- When searching for cheap plane tickets, you will find the best bargains if you start searching months in advance. Do not purchase a plane ticket more than six months before your departure, however, because fares will change significantly over time. Instead, get an idea of a base fare; this will enable you to establish an idea of what is a good price and what is not, and increase your chances of spotting a bargain.
- It would seem that all of the seats in a certain class would be purchased for the same price. This is not the case, however. Depending on who is selling the seats, your fare may be hundreds of dollars more or less expensive than the person in the seat next to you. For this reason, if you are buying more than one plane ticket, always enter the specific quantity into search engines; there may be only a limited number of seats at the cheapest price.
- With the widespread availability of internet fare search engines, your chances increase of finding a cheap plane ticket. Using engines like Kayak, Expedia, and Orbitz, you can search a variety of dates and city pairs to determine the best days, times, and locations for cheap plane tickets. You might also consider taking advantage of the email alert functions of these websites; such alerts let you know as soon as a specific flight drops below a target price.
- To determine the price of the cheapest plane ticket, be flexible. Often, a flight can be cheaper if you fly out of a nearby city; because of airline hubs and common routes, certain areas offer lower plane ticket prices. You might also try searching for flights at different times of the day and week. It is often said that the best ticket bargains are available on Wednesday nights between midnight and 1 am in the time zone of the airline's headquarters.
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When searching for cheap plane tickets, try a variety of search engines, dates and times. The more you broaden your search, the more prices you will find and the greater your chances of finding a cheap ticket.
When you find a cheap fare on a site like Expedia, always head directly to the airline's website; often, they will offer the same ticket for a lower price because you will not pay have to pay Expedia's service charges.
Comments
cooper36 said
on 6/25/2009 In the past, I tried other sites and was very disappointed, some of them didn’t even reserve my flight ticket correctly and I ended up wasting my time going to the airport for nothing!! Be careful! I did, however, find a very reliable company that does book my flights in China 100% all the time: http://www.bamboobookings.com