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How to find cheap air fares

Although you love to travel and love being comfortable, you don’t want to pay too much for your airline ticket. Not that you want to be the world's cheapest person, but you certainly would like to get value for your money. There is nothing more frustrating than to get on a plane and find out the guy in the seat next to you has paid hundreds of dollars less for his seat than you paid for yours, while you’re still getting the very same seat and service on the same plane.

On many trips the single biggest expense is airfare. Airlines charge lots of different fares for seats on the very same plane. The price of an airline ticket depends on where you want to travel, when you want to go, and how long you want to stay. Airlines do not want to fly empty seats. They monitor their sales carefully. If seats aren't selling, cheaper seats will become available. Keep in mind you may have to sacrifice some convenience in exchange for cheap airfares. Layovers, connections, and odd departure times may or may not come with the price of cheap airfares. Factor this in, when you are searching for a cheap(er) ticket.

Looking for Cheap(er) Airfares? Here are some guidelines to help you getting the most value for your money. Some advance preparation will be required to take advantage of the best ones.

Take time to prepare:

Careful preparation is half of the work and a key to success. Plan as far ahead as you can, at least 14-21 days ahead. Although it could happen, don’t rely on a cheap fares falling into your lap at the last minute. Most airlines set aside only a few seats on many desirable flights at the lower rates. The real best bargains often sell out very quickly. On the other hand, if a particular flight is not selling as well as expected, air carriers sometimes make more discount seats available for a particular flight just before the advance-purchase deadline expires. For example, if the lowest fare has a 21-day advance-purchase requirement but is sold out for most dates, and you can go any time, ask about fare availability on flights 21 or 22 days from when you call.

While planning ahead is a good general rule, if you can bide your time you might encounter a "fare sale". Many airlines put seats on sale for brief periods several times a year (although you usually can purchase tickets for flights weeks or months after the end of the sale period). It is difficult to predict when these sales will occur, although they often fall during times when people are less likely to buy airline tickets (e.g. early autumn or right immediately after New Years).

Cheap airfares for overseas travel are generally offered in November and December, with the exception of the holidays. Discount seats are usually "blacked out" during holiday periods. Plan accordingly and ahead of time to avoid paying higher premiums during the holidays. However, you might be able to get a discount fare if you fly on the holiday itself (e.g., New Year's day).

Often, travel between Tuesdays and Thursdays, or over a Saturday night, can lower the fare. Compare staying over a Saturday night with the added expense of a hotel night to any flight returning on a Saturday.

If the lowest fare is the top priority, a direct flight is not for you. Convenience generally cost money. Lower fares occur for passengers willing to take connections, layovers, late flights or other inconveniences.

If you frequently travel to the same destination, be aware of other airlines that might venture into your destination's market. Generally, when a carrier enters into a new market, the fares drop for competitive reasons.

A number of airlines send e-mail messages every week to receive notification of last-minute fare specials for departures within the next few days. See the airlines' Web sites for information about these programs, or call their reservations line.

If you are a member of an airline's frequent-flyer program and you are considering buying a promotional or deep-discount fare, ask if that fare will earn frequent-flyer miles.

If attending a convention or a training session, read through the fine print on your registration; many require specific arrival and departure times. If attending a business meeting, have the address on hand prior to calling the airlines or your travel agent, as well as an estimate of driving time from the airport to the business meeting's location.

Avoid "double booking" - calling various sources or booking several itineraries. Airline carriers have the automation to determine if you have two reservations on the same flight and will cancel both.

When making reservations or changes, always make a note of the person you talked to, and when. Always keep your confirmation (or "record locator") handy for travel disruptions.

After you buy your ticket, you may wish to call the airline or travel agent once or twice before departure to confirm your reservations and check the fare. Fares change all the time, and if that same fare goes down before you fly, some airlines will refund the difference. But you have to ask.

Some airlines will not increase the fare after the ticket is issued and paid for. (Simply holding a reservation without a ticket does not guarantee the fare.) Other airlines may reserve the right to collect more money from you if the fare that you had purchased goes up before departure time. Find out from the airline before you buy your ticket what its policy is on assessing fare increases after the ticket is purchased.

Ask about all restrictions on your fare. Typical requirements for discount fares include purchasing a round-trip ticket, buying the ticket a certain number of days before departure (e.g., for many fares, at least 14 or 21 days before you leave), purchasing the ticket within 24 hours of making a reservation, staying over a Saturday night, traveling during a certain time of the year, staying no more than 30 days, and, as discussed below, refund/change restrictions.

Ask about your ability to change or cancel your flight if you need to. Even if you get sick, you cannot assume you will get a refund. In fact, most discount tickets now are non-refundable, but can be applied toward the purchase of other tickets on the same carrier. You must usually pay an administrative charge and any difference between the fares for the old and new flights when you do this.

Differences in air fares can be substantial. Careful comparison shopping among airlines does take time, but it can lead to real savings.

