discount airline tickets

Chris Campbell asked:


Everybody wants to get a deal, and pay less money than the next guy. It doesn’t matter if its airline tickets or a great price for lunch. While the advertisers keep tempting us with great prices, quite often you have to pay careful attention to make sure your getting value for your money. What with gas prices being so crazy these days, airlines have resorted to extra hidden charges to stay profitable. While extra charges may be necessary, hiding the from or misinforming the air traveller is not.

The lesson here being, if your looking for cheap plane tickets, make sure your looking at all the costs and fees. It’s almost getting as bad as the cell phone industry, where the initial advertised offer looks like an amazing deal, but the final price is often far more than you expected. The bottom line here, is do your due diligence and make sure you understand all the terms and conditions before breaking out your credit card.

The good news these days, is that you still can get some pretty good deals on tickets. It can take a bit more work then it used to, but the final payoff is in your favor. It used to be, you just called a travel agent, and let them do all the digging for you. If your travel agent was good, you got pretty good value for your money.

Now, with the ability to bypass a travel agent, you can save even more money. There is however, the added expense of your time do the travel agents job. Fortunately, the internet makes this pretty easy. With all the travel aggregators like Expedia, your can quickly compare prices and get some pretty good ticket / hotel / resort / car rental deals.

The other nice thing about arranging your own travel plans, is your more likely to get exactly what you want. Your far more committed to planning the perfect trip for you than any travel agent could be. Even the very good ones. They only have so much time they can spend with each client, to make their business a profitable one. You on the other hand can spend all the time you want.

If you can be a little flexible with your travel plans, your bound to find some cheaper flights. As well, if your not too picky about the in flight extras, you’ll find some of the discount airlines can be very affordable. Keep your eyes open, their are even some auction travel sites that can help in your quest.



SANTOS

Chris Campbell asked:


Many folks these days, seem to go with the common assumption, that if you fly somewhere, it’s going to cost big bucks. Hundreds or even over a thousand dollars. If your buying tickets for more than one person, those dollars can quickly add up. Well, it’s true that some passengers will spend that much money, you don’t have to.

There are a number of strategies you can employ to get cheaper airline tickets, you just need to understand how the system works.

If your planning on flying during the busier times of the year, then you really need to plan ahead. Those last minute bargains really don’t come into play during peak flying times. I’m talking like Christmas, and the week of March break. Get your tickets at least four to six months ahead of these periods.

Sometimes however, the opposite strategy may work as well. There are still last minute deals for cheap tickets available. The keyword for you here is flexibility. The more flexible you can be about dates, and specific destinations, the better you can do here. Retirement folks and those with extend vacations periods like teachers can easily take advantage of these offers.

The internet is a god send for cheap ticket searchers. Never in our history has there been so many easy was as a consumer to find great deals. You can compare flights and vacation pacakages like Travelocity and Expedia. You also gut out an extra middle man, since you are essentially your own travel agent. The nice part, is you don’t have to worry about someone else messing up your travel itinerary . And charging you for it.

4. Knowing When to Buy

It can be easy to track the rising and falling prices of airline fares but actually knowing when to buy is tricky. A great resource for those flying in the United States is Farecast, which provides fare predictions for over 75 cities. All you have to do is enter your itinerary information and Farecast will tell you whether to buy now or wait it out, depending on which way the fare is predicted to rise or fall.

Another important way to know when to buy is by keeping in mind that many airlines put out fare sales each week on Tuesday and Wednesday. So if you can book on those days you have a better chance of snagging a good deal.

Search out the smaller discounter airlines. They’re the no frills airlines. You may not get fancy food, drinks, and silverware on your flights, but you will have more money to spend once you get there. Talk with friends or family, and check out any of the travel forums and groups online. You’ll get plenty of advice from those places. Be sure to check out all the facts throughly, don’t just believe everything you hear.



BRENT