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| Michele's Hints and Tips for finding the Least Expensive Airfares | |
We fly somewhere at least once a year and usually that flight is to some international destination. Until the summer of 2006, I had managed to keep my costs close to $500 per ticket over the last 20 years, so in 2006 I was really shocked to find that the cheapest tickets were nearly double what I was used to paying. This is partly due to the fuel surcharges that the airlines are charging at the moment. So this year, instead of finding a bargain priced flight, we had to pay a lot more. However, we still got a bargain because we flew in luxury on the new MaxJet airline which only has business class. We paid the same price the other airlines were charging for coach class for this flight and ended up getting a rebate from the airline due to an overbooking that actually brought the price down to lower than all the other airlines. So while not a bargain compared to prior years, a definate bargain for 2006! |
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| So how do I find these deals? Lots and lots of searching. | |
Step 1 - Get benchmark prices Go to the websites for the big airlines that fly to your destination. Since we go to England a lot, we always go to the sights for United, British Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Continental. I do a search on their websites for my desired dates and record the prices returned. These prices are my benchmarks. |
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Step 2 - Check the big search sites I now run the same dates on all the following search sites noting any choices that come in lower than my benchmarks.
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| Step 3 - Check out BESTFARES.com. You can browse this site for free, but if you see a deal you need to join in order to get access to it. The last time I joined, it was $60 a year. If the price they offer is lower than your next lowest fair found in the steps above by more than the annual fee, it will be worth your while to join. Sometimes they offer some good deals that include free hotel rooms so although the airfare may not be any lower than the others, if you get other perks that would otherwise cost you money, it could be a good deal. | |
Step 4 - Repeat steps 1-3 multiple times over a week or two if you have the time. As I often start planning my trips months in advance, this gives me lots of lead time to do this. Anyway when you feel confident that you are knowledgable about the going prices you have several options: If you are flexible with your travel dates and price is more important to you than ensuring a direct flight, you can go to priceline.com and make an offer. Your offer should be for at least 10% less than the lowest price you know you can get elsewhere. Also read all the fine print - make sure the prices you are comparing include all taxes and fees. If you are comparing a price without taxes and fees to one with taxes and fees, the difference can be hundreds of dollars for an international flight. |
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| Step 5 - As a last resort, get a Sunday paper from the nearest big city such as the Washington Post and read all the small ads in the Travel section of the paper. I have found many discount fares from wholesalers here in the past. However in recent years there have been more stories of scams and companies going out of business and not delivering the tickets. So always pay for these tickets with a credit card, even if it means paying 5% more and check the Better Business Bureau for the company and search the web for chatter about the company before taking the plunge. |