SMARTER TRAVEL SMALLER SPEND

Summer is right around the corner and if you want to save serious money on your next holiday, when and how you book can make a difference of hundreds - sometimes thousands - of pounds.

Here’s how to travel smarter and save money

Holidays are meant to help you relax, not leave you worrying about your bank balance. A bit of forward planning, understanding where the risks are, and knowing which protections and discounts are available can make a real difference

The Best Day To Fly

The Friday dash to the airport is a popular route and as a result, end of week flights tend to be in much demand. As demand rises, so does the price. So Friday and weekend flights can be amongst the most expensive.

You may be able to save a packet on flights if you arrange your holiday to start mid-week

For international flights the travel company Kayak suggest that Tuesday and Wednesday offer the best time to fly. In theory, this means you are most likely to get the lowest price for a week-long international return flight if you fly Wednesday-to-Wednesday. You can also save money if you are willing to travel early in the morning.

How To Find Cheap Flights

Using websites like Google Flights or Skyscanner, you can setup pricing alerts to receive email notifications on specific flights and routes when prices change.

Skyscanner has a feature called Drop. It says it scans billions of flights to find those flights where the price has dropped by at least 20%. Once a flight drops 20% less than its lowest price over 7 days, it appears in their app.

They also have a feature that shows you the cheapest month to book your travel for any journey, so you can find the cheapest month to travel and arrange your holiday around the best deal. For instance, for a flight from Manchester to Malaga in May – it suggests that the best time to book is 5 weeks ahead.

Fuel Surcharges

The US and Israel’s war on Iran has sent the price of oil soaring and there is much talk that air fares could rise as a result.

Airlines try to avoid having to suddenly raise the cost of flights if oil prices rise, by agreeing long-term, prices for their fuel. These are the so-called hedging policies. But this doesn't always work and some airlines look like they will have to riase prices to cover the increased cost of fuel.

For instance the airline Cathay Pacific has plans to increase fuel surcharges for travellers as it had hedged none of the refiner’s margin and only 30% of its fuel costs, its chief executive, Ronald Lam, told investors.

If you’ve already booked a flight, the price is normally fixed — airlines have to include all unavoidable charges like fuel costs in the ticket price when you buy it. But package holidays work differently. Tour operators may be allowed to increase their prices if things like fuel costs rise significantly, although they must tell you in advance and you can cancel if the increase is more than eight per cent.

Travel Insurance Tips

Get it When You Book The Holiday

According to figures released by ABTA – The Travel association, a quarter of those who went on holiday between April 2024 – April 2025 traveled without any insurance. Which can cause problems as the average claim is approximately £1,724.

And those most likely to forgo insurance are travellers aged 25-34, with two in five (41%) admitting that they went on at least one trip uninsured in the past year.

It can save you a lot of trouble if you book the travel insurance when you book your travel and not just before you actually leave. That’s because if any emergency prevents you from travelling before the departure date, you are much more likely to get your money back if you already have insurance. If you only book the insurance on the day of travel, any pre-travel crisis is unlikely to be covered.

If you are going skiing or on a cruise, remember that you'll likely need to add winter sports or cruise cover as extras.

Some bank accounts come with free travel insurance – so do check if you are already covered. These packaged bank accounts usually charge a fee but can be worthwhile for the added benefits they offer, which can sometimes include insurance.

GHIC & EHIC

EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) is the older card issued when the UK was in the EU. If you still have one, it works until it expires. The GHIC (Global Health Insurance Card) is the replacement card issued after Brexit.

Take your GHIC or EHICs, are free and they can be really useful although do not offer the same protection as trave insurance.

The GHIC lets you get necessary state healthcare in the European Economic Area (EEA), and some other countries, on the same basis as a resident of that country. This may be free or it may require a payment equivalent to that which a local resident would pay.

See If You Can Save With Multi-Trip Insurance

An annual travel insurance policy will provide cover for any trips you make in a whole year. If you’re going away for a longer period a so called Backpackers Policy, could be better 

The average price of insurance for a single trip is £25.03, according to research by MoneySupermarket.com. Annual Multi Trip insurance is around £60. So if you are planning on 3 or more trips abroad a year, you may save by buying multi trip insurance. Your actual quote will depend on lots of factors such as your age and if you have any pre-existing health conditions, but it is certainly worth looking into.

Consider A Package

Package holidays are usually all-in-one holiday deals with flights, transfers, hotel and sometimes food included.  They were massive in the 1970s but since then had become less popular because the Internet made it easy for travellers to create their own bespoke travel.  

But package holidays come with consumer protection that other holidays don’t offer and because travel companies are buying in bulk – they can often pass on great savings to the traveller.

Package holidays sold through UK travel companies are required to be protected underneath the government-backed ATOL scheme. This means that if the travel company you’ve booked with goes bust or the airline your flights are with fails, you will be refunded if you are yet to travel, and entitled to hotel costs or flights home if you are already abroad.

If you booked a flight and a hotel separately and there was a problem with the flight which meant you never arrived at the hotel, you will still be liable for the hotel bill. If you buy it as a package, it is the travel companies responsibility to refund the package or fix the problem.

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Package holidays began in 1841, when ThomasCook organised a rail trip from Leicester to Loughborough, bundling the ticket, food and entertainment into one fixed price — the first true package.  What started as a simple day trip grew into a huge business: UK travel association ABTA says its members alone generate more than £40 billion a year in turnover.

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How To Use Your Weekly Bread and Butter Shop To get a Free Holiday

You can use loyalty points to get discounts on travel, but always check if the deal offered by the loyalty scheme is better than booking direct. While tempting, the loyalty point route may not be the cheapest deal on offer.

Sainsbury’s Nectar Points

You can cash in points for hotel stays through the Nectar portal. You can also convert your  Nectar points to British Airways Avios points. Make sure you compare the Nectar/Avios deal with what it would cost to go direct, as it may not always be the cheapest way to travel.

Tesco Clubcard

Tesco have deals with a number of companies which convert your points to days out or foreign trips and cruises. You can find the deals though their travel portal. As with all deals – check against what it would cost to go directly or through other deals.

What Credit Cards Should I Use Abroad.

It’s best to check if the credit card you use, charges a ‘Non-Sterling Transaction’ fee. This is an extra charge for each purchase you make abroad. Credit cards can give you a much better exchange rate than you can get for cash, so they are worth considering. Although you must pay off the balance so you don’t end up paying interest on the debt.

Some of the widely used cards which at time of writing offer no extra non-sterling fee are:

Lloyds Ultra Visa Credit Card

Halifax Clarity Credit Card Visa

There are plenty of others which offer similar deals, such as the debit card from Monzo–which also says it is fee free

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