Aggregate sites such as Kayak search for routes while only using one airline. Some routes are also searched for using multiple combinations of airlines, however these are often limited to the power players and budget carriers are often neglected. For long haul flights, the lack of combination forces you into limited combinations of flights, and the price becomes expensive to reflect the convenience. The utilization of hub cities, with extra time, is a great way to reduce the cost of flying, as well as seeing an extra city along the way.
Airfare Hubs Are Your Friend
An airfare hub city is a major city that is a base for many international flights. For the purpose of this article, we are interested in budget carrier hubs as well, which often coincide with national carriers. Such hubs include (but aren't limited to) places like Paris, Athens, Dubai, Delhi, Bangkok, and Singapore. Long haul flights are often cheapest round trip to flights to these cities in comparison to their neighboring destinations by several hundred dollars. A quick budget flight can be had for as little as $40, offering a pretty hefty savings and, with careful planning, a free day in a new city and extra money to spend!
Case Study - Money Talks
As an example, a round trip flight from Dayton, Ohio (USA) to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was investigated for the dates of September 15th to 30th, 2010 on the aggregate site Kayak.com. The cheapest flight generated was found below:
Depart Dayton at 10am and arrive in Kuala Lumpur (2 layovers) on September 16th at 10pm.
Depart Kuala Lumpur at 11:25pm and return to Dayton (3 layovers) on October 1st at 6pm.
Carrier: Delta Total Cost (incl tax): $1647
Say you want to save some cash, and are willing to move your itinerary around a bit to fit within those dates. A round trip ticket to Bangkok with the same departure and return dates is as below:
Depart Dayton at 1:30pm and arrive in Bangkok (2 layovers) on September 16th at 11:20pm
Depart Bangkok at 5:40 am and return to Dayton (2 layovers) on October 1st at 6pm.
Carrier: Delta Total cost (incl tax): $1188
Of course, arriving late at night is not the most ideal setup, and a hotel night is needed. This trick works out even better heading East where you arrive in the early morning and have all day to explore with a late night out. An extra ticket is needed to get from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur on September 17th and returning September 29th. Another search yields the following results:
Depart Bangkok at 8:20pm and arrive in Kuala Lumpur (no layovers) at 11:25pm
Depart Kuala Lumpur at 1:40pm and arrive in Bangkok (no layovers) at 2:45 pm
Carrier: Air Asia Total cost (incl tax): $86
Total cost of broken up flight: $1274
Cost Saved: $1647 - $1274 = $373 and an added bonus of having two half days in Bangkok at no extra cost. This was just one investigation parameter. Flights into Singapore could be just as cheap, or open jaw tickets can be investigated looking at into Bangkok and out of Kuala Lumpur with a one way from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur. The options are endless!
This evaluation type is limited on search engines and often takes multiple searches to find the correct combination. Sure, you may have to remove a day or two from a certain cities itinerary, or go a day earlier if you have the luxury, but if you are able to pursue the option, a lot of money savings can be had for quite a little bit of effort. Be creative, and look at the savings!
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