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This newsletter comes to you from the sandy beaches of Greece. Okay, so my coworker pressed send on this—I just prepped it before heading out of office. But trust me, I’m here, I’m on a Greek Island, and I didn’t pay an arm and a leg to get here.
So I figured it was the perfect time to wax poetic on one of our favorite cheap flight tricks at Going: the Greek Islands Trick. Here’s how it works.
Say you want to visit Santorini. (Who wouldn’t?) But then you take a quick peek at fares to Santorini (JTR). Usually near $2,000 roundtrip, if not more. Yikes. Before you give up your Santorini dreams, see if the Greek Islands Trick will cut the cost of flights.
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How the Greek Islands Trick works
If you search for flights from Dallas to Santorini, the price is often exorbitant. But, if you search for flights from Dallas to Athens, those flights can be much more reasonable, if not downright cheap. (Most recent price: $595 roundtrip.)
And what can you expect to pay for flights (or ferries) from Athens to Santorini? Less than $100 roundtrip.
You see where I’m going here. Booking Dallas–Santorini as one itinerary may cost a couple grand. But booking it as two itineraries could drop the price hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars, in this case more than $1,400 on the flight alone.
That’s the Greek Islands Trick—if you’re traveling somewhere remote, book the cheapest flight you can find near your final destination, then pair it with a cheap flight on to your final destination.
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The Greek Islands Trick doesn’t necessarily add time or extra stops
If you were to search for flights from New York City to Santorini, many of the itineraries will have two stops and take 17 hours or more.
Meanwhile, a nonstop flight from New York City to Athens takes 9 hours, and the onward flight to Santorini is under an hour. In other words, the Greek Islands Trick can not only save money—it can sometimes result in less travel time as well.
Plus, you can stagger your flights so you can spend a few days exploring Athens before continuing on to Santorini. Consider it a free stopover en route to your final destination.
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It’s not just for Greek Islands
Although it’s called the Greek Islands Trick, this strategy can work anywhere you’re flying—island or not. Anytime your destination is far away and expensive, the Greek Islands Trick may save you money.
For instance, say you want to visit Bali. If fares there stay stubbornly high, it’s worth keeping an eye on flights to nearby destinations that commonly go on sale like, say, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. Or if you want to see Angkor Wat, it may be cheaper to fly to Vietnam first, and then get over to Cambodia from there.
It can even work to popular destinations like Europe. Let’s say you’re hoping to visit Prague, but no cheap fares are popping up. You could instead book a cheap flight to virtually anywhere on the continent—Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, and so on—and then hop on a cheap flight from there to Prague. You could even fly to Vienna first and take the train up.
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Best practices when using the Greek Islands Trick
There are a few things you want to be cognizant of when employing the Greek Islands Trick.
#1 Put a good amount of buffer time between your two itineraries. If you can swing it, 24 hours or more is ideal, but even 12 hours works. That’s because if there’s a delay in your initial flight that causes you to miss the second itinerary’s flight, you’re not going to be re-accommodated for free the way you would be if it were a single itinerary. (Personally, I like to put a few days of buffer in and explore the first city before continuing onward.)
#2 If the onward trip to your final destination might happen on a train or ferry or bus, check Rome2Rio for schedules and prices anywhere in the world.
#3 You don’t have to book both itineraries at the same time. The best strategy is to book quickly when the long-haul flight drops in price because flights across the ocean have a much wider price range. Once that’s locked in, you can finalize your second itinerary over the next few weeks or months.
#4 Remember that when selecting your stopover, the closest city to your final destination isn’t necessarily the cheapest, especially in Europe and Southeast Asia. For instance, if you’re planning to visit Croatia, flights from Belgrade to Dubrovnik (186 miles as the crow flies) start around $119 one-way this August, typically with a stop in Vienna. Meanwhile, flights from London to Dubrovnik (1,052 miles) are nonstop and cost just $38 one-way.
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Brooke Vaughan (Content Marketing Manager) and Scott Keyes (Going Co-Founder & Chief Flight Expert)
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