How to Get the Lowest Airfare Available – Read This or Spend Too Much For Your Airline Tickets
Air fare is expensive, but there are many ways you can find the lowest price on your airline tickets. Here are some of the best.
Airfare is expensive and getting more so. Recently one airline after another has been announcing fees ranging from baggage charges to airfare surcharges during peak travel periods. That means travelers may end up paying much more than their ticket price when things are all said and done. There are, however, ways around some of this that can help you get the lowest airfare available.
If you’re planning on traveling and proposing to your girlfriend on a trip, that can be a wonderful experience, and give you great memories that will last a lifetime. Obviously flying somewhere can add up in a hurry, and rapidly render that proposal frightfully expensive. You’re in luck though. Below are some ways that you can pinch some pennies and still get to that spot in the sun or on top of the mountain without having to stick out your thumb.
When you fly you spend money on three things; the airfare itself, taxes, and fees. Recently cash strapped airlines have been looking increasingly toward adding fees as a way to add additional revenue. As the worldwide economy sank over the past 24 months, the travel industry was hit especially hard, so the airlines are looking for any cash they can find. Increasingly they are finding it in passenger’s pockets.
First they were hit by dramatically increased fuel prices, followed by a severe cut back in business and personal travel. Traditionally you’d see airlines offering myriad incentives to entice travelers during such periods of reduced passengers. These days though, it is often quite the opposite.
In many cases you won’t even be aware of these fees, as airlines try to use some sleight of hand to make them disappear. In other cases however, they are right in your face, such as the now common practice of charging for carry on luggage. One day in the not too distant future it may be cheaper to bring only a backpack, then go shopping for new clothes at your destination.
Here are some airline fees you should be aware of, just avoiding them will save you money:
Fees for repricing a ticket to take advantage of a lower price on your flight. – Airlines now charge hefty fees to reprice your electronic ticket to take advantage of any fare decrease on your flight. It’s no secret that the ticket price structure is so convoluted there may be 50 different prices on the same flight. In the past it was relatively easy to call and ask them to change the ticket price if their airfare was dropped. They’ll still do it, but you have to pay about a c-note (sometimes far more) for their troubles, so think twice about asking.
Fees for using your frequent flyer miles too close to your travel day. – It’s true, on some airlines you can just walk up to the ticket counter at your local airport and get a ticket with your frequent flyer miles. Southwest, Jet Blue, and Northwest are among these. Hey, with Northwest, on some flights you’ll even get 150 extra miles for free. Most airlines though, will make you pay an extra fee if you try to use frequent flyer miles fewer than 3 days before departure.
Checked Bag Fees – Most U.S. airlines now charge at least $20 for your first checked bag, and more for the second. At last check, United only charged $15 for your first checked bag. But wait, it gets better. If your bag is more than 50lbs, you may have to pay even more than that. In some cases you may be better off to have your stuff shipped to your hotel via UPS. At least then it won’t be lost or rummaged through by Homeland Security or those camcorder thieving baggage handlers (all apologies to the honest baggage handlers).
Talking to a real, live person on the phone fee – I don’t know what they call it, most likely a customer assistance fee (shouldn’t they assist their customers as part of the ticket price?). It is almost as annoying as Ticketmaster’s “convenience” charges. Most airlines will now charge you between $5 and $20 to actually talk to a non-computer on the telephone when you’re making reservations. To speak to someone in the country in which you’re calling from, add another $1,000.
Bring a snack, as most airlines actually charge, you guessed it, a fee, for that food we all used to complain so much about in the past. We didn’t know how good we had it. Now, at least there are about a million choices for eateries in most major airports, so you can have a bite before you board the aircraft.
Okay, if you manage to avoid all the extraneous fees the airlines want to charge you for using their services, here are some ways to actually save money on your airfare.
Tips for How to Get the Lowest Airfare Available:
1)Don’t travel on holidays. Not only are fares more expensive, it makes you want to gouge your eyes out trying to get through airports on busy holidays. To add insult to the already higher ticket prices many airlines just announced they will be charging fees, known as surcharges, during this holiday season. Once this is standard practice, there’s no telling when it will abate. Likely never.
