How Do I Get a Plane Ticket Cheap on Short Notice?
Life happens, things come up unexpectedly, and suddenly you need to purchase an airline ticket. Short notice usually means higher fares, but that's not necessarily true. There are ways to find lower fares. Your cost may not be cheaper than if you had purchased the ticket in advance, but you can still save money with a few options.
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Instructions
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Begin searching a few of the major airlines websites or call their reservations desks and ask for last-minute rates. Some airlines publish their last-minute fares each week on their website; you can sign up for their weekly e-mails online. If a rate sounds reasonable, reserve it until you can find a cheaper rate.
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Search airfare consolidator sites like Cheap Tickets, or Kayak. Kayak could save you time by showing you a comparison of their price versus other airfare search sites like Priceline, Travelocity, Hotwire, Expedia, and Airfare.com.
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Contact a local travel agent to see if they're able to get fares lower than you've found. Some airlines block a percentage of seats for travel agents that are discounted as much as the consolidators.
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Ask friends or family for travel vouchers or airline rewards. They often can book a flight for you with their frequent flyer miles or they can transfer them to your existing account to help you reach a reward trip sooner.
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Tips & Warnings
Flights with more stops are often cheaper than others.
Consider constructing your own flight. leg by leg, if you can find cheap fares for certain segments on competing airlines.
Be sure to check the low-cost airlines in your market. Some of those, including Souhwest, are not always featured on airfare search sites so you'll need to go directly to their airlines website.
Avoid purchasing travel vouchers or airline tickets from ads on Craigslist. Tickets or vouchers could be expired or even counterfeit. If a really low discount sounds too good to be true, it probably is--unless it's from a legitimate consolidator or directly from the airlines.
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- Photo Credit gate sign in an airport terminal image by kolesn from Fotolia.com
