Practical guide
How to Book a Flight Deal
Step-by-step: from spotting a deal to confirmed booking — including the 24-hour cancellation rule and tips for flexible travellers.
🗺️ Step-by-step: how to book a deal
- 1
🔍 Find the deal
Browse FairFares — every deal is scored against a verified route baseline. If it shows 40% below the route average, that number is real. No sponsored placements, no inflated "original" prices.
- 2
📋 Open the deal page
Click the deal card to see full details: airline, exact departure date, origin and destination airports, and the price breakdown. The deal score tells you how rare this fare actually is.
- 3
✅ Verify the live price
Click "Book on Google Flights" to confirm the fare is still available. Flight prices are dynamic — a deal spotted an hour ago may have sold out. If it has gone, it was real. Set a price alert and wait for the next window.
- 4
🎟️ Choose where to book
Book directly on the airline's website for the most flexibility if plans change. OTAs (Skyscanner, Google Flights) are useful for comparing dates, but always check if booking direct is the same price.
- 5
⏱️ Book — then use the 24-hour window
Once you book, you typically have 24 hours to cancel for free (see section below). Use that window to confirm dates with travel companions before you're locked in.
🌐 Best sites to book flights
🔵 Google Flights
Visit →Pros
- ✓Best date flexibility view
- ✓Price calendar and grid
- ✓Alerts when fare drops
- ✓No booking fees
Cons
- ✗Redirects to airline/OTA to complete
- ✗Not all airlines indexed
💡 Best starting point for most searches.
🟡 Skyscanner
Visit →Pros
- ✓Whole month view
- ✓Multi-city search
- ✓Covers budget airlines
- ✓"Everywhere" destination option
Cons
- ✗Redirects to third-party OTAs
- ✗Prices occasionally misleading at click-through
💡 Best for "where can I go?" flexible searches.
✈️ Direct with airline
Pros
- ✓No OTA markup
- ✓Easier to change/cancel
- ✓Direct communication if disrupted
- ✓Miles credited immediately
Cons
- ✗Can't compare routes side-by-side
- ✗Must know which airline to check
💡 Best for confirmed routes once you've found the fare.
⏱️ The 24-hour cancellation rule
What it is
Under US DOT rules, airlines selling tickets to or from the US must allow passengers to cancel or change a booking within 24 hours of purchase at no charge — provided the booking was made at least 7 days before departure.
Outside the US: There is no universal 24-hour rule in Europe, but many airlines (Lufthansa, British Airways, KLM, Air France) voluntarily offer a short cooling-off window — typically 24 hours — on bookings made direct. Check the airline's booking conditions before you commit.
How to use it: If you spot a deal but aren't 100% sure of the dates, book it immediately to lock in the fare, then use the 24-hour window to confirm with travel companions. Cancel for free if dates don't work.
OTA caveat: The 24-hour rule applies to the airline. If you book through a third-party OTA (not the airline directly), cancellation policies vary. OTAs often charge fees even within 24 hours. When in doubt, book direct.
FairFares tip: For deals departing in 4–8 weeks, the 24-hour window is your safety net. Book immediately when you see a deal you like, confirm your dates, then decide. Flight deals disappear in hours — the decision window is not.
🔧 Tips for flexible booking
📅
Search ±3 days
Moving a flight by just one or two days can cut the price by 30–50%. Tuesday and Wednesday departures are consistently cheapest on most European routes.
🕐
Pick unsociable hours
Early morning (pre-7am) and late night (post-9pm) flights are almost always cheaper. The inconvenience is priced in — and often only saves you an hour of sleep.
🛫
Try nearby airports
If you're in London, check LHR, LGW, STN, LTN, and SEN. Fares from Stansted to Barcelona can be €80 cheaper than from Heathrow on the same day.
📦
Hand luggage only
The "cheap" fare often excludes checked baggage. Compare the hand-luggage-only fare against the total cost with a bag before deciding. Budget airlines make most margin on bags.
🔄
Consider open-jaw routing
Fly into City A, travel overland, fly home from City B. Open-jaw tickets are often priced the same as a round-trip but save you backtracking.
🔔
Set a price alert
If a deal is close but not quite at your target price, set an alert on Google Flights. Prices for specific routes often dip and recover multiple times over 2–4 weeks.
🤔 When to book vs when to wait
The biggest mistake is waiting for a better deal that never comes. The second biggest is booking too early on a route that hasn't priced down yet. Here's how to read the signals.
Book now ✅
- ✓The deal scores 60%+ off the route median
- ✓You're travelling in 4–8 weeks
- ✓It's a popular route (Barcelona, Rome, Amsterdam, Dubai)
- ✓It's a long-haul deal — those disappear fast
- ✓It's a high-demand period (summer, school holidays)
Consider waiting ⏳
- ·Less than 20% below the route average — not exceptional, might improve
- ·You're travelling more than 3 months out on a low-demand route
- ·It's an off-peak shoulder season with historically soft prices
- ·You have total date flexibility and can absorb the risk
- ·The fare is mid-range — not the cheapest you've seen this route
Rule of thumb: a deal scoring 40%+ off the route median is worth booking immediately.
📚 Further reading
Best Time to Book Flights
When to buy for maximum savings — the data on booking windows, day of week, and time of day.
Flexible Dates Can Save Hundreds
How shifting your travel dates by 1–3 days can cut flight costs dramatically.
Budget Airline Guide
How to fly budget without getting stung by hidden fees — bags, seats, and the fine print.
Hidden Fees on Budget Airlines
The charges airlines bury in the checkout — and how to avoid paying them.
Error Fares Explained
What mistake fares are, how to spot them, and whether airlines are obliged to honour them.
Open-Jaw vs Round-Trip
How flying into one city and home from another can save money and cut backtracking.
FairFares never earns commission
Every deal on FairFares is verified against real price history. No airline pays to appear here. We earn from subscriptions — which means our only incentive is showing you the best fares, not the most profitable ones.