We have a teaser for our extremely useful guide with 30+ amazing pro tips to find cheaper flights. You can benefit from my experience (600+ flights flown), and stop overpaying like so many people sadly do. I want to share more details about a very simple tip that is one of the most important.
I’ll also soon have more content about this trick specifically too, with important details.
And a lot more video content like this with our team growing, so make sure to follow us on Instagram too. I know you all want more videos.
Here’s the introduction to the self-transfer trick.
The self-transfer trick (or separate tickets trick)
Here’s the summary of the trick in video format; the text version is just below.
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Example for Europe
The self-transfer trick works very very often for almost every destination in Europe! After the tip for flights in cash, I’ll also explain how it’s useful for business class flight deals.
It’s yet another of the many examples of simple tricks that sadly so few travelers know about. There are so many like this!
In short:
- With a restrictive transfer on 1 same ticket:
- Montreal-Bulgaria can often be $1500 roundtrip
- That costs you $1500 (more simplicity)
- With a self-transfer on 2 separate tickets:
- Montréal-Paris can often be $600 roundtrip
- Paris-Bulgaria can often be $150 roundtrip
- That costs you $750 (more value)
So you can save half the price (and you get to add a visit to Paris of your desired length as a bonus) by simply buying 2 separate tickets to create your own self-transfer instead of relying on airlines alone!
Why?
Because:
- Being flexible
- Doing things on your own
- Planning and preparing your trips well
- Choosing the less simple options
- Acting accordingly if you want to save
… that’s really always the key to traveling for less!
Really not that complicated when you know how, and if you really want to travel for less — which is how you get to travel more obviously.
You can download our free ebook with 100+ travel tips and you’ll automatically get the detailed posts with all the information for this pro trick in particular (and many more), as soon as they’re ready!
The cheapest cities in Europe for a self-transfer are usually Paris, London, or Lisbon. But like anything else related to airfares, it always varies! It obviously depends on the dates. Compare.
Our guide will show you how to easily find flights, but in short, it’s all by using Kiwi (for RESEARCH, not RESERVATIONS) and of course by investing some time to research and compare (like anything in the travel world).
Search from your city to “Europe” in its entirety and with as wide a range of dates as possible, and make comparisons. Really that simple; just some time to put in.
And by the way, short-distance flights in Europe are often much cheaper than $150 roundtrip, so the self-transfer tip is even more beneficial. I’ve paid as low as $10 for a one-way flight and many times I’ve paid just $20 or $25.
It’s the case with a frequent and popular deal for flights from Barcelona to Ibiza for $15 roundtrip. If you bought a Canada-Ibiza flight on 1 same ticket, you’d get royally screwed — as almost everyone else does, sadly.
For more complete concrete examples to help you wait for our detailed step-by-step guide on how to do it yourself, check out the current examples for Asia and Oceania.
For business class, it’s pretty much the same principle. But instead of allowing you to save money directly, this trick allows you to find available seats with points of the more lucrative type!
For example, there were no business class seats to Croatia at the guaranteed low fixed price for my girlfriend’s specific dates in May. But there was a luxurious lie-flat seat available to Germany. So I booked that and bought a separate cheap flight from Munich to Dubrovnik, and I got to visit Munich as well! You can read more about this business class tip.
Example for Asia (current high prices)
I’ve often used the self-transfer trick for my trips to Europe and that’s where it works the most often, but I’ve also used it for Asia.
Yes, it can work from Canada to Asia too, depending on the prices for your dates! It works a lot more often right now, since flight prices to Asia have been abnormally high for a few years (although it is getting a bit better).
Here’s my example from my trip to Southeast Asia in 2019:
- With a restrictive transfer on 1 same ticket:
- Montreal-Bali was $1500 roundtrip
- That would’ve cost $1500 (more simplicity)
- With a self-transfer on 2 separate tickets:
- Montreal-Singapore was $499 roundtrip
- Singapore-Bali was $200 roundtrip
- That cost me $700 (more value)
I once again saved over half the price. So simple!
And I got to visit Singapore, a fantastic city! The definition of travel is literally to visit places. And this way, you get to see a new one for free BETTER than for free: you even save half the price of your tickets!
Right now, flights to Asia are expensive, and those $500 deals are no longer available. But don’t be like those who pay $2000 to fly to Thailand! Flights to Jakarta or Ho Chi Minh City are sometimes still around $1100-$1200 roundtrip (and even in the $900s sometimes to some destinations from Western Canada).
