The golden age of cheap flights is over, Sebastian Ebel, chief executive of the Tui travel group, declared this week.
Yes, fares to Europe are a third more expensive this year than last due to the rising cost of jet fuel, according to tourism search engine Kayak.
But, savvy holidaymakers can still get great deals. Here are our top tricks to save money on a beach.
Price hikes: Fares to Europe are a third more expensive this year than last due to the rising cost of jet fuel
Choose popular
Where multiple airlines fly, fares are kept lower due to competition. So, head to Geneva, Barcelona, Amsterdam or Paris and fares are likely to be lower than to less popular airports serviced by single airlines. Returns to Geneva in June are from £48 with easyJet, for example.
Cheaper Tuesday
The travel comparison site travelsupermarket.com has worked out that flights are cheapest on Tuesdays. Fares are around 25 pc less than on a Friday.
Meanwhile as business travellers prefer to fly out on Mondays and return home on Fridays, the cheapest short city breaks are often from Tuesday to Thursday.
A four-day return trip from Manchester to Paris in June departing on Tuesday and returning on Saturday with Ryanair was on sale for as little as £38 when we checked.
Sales alerts
Flights are cheapest when they are first put on sale — for most airlines this is a year before departure, although Ryanair’s is just five to six months.
Air France, KLM, Etihad and Virgin Atlantic all put their flights up for sale 11 months in advance. Sign up to airlines’ email newsletters to receive sales alerts.
End of an era: Tui boss Sebastian Ebel says the golden age of cheap flights is over
Price graphs
Google Flights and Skyscanner have excellent tools to get a good overview of flight prices.
If you look at the ‘price graph’ section of Google Flights, for example, you can see that prices for return trips from London to Rome can vary between £195 and £56 over the next month.
Returns to Faro in the Algarve fluctuate between £278 and £44. So there are still good deals out there if you pick the right dates.
Airport swap
You may like Heathrow if you’re flying from London, but flights from Luton and Stansted are often around 25 per cent cheaper — so it can pay to check.
Meanwhile, some regional airports such as Bristol, Manchester and Exeter can have great deals, especially if you are flexible about departure dates.
The same rule applies when picking your destination. For example, if you are planning a holiday in Provence, check flight prices to both Nimes and Marseille as one may offer cheaper flights at your preferred time than the other.
It takes about an hour to drive between the two airports.
Try New York
A new batch of budget airlines flying to New York City are keeping fares as low as £440 return on some dates.
So consider a trip to the Big Apple with Norse (flynorse.com) or Play (flyplay.com).
Bargain flights: A new batch of budget airlines flying to New York City is keeping fares as low as £440 return on some dates
Currency check
The pound has had a rocky period against the euro and the dollar, although it’s stabilised recently.
To check sterling’s value in different destinations and find out where your money can go further, use a currency conversion site such as xe.com.
Year on year, sterling is strong against the Turkish lira (33 per cent up), the South African rand (17 per cent up) and Argentinian peso (100 per cent up).
Also check the Post Office’s handy online ‘Holiday Money Report’ highlighting best-value destinations based on the cost of living abroad: Bali, Japan and Vietnam are some of the more exotic tempting options.
Eurostar deals
Eurostar seats are released 180 days before departure.
So to bag the cheapest seats, act quickly using the ‘lowest fare finder’ section of eurostar.com. Return journeys this summer are currently from around £78.
Last minute
Most big tour operators such as jet2.com and Tui have last-minute deals sections on their websites.
There may not be as many late deals as in previous years, but there are still discounts of around 40 per cent if you are flexible about when and where you go.
Healthy competition: Head to Geneva, Barcelona, Amsterdam or Paris and fares are likely to be lower than to less popular airports serviced by single airlines
For example, seven nights’ all-inclusive at Holiday Village Atlantica Mikri Poli in Kos in Greece was from £671pp on May 16 from Luton with Tui when we checked this week — down from £1,142 pp (41 per cent off).
Websites travelzoo.com, secretescapes.com, holidaypirates.com, icelolly.com and voyage-prive.co.uk — which collate left over holiday stock — are also a source of great deals.
Book directly
Trawl through hotel booking websites to find yourself suitable accommodation.
But, once you’ve found somewhere you like, see if you can get a better deal by booking directly through the hotel’s own website. You could find savings of 10 pc or more and sometimes breakfast is thrown in.
Go off season
November and January are best for travel bargains — expect to pay about 25 per cent less for your holiday during these months, while December can be the priciest.
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