2)Don’t count on one of the Internet travel services to always get you the best fare. Many times they will, but there are some things they don’t do. One of these is list flights by Southwest Airlines. At last look Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, or LowestFare all omitted Southwest, one of the lowest priced and highest rated airlines around. If you’re flying for a vacation you plan on which you plan on proposing , you may well want to cash in some frequent flyer miles and go first class, but keep the above advice in mind.
3)Be a bit flexible on your dates. No, I’m not talking about playing twister with the missus, but rather the date you fly. That is easier said than done, especially if you want to have a place to stay when you arrive. Sometimes staying an extra day can net you handsome savings on your airfare. In some cases even enough to pay for an extra night’s hotel. In that case you’d get an extra vacation day almost free.
4) Check all the airports in the area. In many major metro areas, there are several airports serving the general vicinity. For example, if you’re flying into Southern California, you have a choice of John Wayne airport in Orange County, LAX in LA, Burbank in where else, Burbank, Palm Springs, and SanDiego. Southern California traffic notwithstanding, you can often save a hefty sum by choosing an airport in the area based upon the airfare, rather than it’s proximity to your destination. You may have to drive an extra ½ hour to an hour, but you could pocket some nice change for doing it.
5) Don’t look in only one place to find the lowest airfare. There are many websites that promise you the lowest fare, but not all will have the lowest rate at any given time. Actually there are three different kinds of web sites that supply airfare information.
There are traditional travel sites such as Expedia.com and Orbitz.com. Their business model is set up so that they get a fee in exchange for their services. It’s not much, only about $6 or so. These websites are also known as booking engines.
Most airlines also have their own websites where you can book flights. Sometimes you can get the same flight you found on Orbitz or Expedia and save yourself their fee. However, going through the extra work of looking things up twice seems like quite a bit of hassle to save $6.
Saving the best for last – The third type of website you can look at to find low fares are called aggregators. Aggregators look at many different airlines for their information, similarily to the booking engine sites. The difference is that they rely on on site advertising and affiliate deals with airlines and hotels to make their money. You’ll typically not have to pay any fees for their services. Examples of air fare aggregators include Farechase.com, Sidestep.com, and Kayak.com.
Make sure you go to several different websites before you choose a flight. Only then can you be sure you’re getting the lowest fare to a given destination.
6) If you haven’t joined every frequent flyer club under the sun, do it now. This is especially true if you travel frequently for business. Just because you company pays for your flight doesn’t mean they get the miles. Actually you do, so make sure you get them.
7) If you’re going for an international destination, make sure you check that little anachronism, the travel agent. Yes, they still exist although the Internet has sure thinned the herd. The problem is that many of the overseas airlines don’t make their best deals available to the Internet travel sites. You have to go to an insider to get them. Check online first, but then talk to a travel agent to see if they can get you a lower fare.
Book round trip tickets. You’re probably going to do this anyway, but never use two one way tickets, always get a round trip. It is almost always much less money that two one ways.
9) Depending on where you’re going it may be a good idea to fly into one city, and fly out of a different one. The good news is that some airlines will let you do this free of charge. That is great if you want to do some traveling when you’re at your destination. It will save you from having to go back to your arrival destination to depart.
10) Be flexible about what time of day you fly. Often, only an hour or two one way or the other can save you big money on your ticket. Here’s an example:
A non-stop flight on Delta Airlines from Seattle to Atlanta and back departing Seattle at 6:00am or 11:56am costs $461 as I write this. Leave at 7:10 instead of 6:00am and that extra hour of sleep will set you back $160.00! The flight at 7:10 is $621. Leave at 9:10 and it’s another $20 more. But wait, you’re also taking your girlfriend, so it’s really going to cost you and extra $320 or $360. The moral is: check all the times for the day you’d like to depart.
For some real insider secrets from an ex-airline employee to help make sure you get the lowest airfares check out: Insider’s Secret Guide to Getting the Lowest Airfare
If you’re planing on a proposal vacation, make sure you do your due diligence. A little bit of time spent up front can help make sure you get the lowest airfare available.