And flights from there to Bangkok are available for at most a few hundred dollars. Once again, saving you hundreds of dollars — and giving you a chance to visit an extra destination too, a true win-win!
Here is a concrete example. I’ll use Montreal as the example, but our guide will help you with specifics from each Canadian city.
If you search a bit, right now, flights from Montreal to Ho Chi Minh City are $1239 roundtrip.
And flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok are just $138 roundtrip.
That’s still “just” $1377 roundtrip, which is much better than $2000.
And it allows you to visit Vietnam! Win-win!
I did the same thing in business class this winter: I wanted to go to China, but there were no seats available at the guaranteed fixed price. I simply booked a business class seat on a 13-hour flight to Seoul, and then I bought a separate cheap flight from there to Xi’an, China. And I got to visit Seoul for the 1st time!
You can read my testimonial of this amazing $4000 flight for only 75,000 Aeroplan points.
Example for Oceania
The self-transfer trick works even less often for Oceania. But sometimes, you could save over $1000 per person thanks to a deal… from Hawaii to Australia! That’s why you need to simply take 5 minutes to check.
I’ll use Montreal for the example, but from almost all Canadian cities, it’s easy to find pretty cheap flights to Hawaii — by being flexible.
In November, flights from Montreal to Australia are $2200 roundtrip (and even more on specific dates), which is a completely insane price.
And that itinerary has 2 stops that you cannot customize.
Don’t pay that price!
Instead, flights from Montreal to Hawaii are $627 roundtrip.
(A price that is easy to spot by being flexible, from most Canadian cities!)
And flights from Hawaii to Australia are often $330 roundtrip!
You’re starting to get how it works.
That’s $957 instead of $2200. It pays to know the pro tricks, which are so simple, too.
And that has 2 stops, same as the itinerary that is 2 times more expensive. But it lets you discover Hawaii as a bonus for 1 day on the outbound and 1 day on the inbound (or more if you want, of course).
Okay, Honolulu is one of the worst places in the world in terms of costs, yes. So the extra costs of being in Hawaii instead of Australia for the one-day buffer between the separate tickets are quite a bit more than when you apply the tip for Europe and Asia.
But to save $1200 per ticket, of course, it’s well worth it! It’s important to know how to count to travel for less.
The same tip sometimes works via Los Angeles or San Francisco. By the way, those 2 cities are worth considering, especially if you want to go to French Polynesia (Tahiti or Bora Bora); it’s often half the price with the self-transfer tip!
Finally, I did something similar in business class this summer to come back from Australia. I had to go to İstanbul, so it’s a little different, but the principle is the same: I just wanted to have at least the overnight portion in a lie-flat seat.
I searched for any seat between Asia and İstanbul and found a great flight departing from Bangkok (10 hours of luxury for only 60,000 Aeroplan points). I purchased a separate (daytime) cheap flight between Australia and Bangkok!
Important things to know
There are obviously things to know, which I will detail in the upcoming guide.
In the meantime, the 3 main ones are:
- It’s not going to work 100% of the time, obviously
- Like any travel tip, IT DEPENDS
- Leave yourself plenty of time to make the transfer
- Not just a few hours, the longest possible
- Especially before the longest flight on the most expensive of the 2 tickets
- Take the opportunity to visit an extra city
- I recommend taking the other flight the next day at least
- Especially before the longest flight on the most expensive of the 2 tickets
We’ll also have some concrete tips to help you find those flights, step by step.
Don’t miss it!
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Summary
The self-transfer trick (or separate tickets trick) is an important one, especially to find cheaper flights to Europe. Don’t miss the important details shortly.
What would you like to know about the self-transfer trick? Tell us in the comments below.
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I take the daytime Air Canada flight from Halifax to London Heathrow. Since it’s only 6 hours and in the daytime I can fly economy comfortably. Two free meals and wine/beer and a carry on bag included on a basic fare. It arrives at 9pm which is perfect for checking into a hotel and sleeping. I have a couple hotels I prefer near Heathrow, an inexpensive one on the subway line and a somewhat inexpensive one connected to the airport. The next day I fly to where I really want to go in Europe, Africa, etc on whatever airline makes the most sense. On the way back I fly from somewhere else back to Halifax, ideally on one of the non-stop routes such as Discover from Frankfurt (booked round trip multi-city through Air Canada).
Hi Deborah,
Indeed that’s a perfect example! London has so many airlines competing, flights from there to most places are quite affordable 🙂