Many vacation travelers do not realize how common it is for people on the same flight to have paid a wide range of prices for the same airline ticket. How can travelers find bargains and avoid overpaying? Finding the best fares can be hard work. DestinationVillas.com editor, Tori Milan, takes some of the mystery and work out of finding cheap airfares.
1. Start looking and tracking airfares early on
airfarewatchdog.com, a web site that tracks cheap airfares, to get a sense of the way prices can vary.
2. Shop around: Check
Orbitz,
Expedia,
Kayak and
Travelocity and don’t forget the airline websites for deals. United.com, spirit.com, continental.com and others, all have bargains not found elsewhere.
3. Check airfares everyday, even on weekends. Airfare prices can change up to three times a day and they take place around 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. during the week and 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
4. Look at alternative airports near by that may have better fares
5. Try to avoid waiting until the last-minute – especially on a big purchase such as a ticket to Hawaii or Europe.
6. Look for typos. If the airline makes a typo they have to honor the error and award the lower price. The majority of airfare mistakes or typo fares are put into the system Friday nights. You could save you $10, $20, even more.
7. Travel midweek to vacation destinations can save you a bundle.
8. Use a credit card that awards air miles for every dollar you spend. Before you know it you could have a free ticket.
9. Be flexible with your dates.
10. Avoid major holiday periods or holiday weekends when fares typically go up.