tourism

Kiwi.com: summer travel bookings double despite 36% higher prices

The travel technology company, Kiwi.com, published the data on bookings ahead of the summer and shared some tips for the travellers.

Bookings made in the first quarter of the year to travel this summer have increased by 122% compared to the same period in 2022, according to data from the travel technology company Kiwi, which claims that this increase occurs despite the fact that ticket prices are 35.7% more expensive as compared to 2022.


Rising prices caused by inflation have not deterred Spaniards from travelling this summer. Bookings by domestic travellers to fly between 1 June and 1 September have increased by 122% compared to last year at the same time.

Taking into account that this year the domestic traveller is booking 41 days in advance on average, according to Kiwi.com data, it is very likely that this increase in bookings will be extended over the coming months.

Against this backdrop of rising flight prices and skyrocketing inflation, Kiwi offers some tips on how to save on the flight buying process.

FLYING IN THE EARLY HOURS OF THE MORNING OR TRANSFERRING FLIGHTS, AMONG OTHER TIPS

The first of these tips is to be flexible in terms of travel times or days. Instead of looking for specific dates and central times of the day, Kiwi suggests being open to the many possible options to reduce your bill. Booking an early morning or late evening flight may be a good option.

Smaller secondary airports can offer better prices, even twice as cheap. On the Kiwi website you can choose your departure and/or arrival city and you can select to include airports within a 250 kilometre radius to get the best connection.

A transfer can also be a good option. This can help you reach any destination even if the airlines do not offer it as an existing itinerary. Some sites offer a travel itinerary with separate flights from different airlines in order to get the best prices.

Creating flight alerts is also a good travel trick. Alerts keep track of the flight you want and alert you when the cost of the trip changes so you can book the best price.

FLYING SMART

Another trick offered by Kiwi is to fly to a “hidden city”, bearing in mind that the most popular routes tend to have high prices. For example, an airline may set a significantly higher cost on a ticket from Barcelona to New York than on a ticket from Barcelona to Toronto with a stopover in New York.

For the airline, New York is just the place where the stopover will take place, although in reality it is the ‘hidden city’, i.e. the destination of the journey, which appears as a simple stopover between the airport of origin and what is technically the final destination.

This small stopover actually becomes a better value ticket. There is no baggage check-in, so the traveller will have to fly light to take advantage of this trick.

CHECK THE OFFERS

Experts recommend checking the offers to find flights at reduced prices, departing from the airport of origin and based on a km/price calculation. When the algorithm finds the cheapest routes, they appear in the ‘Offers’ section, which is constantly updated, giving access to cheaper tickets.

Finally, Kiwi recommends using Nomad, a multi-city search tool. By entering three or more destinations, the length of stay and the dates of travel, you can find the cheapest possible combined route, saving not only money but also moderate weather when designing your trip. The ‘Multiple destinations’ option allows you to specify the exact destination, departure, arrival and date.

All these tips can be applied to book flights for this summer. At the moment, the main destinations booked by Spanish travellers to fly between 1 June and 1 September 2023 are Berlin (with flights from 52 euros), Milan (with flights on Kiwi.com from 33 euros), Vienna (with flights from 57 euros), Rome (with flights from 47 euros), London (with flights from 45 euros) or Frankfurt (with flights from 48 euros).


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