How to Buy Cheap and Reliable International Flights
This content was automatically generated by gpt-4o-mini (No human review). The original post is in Chinese.
This article discusses: how to buy reliable and cheap international flights, aimed at summer research, studying abroad, etc. These tickets allow for free check-in of 2 pieces of luggage (23kg/each).
This article does not discuss: how to purchase budget tickets, red-eye flights, such as tickets priced at 9.9, 99, 199, or 599 yuan, and is not aimed at budget travel.
In the past three to four years, I have traveled to Australia, the United States, and Japan, purchasing quite a few international tickets. I would like to share my ticket purchasing experience with everyone. In summary, there are only two steps: first use Google Flight to check flight prices, then go to the airline’s official website to purchase the tickets. This afternoon, I just bought a United Airlines ticket from Shanghai to San Diego, and I will use this purchasing experience as an example.
Information to Confirm Before Buying Tickets
Departure city, destination, departure date, round-trip or one-way ticket.
Since I will be going to UCSD to study in September, with the Program Start Date on September 23, the earliest entry date is August 24. The destination is clearly San Diego. The departure city is generally Shanghai, as there are not many international flights from Hefei, and the prices are significantly higher when departing from Hefei.
Choosing Los Angeles as the destination is also an option, as LA and SD are very close. You can travel from LA to SD by train, bus, or rental car, and the cost is not high (a few dozen dollars). However, considering that I will be bringing a lot of luggage this time, I think taking the train or bus would be inconvenient. Additionally, the journey from LA to SD takes several hours, and if I cannot arrive in SD on the same day, I would need to stay overnight in LA, which adds accommodation costs. Just thinking about having to carry 2 or 3 large suitcases around is unacceptable, so I only considered connecting flights to SD (since there are no direct flights to SD).
The departure date is generally not a specific day but can be chosen based on ticket prices. Although the fall semester starts on September 23, it is always better to arrive earlier to settle down, familiarize myself with the surroundings, and purchase daily necessities and furniture, allowing me to spend more time on research after the semester starts. However, there is no need to arrive too early; on one hand, the I20 has requirements for the earliest entry date—within one month before the start of classes. On the other hand, living expenses can be significant after arriving, and there is no salary before the semester starts. Therefore, I hope to buy a ticket for early September or late August. Since this trip to the United States is not a short stay, I will only buy a one-way ticket.
Once the departure city and destination, whether it is a one-way or round-trip ticket, and the approximate departure date are confirmed, I can check flight prices on Google Flight.
Selecting Flights Based on Google Flight Search Results
Take the four search results above as an example. These are the recommendations from Google Flights based on ticket prices, flight duration, and number of layovers (I generally don’t consider flights with 2 stops as they are too tiring). The first American Airlines flight arrives in San Diego at 10:24 PM. Unless you have a good friend in San Diego who is willing to pick you up at the airport at 10:30 PM, it’s better not to choose this flight; the arrival time is too late and unsafe, and finding someone to pick you up is inconvenient. The same goes for the fourth Delta flight, especially if it’s your first time in San Diego and you’re unfamiliar with the area. Therefore, I only consider flights that arrive in San Diego during the day, the earlier the better, so that I can still go out to buy some urgently needed daily necessities after getting back to my place.
The second and third options look pretty good, both arriving around noon. The United flight has a layover time of 2 hours and 5 minutes, which feels a bit tight, while Delta and Alaska have a layover time of only 1 hour and 20 minutes, which I personally think is likely to be insufficient. This is because international flights require you to queue for customs when transferring in the U.S., and you may also need to collect your luggage and recheck it, which takes time.
Next, I change the departure date to check the prices. It’s clear that tickets in August are relatively expensive, and weekend flights are also pricey. Only after August 29 do the weekday tickets become cheaper.
You can also choose specific flights. For example, I previously had a Delta voucher worth over 1200 RMB, so it makes sense for me to buy a Delta ticket. Therefore, I clicked on Delta ONLY.
I bought my ticket for UCSD in September on April 17 for a Delta flight. The flight I wanted (arriving in San Diego at 2:20 PM) was in high demand, and prices were high from the end of August to early September. September 3 was relatively cheap, so I bought that flight. The price was 2867 RMB, and after using the voucher, I actually paid 1647 RMB.
