and a ticket is 100+ yuan. Only purchase on the official APP "Flying Plus".
www.westair.cn
China United - Friday promotion 12:00 noon Air ticket Beijing mainly travels to many cities. It also starts at 8 yuan (relatively less), mostly 58 yuan and 88 yuan, and mainly focuses on routes from Beijing ( Nanyuan Airport ), Inner Mongolia, Nanjing and Changsha.
http://www.flycua.com/
http://www.9air.com/
Tianjin Airlines on the 8th of every month
http://www.tianjin-air.com/
Beibu Gulf-based in Nanning, December 8
http://gxairlines.aircraftnurse.com/
Capital- Capital International Airport On the 8th of every month,
http://www.jdair.net/
Other domestic low-cost airlines also include Xingfu Airlines, Chengdu Airlines and Urumqi Airlines.
Low-cost airlines usually do not provide meals or drinks, and the free luggage check-in amount is basically limited to 7 kg, and the luggage restrictions are relatively strict. Therefore, if you have too much luggage when traveling, try not to choose a cheap airline, otherwise the luggage checkout fee is likely to be similar to the air ticket price.
Spring Airlines' free shipping limit is a bit that~
In comparison, AirAsia is much more generous
Asian region low-cost airline:
9 AirAsia's four major promotions in 119 were:AirAsia (strong promotion, covering multiple popular travel destinations in Asia): 4 major promotions every year, that is, once every quarter, starting from the second half of 2019, there will be Southeast Asia flash promotion activities every month.
-10
-15
-12
1-02
1-11-11Among them, only the fourth season's promotion has 0 yuan air ticket activity
and 18 years:
-2
-20
-4
And there are 0 yuan air tickets in four major promotions in 2018
Cebu ( Philippines region recommended): Every March anniversary monthly promotion, June 12th Independence Day promotion, Double Eleven, and Christmas will also be held, and 1 yuan air ticket promotions and flash promotions will be launched from time to time.
https://www.cebupacificair.com/
Hong Kong Express-weekly there are different types of promotions
Hong Kong, Ningbo to Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Saipan
https://www.flypeach.com/cn
Le Tao- mainly covers Osaka, Sapporo , Fukuoka , Nagasaki, and Kagoshima in Japan. Only Shanghai is the only one to go to China, and the price is also very good. If you go to Japan, the best prices should be Letao and Hong Kong Express.
https://www.flypeach.com/cn
Busan Airlines - Hong Kong to South Korea international line: Hong Kong-Busan; Busan-Taipei, Busan-Osaka, Busan-Fukuoka, Busan-Tokyo (Narina), Busan-Cebu.
https://cn.airbusan.com/
Scool: Southeast Asia and Australia are the main destinations, and Chinese routes include Tianjin, Shenyang, Qingdao, Hangzhou to Singapore (Northeast to Southeast Asia) Tuesdays of the first week of each month from 7 am to 9 am
http://www.flyscoot.com/zh
Jetstar (jet) (jet) star): Hangzhou, Haikou, Shantou, Hong Kong and Macao will fly directly to Singapore. It is the main low-cost flight from Singapore to Aozhu and New Zealand. It is also one of the low-cost flights from Shanghai and Hong Kong. It is also one of the low-cost flights from Shanghai and Hong Kong. It is
https://www.jetstar.com/cn
European low-cost flights :
Ryanair Ryanair: European old low-cost flights, just like AirAsia in Southeast Asia. -The routes are numerous to 17 countries in Europe and 94 destinations, whether it is London, Dublin, Frankfurt, or remote travel destinations.
Easyjet: flight points are also spread throughout Europe, with many direct flights in Europe, which is very convenient.
North American route:
Cross-Ocean Airlines Air Transat: Canada's independent low-cost flights, covering 15 Canadian cities, and can fly to Amsterdam, Manchester, Paris, Frankfurt, and London. However, most routes do not have many flights, less than 1 flight per day.
Oceania route
Virgin Australia: Virgin is the second largest airline in Australia, with 33 stations in Australia. Of course, there are many flights covering major cities, especially from Australia to New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands. It is worth mentioning that there are also flights to the United Kingdom and the United States.
4. Follow the OTA platform's discount activities
OTA platform will push the discount activities of major airlines from time to time. For example, there is a reverse special ticket for HNA on the Spring Festival travel rush on Meituan in the recent Spring Festival travel rush
Special tickets for many places after Ctrip went to Macau Airlines Festival
4. Other special methods
code shared flight
code share flight refers to two airlines selling the same flight tickets and are actually carried by one of the airlines. When searching for air tickets, the seller (non-carrier) usually displays the words " share ".
like Chengdu to Kunming on January 23, China Southern Airlines, as the salesperson, China Eastern Airlines, as the carrier, shared flights. At the same time, the same plane has a difference of 110 RMB. If you are searching for air tickets, if you find a shared flight, you might as well compare the prices of the two airlines and place an order. You should also note that code-sharing flights cannot be checked in online in advance. Friends who have bought shared flights should pay attention~
Group ticket
Number of travelers More than 10 people consider group tickets may be more preferential. Taking AirAsia as an example, the average flight fee for group tickets will be determined based on the number of remaining seats, so the earlier you book a group ticket, the greater the chance of getting a discount.
price guarantee
airline official website basically has BRG, which is the best price guarantee. If you purchase the same flight on other OTA platforms with the same cabin price is cheaper than the official website, even if it is 1 yuan cheaper, then the airline will give you coupons of the same price, which you can use next time. Hainan Airlines is even more expensive, and you will pay 20 times more.
skytrax awards
In the third quarter of each year, skytrax awards the best airline TPO20 award, which is equivalent to the Oscars in the aviation industry. It is usually mid-July, and the award-winning airlines will hold a wave of promotions. HNA ranked seventh in 2019, but there seemed to be no promotion. AirAsia won "the world's best low-cost airline" and instead promoted a wave. Students who can't get it, wait next year~
Finally, there is another activity of member flight mileage points discounts and credit card points redemption miles. The policies of each airline are different. The specific methods are available on the official websites of each airline. I won't go into it here.
