- Hi and welcome to the channel.
My name is Megan and I make all of my flight bookings myself,
usually searching through Google Flights,
because I love the flexibility of seeing all the different options for times,
destinations, and prices.
However, booking your own flights means that you need to be on alert
for all of the little details of those flights
and recognize that a good deal often comes at a less obvious cost.
In today's video I'll be running through 10 things to look out for
before you book your flight
that could potentially completely derail your trip
or cause you to have to rebook your flights,
which we all know is not cheap.
(music)
The first mistake to avoid is flying in or out of the wrong airport.
If you're on a site like Google Flights and you type in "New York to London,"
you're going to see all the different flight options
from all of the different airports,
leaving from New York to the different airports that fly into London.
So you could end up having a flight that's departing from Newark, JFK,
or LaGuardia.
Double-check the airport codes,
because you don't want to end up arriving at Newark airport
only to find out that your flight is actually departing from JFK.
On a similar note, you may get an amazing deal
that's going New York to London,
but then, when you look at the airport code,
you'll see that it's actually flying into London's Gatwick airport
and not their main airport, Heathrow.
Maybe the cost savings are worth it
and you're okay with flying into Gatwick instead,
but make sure you know it's going to Gatwick,
because, if your final destination is closer to Heathrow,
you could end up spending a lot of time and money
to commute to that final destination,
and it may not be worth the cost savings.
So, double-check your airport codes
and make sure you know which airport you are flying out of
and which airport you are flying into,
not just the city you're flying out of and the city you're flying into.
Many booking sites like Google Flights
will show you options that require you to change airports at your connections
if it's going to be a good deal.
And some times it's going to end up saving you hundreds of dollars,
so it's not an option to completely dismiss,
but you do need to recognize that you will need a longer layover
if you're going to have to switch aiports.
A common example of this is flying into Bangkok's main international airport
and then transferring to their smaller airport, DMK,
to catch an in-country flight
if you are going to Phuket or Krabi or Chiang Mai.
The trouble is that, once you fly into Bangkok's main airport,
if you didn't factor in several hours
to get you at least 45 minutes to the inner airport,
you could end up completely missing your flight.
If you just have a two-hour layover and you don't have to change airports,
that's fine.
If you have a two-hour layover and you need to change airports,
you're in trouble.
So definitely check if you have a connection
that requires a change of airport
and then make sure that your layover is going to give you
enough time to make the change.
Also keep in mind that when you make the change to a new airport
you have to check in and check your baggage all over again.
So, again, make sure you have enough time.
The third thing to look out for,
whether you have to change airports or not,
is too short of a connection time in general.
When you're booking for yourself on a site like Google Flights,
you'll often see flights that have very short connection times
if they're going to be a great deal.
You may see a great flight deal, but, if the connection time is too tight,
you're going to stress yourself out and risk potentially missing that flight.
Flights are commonly delayed,
international flights may have additional security lines,
you may need to get through customs,
and sometimes you even need to pick up and then recheck your baggage.
My rule of thumb,
regardless of how good of a flight deal it is,
is to avoid booking any domestic flights
with a connection time of less than one hour
and any international flights with a connection time of less than two hours.
The fourth thing to look out for is the opposite,
which is too long of a connection time.
You may end up saving a couple hundred dollars on your flight
if you end up going with an 18-hour overnight layover.
But then think about that layover.
Are you going to need to get a hotel?
Are you going to need to pay for transportation to get to that hotel
and then back to the airport the next day?
And then also go through the time of rechecking in
and rechecking all of your baggage.
Is it worth it?
If it's great savings but a very long connection time,
another option is to just hang out in the airport,
which is probably what I would do.
And, if you plan on doing this,
definitely check out the free website SleepinginAirports;
it's pretty much exactly as it sounds.
It will tell you all of the best places to get some sleep
as well as activities and Wi-Fi passwords, things to do
while you are on your connection layover.
If you're flying long-haul international,
my next tip is to check what countries you will be having your connections in.
This may not matter to you,
but it matters to me, particularly when it comes to travel insurance.
My travel insurance, like most travel insurances,
are going to cost more if you have a stop in the US.
So, for example, I pay $37 a month to have my travel insurance coverage
if I'm not traveling in the US or through the US.
By simply having a connection in a US city,
my travel insurance will jump from $37 a month
to $67 a month.
This is common;
US is usually a premium add-on.
So you may not think about it,
but your travel insurance could be completely voided
if you have a connection in a US city
and you don't have a US add-on to your travel insurance.
So, typically, if I'm flying from Canada
to an international destination that is outside of the US,
I will avoid traveling through the US altogether.
My next tip when booking your own flights
is to double-check what the baggage limitations are.
If you are going with a low-cost carrier,
which many sites like Google Flights will show you options with,
and you can end up scoring some very cheap flights...
These are carriers like Ryan Air, Air Asia,
Spirit, WOW Airlines.
