How to Fully Book Flights Online

You can easily book a flight online.

With the advent of the Internet, booking a flight from the comfort of your own home has never been easier. After choosing which website you would like to use to book your flight -- be it Expedia, Priceline, Orbitz or any other online flight-booking site -- the steps involved to book are largely the same.

Instructions

1. Check to see whether the website you're using requires you to create an account. If it does, go ahead and create an account and then log into the website. After doing this, you should return to the main flight-search page, where you'll determine whether you want a round-trip flight, a one-way flight or a flight with multiple destinations.

2. Type in the city from which your flight will be departing in the "Leaving from" or departures box, as well as the city of your destination under the "Going to" or arrival box. As an example, if you plan to leave from Sacramento, California to visit Miami, Florida you would enter "Sacramento, Ca" in the departures box, and "Miami, Fl" in the destination box. Bear in mind that the city of your departure or destination may not have an airport; if so, you'll want to choose a city nearby with an airport as your departure or destination.

3. Enter the date you'd like to depart, the date you'd like to return (if applicable), and indicate how many people you'll be buying plane tickets for. If you have a preference of departure and arrival times, indicate those as well, but be aware that requesting specific departure and arrival times will limit the number of options available to you on which flights you can select. This can have a noticeable influence over the price you pay for your tickets, which airline you fly with, as well as whether or not you'll even be able to book a flight at all.

4. Press the "Search" or "Enter" button, then browse the list of available flights. Each option will list the name of the airline involved, the departure and arrival times, the number of stops made between destinations, the total travel time and the ticket price per person.

5. Review your selection and enter your billing information. After inputting and reviewing your personal information and flight preferences, you will conclude the transaction by inputting your payment information, confirming your payment information, and choosing how you would like to receive your completed booking information. The most common option to receive booking information is by email, though some websites also offer the option to receive booking information by mail. After receiving your booking information, you're all set and ready to go.

Tips & Warnings

• Flight dates can have a large impact on the price of your tickets, so be sure to book your flight as far in advance as possible.

References

• Expedia: Flights
• Orbitz: Flights