BRITS could save a whopping £97 per person when booking flights with a simple trick.
GoCompare has found families who don’t book their flights for the end of summer could end up spending an extra £188 altogether.
You could be spending hundreds more than you need when you book your holiday
School’s out for summer which means more people are jetting off than ever.
With the cost of living rocketing and holidays often busting budgets the experts have explained how you could be paying an extra £100-£200 more than you need to.
According to the latest research from the price comparison site, holidaymakers could save a collective £10.3million if they go during the second half of the six-week school break.
That amounts to around £97 per person.
For a family of four who book their flights for the last week of summer they could save up to 20%.
That depends on where you go, but if you jet off to Spain, that’s almost £200 off your travel costs.
But it doesn’t stop there – the UK’s second favourite holiday destination after Spain is the USA, and a family of four travelling there could save a staggering £872.
This is all because flights during the last week of August are 30% cheaper compared with the second week of August.
How to save on your summer holidays
There are plenty steps you can take to make sure you’re not spending more than necessary on holiday.
In terms of flights, you can find flights to Spain, Italy and Germany, all for less than £30.
To help you look, use comparisons sites so you don’t miss out on the cheapest offer.
Google Flights, which is free, also has some great tools to help you find the best deal.
You can also use sites and guides to help you find bargain hotels, like The Good Hotel Guide, which has a special deals section on its website.
Groupon often has some great deals too.
To make sure you’re getting the best deal with your hotel, check out prices throughout the year. And if you’re on a booking site, always check the direct rate with the hotel.
You never know where’s cheaper at a different point in the year.
Also, plenty of mobile phone providers are re-introducing roaming charges now the UK has left the EU.
You’ll want to make sure you know how much you could be charged for using your phone on holiday.
It could cost around £2 a day depending on who you’re with, which could rack up a big bill if you’re on a lengthy get-away.
For example, Vodafone are charging roaming fees for pay monthly customers who joined after August 11, 2021.
Charges are £2 a day when you’re travelling in EU countries, not including the Republic of Ireland.
You can check up on more providers and what they charge here.
The UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) is also useful for making sure you get free healthcare across the EU.
Your GHIC is not a substitute for travel insurance as it may not cover all health costs and never covers repatriation costs, but it’s still worth looking into as a safety net.
Also, make sure that you’ve got enough cash to cover your holiday.
Getting an insurance payout is often not as straightforward as it should be so you’ll need some ready cash or a credit card to cover you in emergencies.
Some people have reported having to shell out thousands while stuck abroad, so make sure you’re prepared for all eventualities.