Gap Year Flight Advice

Our guide to buying a long haul or round the world plane ticket.

Buying your gap year flight should be pretty easy, depending on your needs. There are several ways to go about it - use the internet if what you need is pretty straightforward and you don't need any advice, or use an independent travel agent or chain if you want the personal touch from experts. Our advice is to use both methods, you can't beat the advice of professionals who've dealt with loads of gappers before you, but you also can find some amazing deals online!

Ticket Types

Long haul and Round the World tickets

If your gap year is only going to take you to one country, the likelihood is that you’ll be buying a long haul return plane ticket, but if you’re aiming on seeing the world, you’ll need a Round the World ticket or a multi-stop ticket. Round the world and multi-stop tickets are usually flexible, which will allow you to decide on your travel plans as you go – but they can get very complicated so make sure you are comfortable that the company you are buying the ticket off have explained everything to you and check the terms before you buy one.

There are lots of companies out there that sell long haul flights and Round the World tickets, so shop around for the best one for you - take a look at our key companies section for some of the best!

Handy Hints

Reduce the cost of your plane ticket!

• Look for flights online late at night: most airlines post fares just after midnight so you could try to be there to snap up all the best deals!
• Watch out for student discounts - online companies and student travel agents such as STA Travel will offer discounts especially for students so keep an eye open for those flight deals.
• Fly from smaller airports: secondary airports are often used by discount airlines, which drives the fares down on all the other flights as well.
• Check out the seasonal demand for your destination, a travel agent or the airline you want to fly with will be able to tell you what the low and high seasons are for your destination. If you can be flexible, there are some superb discounts to be had in low seasons.
• Fly on a holiday: demand is low for flights on actual holidays such as Christmas or New Year's Eve so you could make a saving here.

Check out these great sites for more info...

www.cheapflights.co.uk
www.cheapestflights.co.uk
www.travelsupermarket.com
www.teletextflights.co.uk
www.ebookers.com
www.opodo.co.uk

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