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A lot has been reported and argued about petrol and heating oil prices lately.
Inflation and high kerosene prices will probably soon make flying more expensive.
Some airlines such as Lufthansa and Emirates have already announced price increases.
And there is another risk for prices: one of the most important kerosene suppliers in Germany is the Russian Rosneft group.
He refuels at four airports in Germany: Munich, Berlin, Stuttgart and Nuremberg.
Price comparisons will be all the more important this year.
A whole armada of flight portals promises you to fish cheap flights from the Internet for you - but only a few providers keep this promise.
So how do you book a flight in summer?
Beware of hidden costs
The range of air travel is very confusing - nobody can see through it without a comparison portal.
My Finanztip colleagues have therefore looked at the most important flight portals.
The surprising finding: Most providers such as Flug.de, Flugladen.de or Opodo are not search engines at all, but online travel agencies on whose websites you can buy flight tickets directly.
But that leads to a big problem: Often the prices are only particularly cheap at first glance.
In the course of the booking process, however, a lot of hidden costs appear that drive up the price.
You often have to shell out a lot more for these extra services, such as seat reservations and checked baggage, than if you had booked the flight directly with the airline.
Because the flight looks more expensive at first glance with the airlines, many fall for it.
In our comparison, we also found that, for example, Fluege.de and Flug.de charge a service fee of 15 euros and more if you don't pay with the company's Mastercard Gold.
Although this scam has already been banned by the Federal Court of Justice, it is happily continued (file number X ZR 23/20).
You can easily get the impression that some of the gentlemen want to spoil your holiday in advance.
Booking with online travel agencies has another disadvantage: You then have two contracts, with the portal and with the airline.
When it comes to reimbursement questions, it is unclear who is responsible.
This has already led to major problems for passengers, especially after bankruptcies.
Flight search engines are the better choice
It is better to use one of the flight search engines.
These providers, such as Kayak, Momondo or Swoodoo, usually link directly to the provider's website.
The search engine operators usually get a commission for this, but this does not affect the customer price.
This has the advantage for consumers that they can use a web link to go directly to the airline's shop and pay there.
And if something goes wrong, you only have one airline to blame, not online travel agency and airline blaming each other.
The way via good portals
However, you also have to be a little careful with the search engines, because they not only connect directly to the airlines, but also to the online travel agencies mentioned above.
But that's easy to see.
And with Kayak, Momondo and Swoodoo you can make sure with one click in the filter settings that only offers are displayed that you can buy directly from the airlines via forwarding.
Unfortunately, the "airline only filter" has a catch: if an airline such as Ryanair does not cooperate with the respective flight search engine, you will not see the flight, even if it is the cheapest.
Details like that aside, these flight finders are useful price calculators: they give you a good estimate of what the final airfare will be.
So at least including the major cost drivers checked baggage and rebooking option.
Okay, the information is not always 100% accurate either, but it is much more realistic than that of the online travel agencies.
On your own
Unfortunately, it often happens that you miss out on one or the other cheap flight.
So if you're patient, it might be worth doing your own research.
In this case, I would recommend starting with one of the flight search engines and looking at all the offers.
Also those of the online travel agencies.
more on the subject
Lufthansa boss Spohr on the airline crisis: "Champagne consumption is increasing" A conversation between Claus Hecking and Martin U. Müller
Flights on the Internet:Price search engines cheaper than online travel agencies
Tips for planning your trip: How to keep your vacation affordable
Then you work through the four or five cheapest offers, determine the airlines behind them, compare the prices directly on the airlines' websites - and then book there as well.
You can use any other good flight search engine besides Kayak, Momondo and Swoodoo.
My Finanztip colleagues took a closer look at seven for their comparison and created a practical overview.
Six tips for finding a flight
No matter which variant you choose.
There are a lot of adjustment screws with which you can basically fly more cheaply.
You can save if you are
flexible with flight
times: off-peak times are better, holiday periods should be avoided if possible.
Some flight search engines also offer you a price analysis.
With Momondo, you can see the prices for the next few days or even get a price forecast for the whole year.
Especially if you are flying to large cities, it can be worth including
several airports
in the search.
There are different options around London, Rome or New York.
It can be financially worthwhile to book
the outward and return flights together with the same airline
.
With some airlines, the return flight will then cost less.
Some airlines such as Eurowings are still accommodating because of Corona and allow you to
rebook
to another flight date free of charge, regardless of the tariff, if something comes up.
If you still want to cancel free of charge at short notice, you must book a flex option.
Do not buy
insurance together with the flight
.
They are usually overpriced and do not perform well.
With travel cancellation insurance, for example, you should think twice about whether you need it.
It is particularly worthwhile for seniors or families with small children.
You can find tips on how to do this here.
What you need in any case: A
foreign
travel health insurance .
Good policies are already available for 10 to 20 euros a year.
One tip at the end: Flight tickets are still not protected against the insolvency of the airlines.
There were already bankruptcies of airlines before the pandemic, they have not become less likely.
The traffic light coalition has promised a remedy – but it is still a long time coming.
It is therefore advisable to pay for flight tickets by credit card.
Chargeback is the name of the procedure used by the credit card companies - and it expressly includes reimbursement in the event of insolvency.
And now I wish you a happy holiday.
I wish you success!
