Tips For Finding Airfare Deals
Let's face it, prices on air travel have increased dramatically. Use these ten simple tips and save a lot of money. Learn how to search out the best airfare deals. It's certainly worth a few hours of your time to save anywhere from 20% to 85% off “retail” prices.
1. Subscribe to several of the e-newsletters that track airfare specials. You just might have some dream airfare deal pop right into your email. At the least, you'll get a feel for what a great price is for your destination.
Here are a couple of links to get you started. There are many other excellent newsletters online.
http://www.bt-store.com
http://www.sidestep.com/
2. Book your reservation well in advance. Start looking a month in advance, if possible. This ensures you'll be ready to book three weeks ahead, for automatic discounts.
3. Be flexible in choosing your flight days. If you're traveling for pleasure, it's likely you can choose your vacation days to suit yourself. Tuesday and Thursday usually offer the best airfare deals (with the exception of holidays). Wednesday and Saturday are your next best choices. Nonstop flights are more expensive than connecting flights, but making the connection can be a giant hassle.
4. Use “outside-the-box” strategies. Instead of going to each of the big travel sites, such as Expedia, Orbitz and so on, try some of the travel search engines, which check not only travel sites, but airlines' sites as well. Here's a sampling.
Sidestep.com can be searched online or you can download their free software which searches a wealth of travel sites, agencies and consolidators, providing easy to compare results. Travel guides to domestic and international destinations are posted on their site.
Cfares.com is known for terrific international airfare deals. For a reasonably-priced yearly membership fee, you can access their outrageously cheap airfare deals.
Affordabletravel.org is a membership site ($39 per year) where you'll find free, yes free, courier airfare deals, and savings of up to 85% on tourist international flights.
Site59.com specializes in last-minute getaways. You can book just hours before flight time and save.
5. Research travel chat rooms, where you may find some good advice and tips from other travelers who've been to where you're going.
6. If you're a senior or a student, see if your airline offers discounts on this basis. Several do.
7. If you're traveling domestically and within your region of the country, check the smaller regional airlines, often much less expensive than the major air carriers.
8. Check auction sites. You may find a bargain to your destination.
9. If you're traveling from the U.S. to Europe, a daytime departure often yields the better airfare deal.
10.If your destination is a major city, check prices to smaller nearby cities for substantial savings. For example, if your destination is Washington, D.C., check fares to Baltimore (about 39 miles away).
These ten easy tips and a few hours of your time will save you a bundle!