Then, Cuihao also confirmed that he could go to UCSD for an exchange in September, so today I helped him buy a ticket. Of course, it’s best to travel on the same flight together, but as of today, the ticket price for the flight I bought has risen to 3767 RMB! So, I chose the United flight for $374 from the first image, departing on September 3, also from PVG to SAN. The departure and arrival times are quite similar, just with different layover cities, and the price is only 2514 RMB. To save that 1250 RMB, I would rather travel separately from my husband (we can still go together from Hefei to Shanghai Pudong Airport, check in our luggage together, and wait for the flight together. Once we arrive in San Diego, we can also go back to our place together from the airport).
Buy Tickets on the Airline’s Official Website
Once you’ve decided on which flight to book, go to the airline’s official website to purchase your ticket. First, register for an account so you can accumulate miles, which can later be used to redeem tickets. Make sure to buy tickets on the airline’s official website instead of opting for the convenience of platforms like Ctrip. The benefits include accumulating miles, easier ticket changes and refunds (for example, most U.S. airlines allow for unconditional refunds within 24 hours of purchase), and if your flight is canceled due to the airline’s reasons, you can easily receive compensation (refunds or vouchers). Although the purchasing experience on the airline’s website may not be the best, it is definitely worth it. You can choose your seat before purchasing, and you can also change it after buying. You can check in online 24 hours before your flight and modify your seat selection and luggage options. You can also download the airline’s official app on your phone for easy access to flight updates, including gate changes, luggage check-in status, and where to pick up your luggage at the carousel. There are many advantages. Now, payments can be made with credit cards, and Delta and United also accept Alipay (but not Huabei).
Another tip is to observe ticket prices for a while before buying. Take screenshots of ticket prices at different times and paste them into the same Word document for comparison. If the ticket prices seem to be trending upward, then it’s time to act quickly. If the prices are relatively stable, you might not need to rush into a purchase. In any case, waiting a bit before making a decision can be more reassuring. Once you’ve purchased the ticket, you can forget about it and focus on other things, avoiding the disappointment of seeing the ticket price drop later on.
My Flight Experience Sharing
Let me share some of my flight experiences to explain why it’s essential to buy tickets from the airline’s official website and why you should always purchase connecting tickets.
| Time | Project | Departure-Destination | Airline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summer 2015 | Australia Trip | Beijing-Sydney Round Trip Ticket | AirAsia |
| Summer 2017 | Summer Exchange at Pitt | Shanghai-Pittsburgh Round Trip Ticket | Delta Airlines |
| Summer 2018 | Summer Exchange at Tokyo University | Shanghai-Tokyo, Tokyo-Hefei | Delta Airlines, China Eastern Airlines |
| Winter 2019 | UCSD Campus Visit | Shanghai-Los Angeles Round Trip | United Airlines |
In 2015, when I traveled abroad for the first time, I bought a ticket from AirAsia to fly from Beijing to Sydney with a layover in Kuala Lumpur. The flight to Sydney went relatively smoothly, but on the return trip from Sydney, I missed my Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight due to a delay of one or two hours. I was very anxious and quite upset at that time. AirAsia offered me a free rebooking for the next day’s flight and arranged for me to stay overnight at a rather nice hotel in Kuala Lumpur for free, including meals, and provided a car service to take us from the airport to the hotel.
In 2017, when I flew from Shanghai to Pittsburgh, the plane had been in the air for a while when we had to return due to a malfunction. The flight was canceled, and I was rebooked for the next day’s flight (changing from 1 stop to 2 stops). They also put me up for a night at the Holiday Inn at Dishui Lake in Shanghai for free (a five-star hotel), covering all meals and transportation costs. Delta even reimbursed the taxi fare from the hotel to the airport. The most generous part was that Delta refunded everyone the full ticket price. Since I paid with Alipay, Delta said they couldn’t refund me directly and could only offer a voucher, so I received a full-value voucher that I could use on the Delta website within a year. At that time, passengers around me who had purchased tickets through Ctrip did not receive any apology or refund emails from the airline, and perhaps they missed out on compensation.
In 2018, when I flew from Tokyo to Hefei, my flight was delayed again during the layover in Shanghai, forcing me to stay another night at a hotel in Shanghai. By this point, I was very familiar with the process of handling flight delays, and since the rebooking included meals and accommodation, I remained calm and almost forgot about the experience.
It is evident that delays of one or two hours are quite common, and missing the next flight is also frequent. Therefore, if you need to transfer flights, it is crucial to buy connecting tickets so that the airline will take responsibility for the inconvenience caused by flight delays, offering free rebooking for the next flight along with meals, accommodation, and transportation services.