A Flexible Schedule certainly helps:

Decide on your absolute levels of flexibility before looking for airfares. You may be surprised to see how much money you can save.

Flights on the off-peak days of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday usually offer the lowest fares. Fares are sometimes (but not always) higher on Sunday, Monday and Friday than on other weekdays. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays are low-demand days for flying, and airfares tend to be cheaper, as are late evening flights. Saturday flights occasionally have discount fares, but as a rule it's more expensive to fly on a weekend than a weekday. If you can travel a day or two earlier or later, you can often save hundreds of dollars sometimes. Just an hour or two different can make a big difference as well.

Most low fares require that you stay over at least one Saturday night before your return flight. However, some fares may only require you to stay a minimum of three or four days. The Saturday night stay over requirement is the most frequent tool that you can use to scarf on big savings. This is the airlines’ way of sorting out business travelers and tourists. Business travelers are more likely to pay premium airfares in order to be home on the weekends. If you're going somewhere for a few days and are thinking of returning on Friday or Saturday, just check to see if you'd save by flying back on Sunday or Monday.

Consider Buying in Advance:

Airlines sell only a limited number of seats at the lowest fares. When those seats sell out, the price goes up. It's no secret that the highest price seats on the plane are those sold over the 6 days prior to departure. In many case, you'll pay more for a coach seat than you would have paid for a first-class seat if you'd only bought 7 days in advance. On the other hand, air carriers sometimes make more discount seats available later.

Many discount fares require that you make a reservation seven, 14 or 21 days before your trip depending on the fare. The best international fares often require a reservation 30 days in advance. Making a reservation as soon as you know your travel dates increases your chances of finding a fare you can live with.

If you had decided against a trip because the discount fare you wanted was not available on the desired date, try again, especially just before the advance-purchase deadline.

Call the airlines in the evening. If you call after 8PM, the airline reservation agent at the airlines will have more time to look at their computers to find you a deal.

Summer destinations go up in mid June and winter destinations go up in early December. If you can travel at non peak times of the year you can save 25%.

Take advantage of Last Minute Deals:

If you are totally flexible and don't care if you go or not, then you can save money by jumping on deals at the last minute when they come up. Sometimes you got to jump to get the cheapest seat on the plane!

Subscribe to airlines e-mail lists as they will send you weekly email notices of last-minute airfares. It will work best for you if you subscribe to the lists of the dominant airline in your city or region.

Check out the web sites that consolidate info from the airlines last minute fare deals.

Don't forget traditional media! Internet sites are great, but if you rely on them exclusively, you'll miss out on lots of great deals.

Consider Alternative Airports:

Some cities have several airports, and the airfare can vary dramatically between them. For example: Washington D.C. has three convenient airports, National (DCA), Dulles (IAD), and Baltimore-Washington (BWI). Southwest has a big presence at BWI and airfares are often dramatically lower there on some routes. Similarly, AirTran offers discounted rates into IAD from Atlanta, so other airlines often lower fares into Dulles from markets served by AirTran. Other examples are New York (JFK, La Guardia, Newark), Chicago (Midway, O'Hare), Houston (Hobby, Bush) and London (City, Heathrow, Gatwick, Lutton, Stanstead). Smaller airports have less overhead and often compete for passengers with the hubs.

However, you are not limited to the city or region. There may be other alternatives in neighboring states or countries that are within a three hours drive from your home, such as Paris or Amsterdam as an alternative to Brussels, or Düsseldorf as an alternative to Amsterdam.

If there are multiple airports in the cities of your departure and destination, compare airfares at all of them. Often cheap airfares can be found by flying to a different airport. In a large metropolitan area, the fare could depend on which airport you use. Also, a connection (change of planes) or a one-stop flight is sometimes cheaper than a nonstop.

What Competition can do for you:

Because of price competition, consumers may choose from a wide variety of air fares. Some airlines are trying a "back to basics" approach-offering flights at bargain basement prices with few extras. It's okay to have a favorite airline, but it's usually dumb to spend a lot more just out of some sense of loyalty. Dollars don't have loyalty, and neither do seats. You're buying a seat going someplace, not a share in a company, and not an in-flight meal or a smiling gate agent or a logo. The general wisdom that it's a good idea to stick with one airline as much as possible so as to earn frequent flyer miles is generally sound as long as the fares are the same.

For fare information, you can contact a travel agent, another ticket outlet or an airline serving the places you want to visit. Ask them to tell you the names of all airlines flying there. A travel agent can find virtually all airlines' fares in his or her computer. Or, if you prefer you can call each airline to ask about the fares they charge, particularly any special promotional fares they may be offering at the time.

You can also pay attention to newspaper and radio ads, where airlines advertise many of the discount plans that apply to your city.

Finally, be alert to new companies serving the market. They may offer lower fares or different services than older established airlines.

Consider using a Travel Agent:

Agents usually do not charge a fee (they get a commission from the airline), and they can tell you about "consolidators" and other sources of discounted seats that are not available directly from the airline. However, consolidator seats can have even more severe restrictions than the airlines' own deep-discount fares, particularly if the flight is delayed or canceled. A few travel agents sometimes have access to special deals with a particular airline (either discounts or extra services).

