Most low cost airlines have tiered seating. Read on to find out my booking hack for families and groups to get the best price possible. Imagine the scene: when browsing flights on search engines like Google Flights or Skyscanner, you see a bargain of a flight for your family to go on holiday and excitedly click the link ready to buy. However, when you reach the website in question, you realise quite quickly that the price first seen is not the price you actually pay. Annoying!
Tiered Pricing
In the UK, we have a few low cost airlines like Ryan Air, Easy Jet and Wizz air. They have tiered pricing, with a certain number of seats at each price. If you book early enough you can purchase the cheapest tickets before the price increases but these tickets sell out almost immediately. What happens if you are a family of 5 and there are only 3 seats left at the cheaper price? What if you only want to take one suitcase not one each for the whole travel party? Read on to find out.
When buying plane tickets directly through Ryan Air, for example, you see a certain number of seats left at their ‘cheapest price’ before they move to the next tier of pricing. When we travel as a family of 5, it is rare to find 5 seats left in the same price bracket and if you travel under one booking, all 5 of us move up to the next price bracket.
Use my Airline booking hack
If there are 3 tickets left at the cheaper price, I book 1 adult and two children at that price for the journey I want. I then immediately book the other adult and child for the same journey but at the more expensive price point. This saves money and does not affect the flight or boarding at the airport in any way.
If you want to know how many seats are left in a tier, then search for the flight you are interested in but for one passenger only. If you search for all five seats at once, then the ‘seats left at this price’ information is not available. You can then work out how many tickets to buy at the cheaper tier when actually booking.
Adding Baggage
This also makes it easier when paying for luggage. My family and I are now amazing at flying for up to a week using hand luggage only, not even bags that go in the storage lockers above your head. I’m talking rucksacks under the seat. However, there are times when we need bigger bags or hold luggage but don’t need all five of us to pay for the extras other than one or two suitcases.
You can either pay additionally for a suitcase or two after you have booked the seats – works out cheaper buying them online than at the airport. If you have booked a couple of seats at one tier and a couple at the higher price, then it is worth working out if two people could buy a bundle to have a suitcase included. Ryan Air for example, have a regular bundle that includes priority boarding, seat reservation and a 10kg cabin bag, I have done this previously for the two adults but not the children as they had free allocated seating.
Top Tips
- My main advice is that you do NOT have to all book the same. Take your time on the website to explore the best options for your travel party. Play around with how many tickets you buy at each price point. You can add the extras separately after booking the seats later like reserved seating or extra luggage.
- In my opinion, it is not worth booking priority boarding as an extra. You will find it is included in most bundles though.
- You can even pay the basic price to complete the booking then go back the next day to add any extras you prefer.
- I would recommend reserving seats together if you have children.
