Save on flight bookings
A little-known way to save money on flight bookings
There are more and more ways to travel cheaply: Hundreds of locations that choose the cheapest price, all-inclusive hotels or last-minute flight bookings.
Every decent travel enthusiast now has extensive knowledge of tricks, websites and tactics to save down to the last cent.
But maybe not everyone knows this search engine for booking flights, which could save you a lot of money.
ITA Matrix, one of the three least known sites for saving flight bookings. Credit: ITA Matrix
That’s how it works: At first glance, the appearance of the ITA Matrix search engine may seem disappointing, but it fully compensates for the efficiency.
The ITA Matrix was developed by a group of computer scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States and acquired by Google in 2010. It is the same software that runs travel search engines like KAYAK and Google Flights.
As with all price aggregation sites, when searching for flights you simply enter the departure airport, the arrival airport and the length of stay.
For even greater savings, it’s also important to select “See lowest fares calendar” instead of “Find exact dates”.
As foolish as it may sound, you can save a lot of money if you only start on Wednesday instead of Friday.
Useful tips: If you have some spare time and are really determined to find the cheapest flight, you can try playing with ITA Matrix’s advanced routing and extension codes.
These codes will help you narrow down your search and find cheap but complex routes. To use these codes, click on “Advanced Controls” and then on the blue question mark.
A yellow glossary will appear showing examples of routing and extension codes that you can use to filter your search.
For example, if you enter X: NYC, only flights with a connection point in New York City will be displayed.
Credit: The Post Internazionale
And of course, once booked your flight, you can book a convenient but still beautiful accommodation on 9flats