How to Buy Airline Tickets Online

The Web lets you search easily for the best fares and never puts you on hold for a travel agent. But beware: even if a site searches multiple airlines, it may not offer the cheapest fares possible - some sites have special deals only available to them. Investigate several sites before you purchase your tickets.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Carry-on Bags
• Garment Bags
• Luggage Carts
• Luggage Sets
• Travel Clothes
• Travel Magazines
• Travel Planning Software

1. Check several computer reservation systems and online ticket brokers to find available flights and get an idea of price ranges, or click the box for "airline ticket" in the eHow shopping list and choose the "shop online" option for price information. Prices vary from broker to broker, and some have special deals.

2. Check an airline's official site for any deals offered only through the airline itself. Many of the best deals are offered for flights that week.

3. Access the site that offers the best deal. When prompted, enter necessary information such as time and location of arrival and departure, number of passengers and flight class (first class, economy, etc.).

4. Notice if the site gives you a choice of delivery options. If it does, choose the one that's best for you. If the site offers an "e-ticket" option, that's usually best because you don't have to pay any shipping charges or be available to receive a shipment.

5. Pay by credit card on a secure server. If you're not comfortable with online credit card transactions, you may be able to pay by check. If you can't find any information on alternative payment methods on the site, contact the site's administrators.

Tips & Warnings

• The best fares, especially for international destinations, are usually found through consolidators. Consolidators typically focus on specific areas, such as Eastern Europe or South America.

Who Can Help:

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[hakeson]

on 1/26/2009 Check out "airline spoilage"

[seinfeldfan]

on 9/12/2007 check out srstravelservices.com - I used them for my last 2 trips and saved a pretty good amount of money compared to the other websites I searched.

[anandraju123]

on 9/7/2007 Please checkout the cheap tickets are non refundable and non changable. If you want more options call the agent and talk about the options that are availaible.

[johnlerner]

on 1/5/2007 TicTrip Travel - I highly reccommend giving them a try.
http://www.tictrip.com/airfares

They will save you a lot of time and money looking for a cheap airline ticket because they search over 400 websites in a couple minutes. They make it so easy to get a great deal on a Airline Ticket.

on 11/22/2005 Give yourself plenty of time to look. This way you can search many different sites. You can find the same flight on different sites for different costs.
The best luck I've had is travelzoo.com. You can search 5 different sites through them (including priceline.com, travelocity.com, Orbitz.com). Also try Sidestep.com. I've had great success through them. When choosing your dates, I've always heard Tuesday's and Thursday are the cheapest dates to fly on. But try doing searches on different days of the week and different combinations and see how it effects the cost. As weeks go on, the costs change. I've had prices drop one week after I got a quote. So, thats why you give yourself sometime to look around.