Looking to travel the world on a thin wallet? For cheaper air fares, broaden your search and look for flights from a city other than yours. For instance, Air Asia is currently offering flights to Kuala Lumpur from Bhubaneswar at barely ₹3,000. Even if you add baggage and meal costs, one could get a return ticket for just ₹10,000. Take a train to Bhubaneswar or even a flight, and you could still end up saving.

Welcome to travel hacking. There are now a host of websites and resources that help uncover deals, track and compare fares, and even send alerts when airlines announce big sales. Here are five tips:

Track and compare Metasearch sites such as Skyscanner, Momondo, Wego and Ixigo let you compare prices across different booking engines, and have exciting offers too. For instance, as Aloke Bajpai, CEO and co-founder of ixigo.com points out, ixigo compares 100+ travel sites to find the cheapest flights. Not just that, ixigo also offers additional cash-back.

Sites such as deal4flight.com and OTAs notify you on promotions run by airlines. “Our products like Fare Alerts, Fare Calendar and Price Lock ensure that customers get the best value for their money,” says Amit Taneja, Chief Revenue Officer, Cleartrip.

Also sign up for newsletters from a host of international low-cost airlines that operate out of India’s tier-2 cities, such as Scoot (which operates out of Chennai but is expanding operations in India) and Air Asia.

Read the fine print before booking — fares of some international LCCs don't reflect baggage or meal costs.

Be an early bird Airlines always discount a certain percentage of their inventory, so try and grab those seats. According to an official from a LCC, fares are decided like this: Suppose an aircraft has 240 seats, it will sell the first 40 seats ridiculously low, the next 40 will be marked up a bit and so on, while the last 100-odd seats will be sold at a premium. Says Abhishek Rajan, Vice President, Paytm, “Travel tickets must be booked one to three months in advance.”

Time your booking right According to Bajpai of ixigo, one should book on Tuesday, 3 pm Eastern Time and never on weekends. Airfares usually go up on a Friday and plummet on weekdays. But according to Paytm’s Rajan, “The day might not be the best time to book tickets as the average ticket price often dips at night.” Do your own trials and figure out the best time.

Keep your search secret Flight prices increase when a particular route is repeatedly searched, says Bajpai of ixigo. This happens because the site wants to scare you into booking before prices get even higher. Instead, use the private browsing mode or the Incognito Mode.

Mobile apps Vs web portals Several OTAs offer special discounts if you book using the mobile app. Plus there are a host of cross promotions over the mobile. For instance, a number of sites offer discount coupons when you buy something.

Finally, remember it’s a good idea to choose a holiday destination where visas are cheap and easy to get.

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