To ask seasoned travellers for their top tips for getting cheap flights

I don't think this will help you @Tenegrief because of fixed times etc. but it might help others so have posted anyway, and hope you do not mind. The below is mainly about short-haul (Europe for me)

For popular destinations that you are "firm on" and popular timings, school hols, book as soon as they come out. They are unlikely to go down. Less popular routes ARE cheaper the nearer they get, but not when they get really close to departure. Between 12-2 weeks before tends to be the best prices for these, the week before you'd have to be lucky, the day before, not a hope. You generally cannot book "on the day", although sometimes through telephone bookings, and yeah, it won't be cheap.

Think about your luggage requirements. In the old days, budget airlines used to make everyone have the same option, but they do not now, so this is good. For a family of 4 it is usually far cheaper to book ONE big case checked in with one person, and 3 of you go hand-baggage only. Pros and Cons: Pro - check in and all done, no fighting for locker space etc. (not all flights enforce the bag thing once you are on), CON: you wait at the belt for it to come off. If it goes missing (not that often to be fair) then you have to resort to what is in your carry on packs.

Seats: Don't skimp if it really isn't going to suit you once you are on the plane, especially if you have kids. People are entitled to sit in the seat they have paid for. Some people might be kind to help you sit together, but there is no reason why they should, and the cabin crew don't like having to oversee the horse-trading. Other people treat it like a bus, no kids, don't care etc. if you are like this, don't pay for seats. You might end up in the middle one, but if you don't care, you don't care.

Skyscanner is good for finding cheap flights from multiple carriers (and as others say, sometimes flagship carriers offer prices that are not much more for better timings etc). Googleflights is better for long haul as you can set up an alert if the price goes down.

Do not underestimate the additional costs of flying from a different airport. You have to get there (train, parking costs, traffic etc.) and you have two choices - be brave and accept everything will work on time (then miss your flight when it doesn't, possibly losing accom charges), or build in contingency, which often means you have to stay the night before. It is fine if you have family to see, other sightseeing things etc. but if getting on the flight is your only objective, it can hurt if it goes wrong. Got to admit, with all of the train delays, it has caused me some stress.

Think twice about booking through a third party (trip.com , expedia etc.) to get a fiver off. It is absolutely fine if it all goes to plan. If it doesn't, cancellations, delays etc. then you will be the bottom of the list in the airline's view as their contract is with the third party. The airlines are not good to start with in these situations, but you will find communicating through a third party at weird o clock - nearly impossible. (there are exceptions when it is package etc. if get that)

Watch your insurance if you have made yourself "your own package holiday". I actually only buy it to protect myself against very expensive medical bills or death. The elements are separate - so to give an example, you fly with BA to AMS, to then fly on to Istanbul with Pegasus 3 hours later, where you have non-cancellable hotel booked. BA flight is 2.5 hours late and you miss connection. Pegasus don't care, hotel does not care, you have to pay the lot and other than the initial flight you have not a leg to stand on, some insurers will do dynamic insurance to cover this situation, but really does mean you have to work out whether you can do it. If you ever see the word "self-transfer" this is what you are getting *up to you to make the second flight buddy". As an alternative, if I had booked with BA to Istanbul (via AMS) then your treatment is better, basically they have to get you there. Can still be painful, but it is on them.

Anything airlines cancel within a month, probably on them, anything outside then you are faced with trying to adjust your plans including accom, or get a refund for the flight only. Wizz air particularly bad for this in my personal experience

Sorry for going on, and I have made it sound like an absolute minefield (I have flown 100s of times in Europe and 90% fine), and for you OP, your choices are fairly straight-forward, but just if anyone else comes on the thread, is hopefully of some help. xx

Op, next time flights firdt6, as soon as they are releases then book accmd.
I'd never do it this way around.

Other ideas are perhaps ferry and drive??

In my observation flights are usually the most expensive during school holidays. So it’s pretty bad if you have children, unless you book the flights way in advance.

I'd do this tbh.

If the flights you are looking at are already at that price, you've missed the boat on cheap flights.

Best option is looking at the likes of Expedia, Skyscanner or other package deals.

You won't get a better offer with Ryanair if you have no flexibility over dates at this point.

