KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 ― By now, you ― and every other person in Malaysia ― must have received that delicious list of long weekends for 2018 that has been “viralised” at the start of the year.

The only problem is everybody will be travelling on those dates too... so if you want to get a head start on that holiday in Ubud or Hoi An, here are ways you can get your hands on those flight tickets that are about to get elusive in nano seconds.

Timing is everything

― Early birds do get the goodies. It’s a no brainer that getting your flight tickets a few months before your proposed date of travel as opposed to an 11th hour purchase is a sure way of obtaining them cheap.  Or cheaper. Tickets cost about 40 per cent more if you buy them less than a month to the date of departure. So, impulse booking is out. Unless money is no problem.

― The days you choose to check on fares are important as well. Since most airlines launch their fare sales at the start of the week, that’s when you need to be surfing.

― The discerning traveller knows that flying off on weekends is sheer folly, if you’re counting pennies (or in our case, sen!). Mid-week is best. So, make your departures on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, as this is when you often get the best deals.

― Don’t get fixated on travelling on a specific date. Enter as many dates as possible and get the lowest quotation!

― Not a morning person? This can work to your advantage, because getting a flight out as late as possible will be comparatively cheaper than those in daylight hours. Hey, you could beat jet lag too as you get to sleep on the flight!

Airline astuteness

― Travel websites are great but you’ll get a nasty jolt when they slap you with their service charges, especially when you are just about to make your payment! It can cost you less getting your tickets direct from the official websites of the airlines.

― And did you know that some airlines offer lower airfares if you book through your mobiles? Some folks may not be comfortable doing bookings from their phones, noted an airline insider, but they do get better deals sometimes.

― While return trips are convenient, you can save precious ringgit by taking different airlines to and from your destination, as you have a choice of the cheapest rates.

― Budget airlines are called that because they offer cheaper airfare. So, if you’re a fuss-free traveller and don’t mind forgoing the food and roomy legroom, what are you waiting for?

― Choose alternative airports to land at, like Stanstead instead of Heathrow. Not only will the price be comparatively easier on the wallet, it will be less crowded with a shorter taxi queue and all.

Be tech savvier

― Remember that the websites you browse record your moves. So, don’t leave trails behind as the fare for a ticket may well be upped the next time you take another tiny peek. Use incognito mode in Chrome browsers or simply clear the cookies. You could also open the page from a different computer, of course!

― Get acquainted with travel fare aggregator websites, Skyscanner and KAYAK (both have local domains, by the way) which are designed to provide you with the wherewithal on destinations and comparative fares. Momondo and Hipmunk also do as good a job.

― Also check out the mobile app, Hopper, for example, which predicts airfares with 95 per cent accuracy.