If you are flying to a popular (foreign) destination, ask the travel agent about Public Charters. These charters sometimes offer lower fares, but again with significant restrictions that are spelled out in an operator/participant contract that you should review carefully.

Ask the travel agent if the city where you live or the city where you are going is an airline "hub." If it is, fares may be higher than for flights to other nearby cities because of reduced competition. Someone who lives at a hub might save money by leaving from another nearby city, even if they end up connecting through the hub to get to their destination.

Internet services are great for promoting competition and helping you price trips, but on many occasions the best deals do not come from any online service, but from the traditional travel agent down the street. Travel agents have options open to them that aren't listed in the big airline computer systems: they know about charter flights, tour operators, small airlines, foreign flag carriers, special competitive rates, strategies for matching fares to airlines, and lots more. If you have a good travel agent you can often get a cheaper price than is listed in any of the major reservation systems, and still fly your favorite airline and get your frequent flyer mileage. The trick, however, is to find that good travel agent.

Travel agents can be a wealth of information, but they will not always find you cheap airfares. They will be able to tell you which airlines fly to your destination and will be able to suggest flights to fit your schedule. Ask them if they are aware of any promotions and specials. Keep notes on flight prices so you can compare your options.

The best deals may be limited to travel on certain days of the week (often Tuesday through Thursday, or Friday night through Sunday morning) or particular hours of the day (e.g., late-night departures). This applies to each of your flights, not just the first flight in your itinerary. After you get a fare quote, ask the travel agent if you could save even more by flying a day earlier or later, or by taking a different flight on the same day. Or simply ask the agent what the lowest fare is, and what you need to do to qualify for it.

Don’t call the airline and book directly. An airline’s job is to persuade you to pay as much as possible for your ticket. Do visit airline web sites where you can often sign up for newsletters. Sometimes airlines make last minute discounts available by e-mail or on their web site. If seats aren’t selling, they may “dump” them at the last-minute.

Consider buying from Bucket Shops:

Consolidators, as they're known in the industry, snap up unsold seats on empty flights and sell them at greatly reduced prices. You'll usually find their ads on the back pages of the travel section in larger (Sunday) newspapers and some have internet sites too or are extensions of general travel agencies. For more details, see our pages on Consolidators.

Considering Alternative Airlines:

Not every airline is listed in online reservation systems. Some are too small, some too new, and some foreign carriers don't really rely on reservation systems because of cultural variations. Look into all airlines that serve the market you are interested in, including low-cost carriers that offer low fares. Often the major carriers will match the fares of a low-cost airline between the same cities, but only for a certain limited number of seats on each flight. Note that small airlines sometimes have only one flight per day in many markets, and they frequently will not reroute you on another airline if your flight is canceled or delayed. In such cases you may have to wait until the next day to fly. Avoid using several airlines on one trip, as It is almost always less expensive to use only one airline for a trip instead of two.

Domestic flights are usually less expensive on the weekends and international flights are cheaper when you depart and arrive during the week. Using an alternative carrier can save money on a short domestic trip by switching from a big mainstream carrier to a small startup.

Another good idea is to look to foreign-flag airlines for good rates. Many of these carriers offer far better service than you've experienced with domestic carriers.

Look for Discounts:

There are ways to look or to ask for discounts. This probably won't help much, but every so often you can hit the jackpot.

Save airline discount coupons. These normally show up in credit card bills or junk mail. You never know when the opportunity to travel will present itself!

Check the Sunday paper of a major metropolitan newspaper for super saver and promotional fares. Some of these are really cheap airfares and possibly inconvenient, so make sure you know what restrictions apply.

Check back even after you have bought your ticket. Cheaper airfares may have been released. Airlines have different policies and some will refund the difference. Some charge a fee, so check to see if paying the fee is worth the savings.

Also, if you've got one of those “Entertainment” coupon books for your city, there are usually discount offers or buy one get one free arrangements with the airlines in there.

If you are older than 62 use the senior citizen discount. Almost all airlines give a discount of up to 30%. Others who can get discounts are clergy, government or military members, and medical students. Most airlines offer what are called “compassion fares” or “bereavement fares”. These are available for deaths in the family and sometimes for serious family illnesses, also. These fares are usually 50-70% off the usual fares (Ask what kind of documentation is needed.). If part of a group of travelers, consider the fact that groups of ten or more generally qualify for group or discounted rates These types of discount are not usually made public but many offer them if you inquire. Just ask.

Purchase Non-Refundable Tickets:

Most of the best deals are on non-refundable, advance purchases. It should go without saying that these are going to be your best deal, but if you buy one of these fares and later cancel your trip, you will not get your money back. Some fares also have a penalty for changing flights or dates even if you don't want a refund. You may also have to pay any difference in air fares if your fare is not available on the new flight.

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