The trouble with these is that they end up making their money
on the additional add-ons as opposed to the actual flight ticket.
So you could see a very cheap flight on Google Flights with Ryan Air,
but, let's say you have two bags that you need to check with you.
While many airlines still have one checked bag included in the price,
these budget airlines usually don't.
So, with Ryan Air, you could end up paying USD 50
for each bag that you check, each way.
So you could end up paying more
by flying on one of these budget airlines -
which includes no food, no drinks, limited leg room -
than you would've paid if you had flown with a standard airline
on the more expensive price that had all of these things that you needed included.
So, my tip here is to just really look at the deal that you're going for
and see what's included with taxes, with fees, with baggage,
all the details, so you know what your final cost is going to be,
not just the cost of the flight ticket.
My seventh tip is very simple but absolutely key
if you're booking your own flights.
This is to update your spam or your junk folder settings
so that any communications that come through from the airline
go to your inbox and not straight to your junk,
where you may never see them.
If you're booking your own flights, you are the one that is in charge
if there's going to be any changes to your itinerary.
The airline will try to get in touch with you directly,
which means you need to see these emails
to know if there're going to be any important changes to your itinerary.
When you're booking a flight with Google Flights,
my next tip is to not confuse a direct flight with a non-stop flight.
A non-stop flight is exactly as it sounds,
you will fly from your departure airport directly to your destination airport.
However, a direct flight may include stops along the way
to pick up and drop off passengers.
This means you are going up in the air, down, multiple times;
it's going to take longer.
So you may want to be paying more for a flight
that doesn't have these additional stops along the way,
even if it's going to be more expensive.
Next, if you're booking your own flight
and you intend to use loyalty points that you've collected with an airline,
make sure you read the checkout page thoroughly.
Using points to book a "free flight"
doesn't actually include the taxes
and the airport fees that come along with that flight.
For example, I have enough loyalty points to book a one-way flight
from Canada to Asia.
This sounds pretty good to have a free long-haul flight,
but then, when I put the details in and I get to the checkout page,
I'll see that I'll end up paying an additional $500
in taxes and fees.
So, the total cost of this flight for one way
is going to be all of my points
plus an additional $500.
My alternative would be to book a round-trip flight -
and a round trip is almost always cheaper
when it's a long-haul international than a one-way -
and it would cost me, from Canada to Asia and back to Canada,
a grand total of $700 and zero points.
If I were to go with the option to use my points and get to Asia,
I'd be spending, like I said, all of my points plus $500,
and then I would also need to book another one-way
when I wanted to come home.
That one-way flight would likely cost me between $600 and $700.
As you can see, it is a much better deal and much better value for your money
to book a round trip and pay for it in full
as opposed to using all of your points.
Using points...
(sighs)
I'm not the person to give you tips on this
but, from what I read and what I've seen,
it is much more valuable for you to use your points for things like upgrades
or for shorter domestic flights
than it is for these long-haul international flights.
I will also leave a few resources down below - they're free -
that have helped me,
and one of them actually helps you see
what the value of your points is worth in dollars
so you know if it's better to just pay for your flight
or better to be using your points.
My final tip, when it comes to booking your own flights, is...
to maybe consider not booking your own flight.
Don't completely dismiss using a good travel agent.
A good travel agent, especially if it's your first time booking flights
or if you have a complicated itinerary with multiple stops,
can end up saving you a heck of a lot of money.
They're getting a small fee as well,
but you may also end up saving.
They can show you options that you maybe didn't see were available,
and are also going to be able to catch all of the mistakes
that I mentioned in this video,
such as high baggage fees, even though it's a cheap flight,
or too short of a connection time
or connections that involve airport changes.
They keep track of all of this for you,
and the peace of mind to having everything done correctly
may be worth it.
If you do still decide to book your own flights,
then I definitely recommend that you check out Rakuten.
I've mentioned Rakuten so many times on this channel.
It's a very popular, very simple cashback service
that partners with thousands of stores
from Sephora to Lululemon to Expedia.
So, if you're booking your flights, which is a pretty high-ticket option
you can get a certain percent of cash back on that flight booking.
I ended up saving hundreds of dollars
by using Rakuten to book my flights in 2019.
I'll leave all the details for Rakuten,
as well as every other resource that I mentioned in this video -
I'm pretty sure all of them were free -
in the description down below.
In summary, there are many, many benefits to booking your own flights,
but then the drawback is that you need to pay attention
to all of these little details
and be on the ball with any changes to your itinerary.
If you made it this far in this video, you should be well on your way
to successfully booking your own flights and avoiding some of these key mistakes.
Thank you so much for watching, I really appreciate you being here.
I hope you will give this video a thumbs-up
then let me know in the comments if you plan to book your own flights
when travel opens up again.
Thanks again for watching
and I hope to see you back here again for another video next Tuesday.