Traveling is getting more and more expensive, but the desire always drives us to look for opportunities.
Also, try a trick that allows you
to reduce expenses
, whether they are accommodation, excursions or air tickets.
Anything goes when it comes to being able to go to that destination that we dream of so much.
Next, 5 ways to get
cheaper air tickets
and try to save one of the main expenses that a trip usually has.
1. Mileage Club
In recent months ,
Smiles
, the miles program of the Brazilian airline Gol, has gained popularity in the travel environment, since several passengers have obtained significant discounts on plane tickets buying with this modality and they have it on networks.
In addition, it is a way to
pay for a ticket abroad in installments
, something that can no longer be done in the traditional way.
Airline tickets are getting more expensive, but there are ways to get good prices.
Photo Shutterstock.
To use it, you have to
subscribe
.
It can be free or by paying
Club Smiles
, a subscription that guarantees earning a certain number of miles every 30 days, and at the same time gives access to special rates and offers.
There are plans from
$2,200
for 1,000 miles up to
$23,500
for 20,000.
In addition to these subscription miles, one can earn more miles in different ways.
One of the options is to buy them.
As explained by Sebastián Mariano García, @chicodlasmillas on Twitter and chicodelasmillas on Instagram -an expert on this subject-, the base value per mile is
$4.4 but there are generally
bonus
promotions
, so they end up cheaper.
Smiles is from the Brazilian airline Gol.
Photo Reuters/Pilar Olivares.
For example, if there is a 280% bonus, if you buy 1,000 miles, you pay $4,400, but you receive 3,800 and the mile is, in this case, $
1.16
.
Another way to accumulate is with
discount vouchers
.
If they give a voucher with a 74% discount, the mile is
$1.14
.
Garcia, who is an expert in miles travel and advertises Smiles promotions on his pages all the time, has advertised flights to Miami for 49,600 miles each way.
Adding approximately $28,000 in fees, with a $1.16 mile, a flight to Miami is
$85,536.
Other ways to earn miles is through the referral program or receive them as a gift.
The Smiles feature that stands out is
Easy Trip
, which allows you to book a flight up to 11 months before traveling and issue up to 60 days before departure.
When booking, only the value of the service and the fees and taxes are paid,
the price of the ticket is frozen
and can be canceled if a better option is found or an inconvenience arises.
In that case, the fees and taxes of the ticket that had been paid are returned.
Currently the cost of this service is
$6,000 (
$5,000 for clients subscribed to Club Smiles).
When confirming the ticket reservation, 1,000 bonus miles are given and for Club Smiles members, 2,000 bonus miles.
Another function to emphasize is that the ticket can be purchased entirely with miles or with
miles and pesos
.
Tourists enjoying the beaches of South Beach, in Miami.
Photo Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg.
To get the best prices, it is recommended to join the
Smiles
Telegram chat where the user writes where they are traveling from, where they want to go and on what date and the bot returns the options with the lowest prices.
As recommended by the "Chico de las Miles", it is convenient to subscribe to the program with a
destination in mind
.
The important thing to have an optimal experience is to have
flexibility of dates
to be able to get the best offer.
2. Alerts
Being all day looking for the best price on tickets can be an effective strategy, but to optimize times, alerts
are
great allies.
Both Google and airline or travel agency pages allow you to configure alerts that reach the cell phone as a notification and notify you
when there is an offer
for a destination.
Tourists being photographed in front of the Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona.
AP Photo/Joan Mateu.
To create them you have to use keywords such as offer, name of the destination, air tickets.
The Despegar agency, for example, asks for the
maximum amount
that one is willing to pay to go to a certain destination and warns when air tickets are found for less money.
Another option is to review
blog posts
such as promociones-aereas.com.ar or ratamundo.com, where offers are published and newsletters are sent with all the latest travel news.
3. Anticipation
Matías Mute, creator of the Air Promotions page, assures that, in general, the best moments to buy a plane ticket are between
3 and 6 months before the flight
.
Bariloche is one of the national destinations most sought after by travelers.
Photo Emprotura.
“A plane seat goes on sale 11 and a half months in advance and can have up to 9 possible prices.
The ticket begins to sell expensive so buying very much in advance is not advisable.
Depending on the occupancy of the flight and when the departure date approaches,
the prices change
, ”explains the expert.
And he adds: “Probably the weekend routes are occupied first, so it may also be
cheaper to travel on a weekday
.”
4. Fly from an alternative airport
This is a strategy that was "popularized" years ago.
Many times flights from
other cities
in neighboring countries are cheaper than from Buenos Aires.
Santiago de Chile, Foz de Iguazú, San Pablo, Montevideo and Asunción are usually the international cities most used by Argentines for this practice.
For example, on the Despegar site, a round-trip flight from Ezeiza to Miami for the end of April starts at $346,731, while from Santiago for the same date, there are from $
288,318
.
It will be necessary to see in each case, how much it costs to get to those cities so that it is really convenient.
Flying from Chile to the US or Europe, an alternative that sometimes allows lower costs.
Photo EFE/Alberto Valdes.
From Buenos Aires, a round-trip flight to Rio de Janeiro for the end of April starts at $138,698 and one departing from Foz de Iguazú costs
$66,494
.
These alternatives are less straightforward, but for those who don't have time constraints and just want to save, they may be convenient.
On the other hand, those who are not near these airports can
accumulate miles
to get there without paying extra money.
In these cases, it is recommended that the flights be
separated by several hours
since, if the first one is delayed, the second one will be lost because, since they are not purchased together, none of the airlines will take over.
5.VPN
A VPN is a virtual private network that
hides the computer's IP address and allows you to change your geographic location, since flight rates and other tourist services change depending on the country in which you are searching
.
Aerial view of the beaches of Boulevard Kukulcán, in Cancun.
Photo EFE/ Alonso Cupul.
This tool allows you to compare prices from
different parts of the world
.
That is, being in Argentina, we can see the price of a ticket from Buenos Aires to Madrid, for example, buying in India, Pakistan or any other place.
It is very likely that the rate for these countries is much lower compared to what a computer that is geolocated in Argentina returns.
This is due to supply and demand.
A VPN that allows you to do this price comparison and buy at the rate of another country is Surfshark, highly recommended by traveling instagramers.
It is paid and has a current promotion of 3 dollars for 12 months.
Keep in mind
: although discounts are available, it may not be the most convenient way to buy a ticket if you pay with an
Argentine card
since the currency fluctuates and the value of the dollar may increase at the time the card is closed or that fees be added to purchases with foreign currency.
look also
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