It's not always cheaper to use the budget airlines, when we flew to Rome a few years ago Alitalia was thew cheapest. It's worth checking them, the regular airlines, as well as EJ, RA etc..

Weird. I went to boom fligjtd to geneva for skiing peak season months ago but was too expensive. Booked 3 weeks before we went and a third of the price. Same airline - easyjet. I think sometimes they come down.
Also last year booked a holiday to mexico via USA thriugh skyscanner which directed me to an agent. Really shit as thr flight was cancelled and they didn't tell me! So two weeks before I left I was on the phone with united airlines (expensive call) but got my flights for £200 cheaper.
I think I also remember booking on a Tuesday morning was cheaper than a Saturday afternoon.

Well, our approach is always to start with cheap flights, not fixed accommodation!

We pick wherever skyscanner points us to on the dates we can do, check that there's reasonable accommodation options, and just go with wheres available.

Been to loads of great places this way that we'd never have thought of. Cheapest was £120 for return flights for two and a lakefront self catered apartment in Macedonia. For a week.

Momondo.

Every time.

They do predictions of when your flight price will drop/rise.

By following their advice, I managed to book a peak early August holiday flight to Thailand in July. Had I booked Apr-June, I'd have paid £350 more pp. Momondo saved me over £1k.

Couldn't believe it when all 3 of us were then upgraded to business class at the gate. £450 return to Thailand, 1 way business, was a pretty decent price for me.

Sign up for email alerts to any airline you might travel with. Note when seasonal flights are released. (Easyjet for Christmas for example were released a month or so back)
Check and track price changes on Google Flights and Skyscanner.

If you're not tied to dates/destinations then also look as near to the date as you dare. In those cases, you often do find they go down as they try and fill a flight. Last summer I paid £70 for a one way Ryanair flight a couple of months in advance, to see that the week before it was slashed to £12. That said, my daughter has just flown home for Easter and BA was cheaper than any of the low costs.

You really do just have to keep having a look.

Pretty much this

If you need a lot of luggage consider looking away from the budget options. We flew Swiss at Christmas for less than the corresponding easyjet fare by the time all the luggage was added because their standard fare includes hold bag, cabin bag and a laptop/handbag.

With Ryanair, it's cheapest to book your luggage at the time of booking. Its extortionate to put on later.

If you live near a local authority with different school holidays, that might help eg we sometimes fly from Scotland in mid August, when Scottish pupils are back at school

Learn to pack less and pack better. Roll not fold.

The single biggest thing you can do to get cheap flights is to avoid travelling at peak times. That’s when airlines know that demand for seats will far exceed supply, so they can charge more. A flight to Malaga on the third Saturday in July will cost several times the price of a flight to the same airport on a Tuesday in March.

If you do want to travel at any sort of peak period, or school holidays, Christmas, Easter, Bank Holidays or around major events, sporting fixtures, cultural events etc etc, book as early as possible. The price will only increase. Be flexible with your travel dates & days if possible. Midweek will generally be cheaper than weekends. Inconvenient flight times will usually be cheaper.
Most airlines run their biggest promotional ‘seat sale’ of the year in January, and many also run promotions in September to generate demand for flights in winter.
Minimise the number of ‘ancillaries’ eg bags, meals, insurance, seat allocations etc etc you book alongside your basic flights. Shop around & use price comparison sites for those.

RA charge for hand luggage these days so check that by the time you’d added luggage on that they are still cheaper!

Tbh my experience with Ryanair and whether it's a good / bad experience tends to be based on the destination rather than the airline itself.

Basically are the rest of the passengers going for a rowdy piss up on the beach or city break or are they going for other reasons.

Strict enforcement of stuff like baggage allowance tends to follow to the idiocy level of the flight.

Sad but true.

Book now. Flights go up and you miss out. There's no such thing as cheap flights either anymore.

Flights do go down sometimes but I've never seen a pattern. I fly with Ryanair a lot and have always had a good experience. Just make sure your luggage is the right size/weight!

There aren’t really any tricks if you are bound by certain dates and booked accommodation.

Just go for the Ryanair option and make sure you have cabin compliant luggage.

Can you go from a different airport a little further afield? Will cost more in petrol but still might be some savings to be had

Use Google flights or Skyscanner to check options.

I flew to Malaga last month with Ryan air and was impressed.