Top Ten Ways To Grab Cheap Airfares!
1. REMEMBER THAT THE AIRLINE AGGREGATORS LIKE KAYAK, ORBITZ, EXPEDIA AND SIDESTEP DONT ALL HAVE THE SAME FARES!
Often they can be several hundred dollars cheaper from site to site! Don’t forget to go right to the source as well. Southwest and Virgin are just 2 examples of airlines that wont even be included in these searches. I have discovered 2 sites with the same international airfares at substantially discounted rates from the normal batch listed above. Skyscanner.com and Momondo.com
2. TO POINT 1, SEARCH THE INDIVIDUAL AIRLINES TOO!
Often they will have sales that you can only take advantage of through their home site.
3. TRY TO KEEP YOUR DATES FLEXIBLE!
You can often save a few hundred just by shifting dates around by a few days!
Travelocity has a great flex date search option.
4. SIGN UP FOR DINGFARES, AA DEALFINDER & OTHER AIRLINE’S PROMOTIONAL EMAILS!
Airlines are just like any other retailer in that they have to move their inventory. In this case it’s seats! Sign up to these various notification services and you’ll find there are man more options for reduced airfare than you thought!
5. CHECK FARES OFTEN!
Just ilk the market, airfare’s are a volatile commodity. Therefore it’s important to just keep checking back in to see how prices have moved. Also, be sure to CLEAR YOUR COOKIES. Otherwise the search returns will just pull from the last search instead of the updated.
6. BUY PACKAGES=HOTEL+CAR+AIRFARE!
It’s the “combo meal” mentality plain and simple. This is best for people traveling together. Often you will find that you are not saving as much as you may think, if ANY, by trying to book everything separately. Agents are particularly great at working out package deals but if your just using the net it’ simple enough to see if the price is better or worse when you try to book it all separately. Sometimes even if it is a little more it’s worth it just to have it DONE!
7. SATURDAY IS OFTEN THE BEST DAY FOR GREAT FARES!
Call it glitch in the matrix but keep your eyes out for fares on Saturday mornings. For some reason the system spits out some “blooper” fares that if your quick enough you can jump on before they figure out what has happened.
8. PIECEMEAL IT! COMBINE FARES INSTEAD OF JUST BUYING ONE!
If I fly to Europe from Arizona unless I find a great deal I’m usually going to pay a lot more than if I took jetblue or southwest to a gateway city on the east coast and then found a ticket across the pond. If almost always had a better price by booking flights piecemeal style.
9. COMBINE WEEKEND FARES!
Last minute weekend fares can be very cheap. You can often break up the trip and combine these rates to get a cheaper price on a flight instead of going direct.
10. BUY TICKETS ON AIRLINES THAT REFUND THE DIFFERENCE ON FARE DROPS!
This is getting harder and harder to do give all the penalties and other garbage airlines are throwing at passengers but it’s worth it to inquire.
Please feel to share this info with your traveling amigos!
Cheers!
wow! Good to know! Saving money while traveling is becoming increasingly difficult, but with these tips, I’ll most certainly have some extra chunk change!
Glad it was helpful Kae! Nice work on your site. Happy Travels!