The Best Last-Minute Flights For A NYE Trip
The Best Last-Minute Flights For A NYE Trip

The Best Last-Minute Flights For A NYE Trip

If you don’t have New Year’s Eve plans yet and fancy ringing in 2023 somewhere other than the UK, we’ve rounded up some last-minute round-trip flights to book now. From affordable getaways in Europe to long-haul flights further afield, here’s our pick of the best – plus, a few tips from Nicky Kelvin, head of The Points Guy UK, on how to secure the best deals…
By Sherri Andrew
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Image: UNSPALSH/AACHAL

SHORT-HAUL TRIPS

London Heathrow to Dublin

When: Friday 30th December to Monday 2nd January 
Price: From £151
Airline: British Airways 
Flight time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Book here.

London Gatwick to Rome

When: Friday 30th December to Monday 2nd January 
Price: From £210
Airline: Wizz Air 
Flight time: 2 hours 35 minutes

Need recommendations? Read our Italian travel guide here.

Book here.

London Heathrow to Lisbon

When: Friday 30th December to Monday 2nd January 
Price: From £181
Airline: British Airways 
Flight time: 2 hours 55 minutes

Find our Lisbon itinerary here.

Book here.

Manchester to Budapest

When: Friday 30th December to Monday 2nd January 
Price: From £174
Airline: Ryanair  
Flight time: 2 hours 35 minutes

Book here.

Manchester to Copenhagen

When: Saturday 31st December to Monday 2nd January 
Price: From £143
Airline: Scandinavian Airlines  
Flight time: 1 hour 55 minutes

Read our Copenhagen travel guide here.

Book here.

SASHA FREEMIND/UNSPLASH

LONG-HAUL TRIPS

London Stanstead to Jordan

When: Friday 30th December to Friday 6th January 
Price: From £310
Airline: Ryanair
Flight time: 7 hours including one stop

Book here.

London Heathrow to Malé, Maldives

When: Friday 30th December to Friday 6th January 
Price: From £1,191
Airline: Sir Lankan Airlines
Flight time: 12 hours 45 minutes including one stop

Here are some of our favourite resorts in the Maldives.

Book here.

London Heathrow to Havana, Cuba

When: Friday 30th December to Friday 6th January 
Price: From £883
Airline: Air Canada 
Flight time: 12 hours including one stop

Book here.

London Heathrow to Oman

When: Friday 30th December to Tuesday 3rd January 
Price: From £460
Airline: Wizz Air & SalamAir
Flight time: 16 hours including one stop

Book here.


Fancy somewhere else? Here Nicky Kelvin, head of The Points Guy UK, shares his top tips on how to find affordable flights online…

Use More Than One Search Engine

Google Flights is one of the best ways to find airline deals. Especially using the function that allows you to search multiple departure and arrival points, and a range of dates. You can use the explore option to see a world map showing the cheapest prices. I also recommend online travel agencies like Expedia or metasearch engines like Skyscanner. A good strategy is to use Google Flights to find your desired itinerary and then plug your dates into one of these other sites for more options.

Don't Always Go For The Cheapest Option

It can be tempting to choose the cheapest flights on offer, but it’s worth taking a few things into consideration, like available airlines and whether your arrival time will end up losing you money if you land at an awkward time. Right now, the best budget airline has to be Jet2. It’s a solid and consistent low-cost airline that delivers time and again.

Use Comparison Sites

Use comparison websites to find out if you’re getting the best deal. When it comes to flying, if you know where you want to travel, you might want to check different departure airports, especially starting your trip in mainland Europe from places like Amsterdam, Oslo or Copenhagen where, for example, long-haul business class flights for example can be much cheaper.

Search One-Way And Round-Trip Flights

It used to be that most round-trip tickets were cheaper than purchasing two one-way flights. That isn't always the case now. JetBlue and Southwest, for example, price their tickets on a one-way basis; a round-trip flight is simply the sum of the two one-way prices. As a result, you'll want to be sure to check one-way flight prices as well in case you get the best round-trip deal by pairing two one-way tickets, potentially on two different airlines.

Sign up Seatspy

SeatSpy’s Reward Finder function helps you search flights from British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines, KLM, Air France and Etihad. There’s also a ‘Where can I go?’ function to see reward availability from a specific airport. You have to subscribe to the service (£2.49 per month) but it’s an incredibly handy tool and even sends you notifications when seats become available. 

For more information, visit ThePointsGuy.co.uk and follow @ThePointsGuyUK on Instagram.

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