Cheapest Airline Tickets - How to Find Best Travel DealsPosted by Panduro Chen on May 23rd, 2021 So you are in the market for cheap airline tickets, however, not sure the place to start and how to find the very best travel deals. The truth is that in order to find the cheapest flight fares and schedules you need to know when and where to look and how exactly to search. Yes, it is that easy, and all you have to know is several tricks. For starters, do you want a domestic or an international travel ticket? Domestic Air Travel These can be US domestic flight or flights within Europe, or within any country or other continent. If you are searching great flight deals, you should know WHERE to search for low airfares. If you are looking for flights within the united states, you might contact local US airlines or travel agencies or research flights on the online travel search engine. Airlines compete among each other and they can give great flight deals (just know WHEN to check). Travel agencies might also find you great deals. This is actually the truth... lately several airlines and several large and well known travel agencies started having some issues and many airline banned those huge agencies from selling their airline tickets. Therefore, small and specialized agencies still do have excellent contracts with major airlines of the planet. So, my advise would be to look who has the best flight deal, not at how big is the agency or the popularity. By the end of the day, it matters how much you pay for the ticket and that you have a confirmed seat. Most smaller travel agencies have online only booking to allow them to save YOU money by eliminating staff salaries. Usually travel agencies utilize the same fares as airlines offer (unless negotiated better rates), but usually with 0 commission. Since agencies have to survive, they are forced to add a small service fee on the top of the ticket price. If you don't mind that, call your travel agent or on top of that go surfing and check flights yourself. When you are traveling within Europe, you should contact a travel agent or do some searching online travel agents' websites first. In Europe local travel agencies and agencies outside Europe that focus on international travel could have low fares since they use suprisingly low so called consolidator fares. This is nothing else, but negotiated contracts with airlines to sell special very low priced airline tickets. International Travel Whether you live in america or other country, you travel internationally in the event that you leave your country of residence. What concerns transatlantic, transpacific or other between countries international travel, your best bet is a travel agency. The consolidators will offer you the best fare deals and can find you the very best schedules. Based on personal preferences, some might prefer talking to a travel agent, while some would want to do their own fare search online at their very own pace. There is absolutely no right or wrong choice here. As long as you find a flight and a fare that works for you personally, you succeed. HOW to find a travel agency or a good travel website Always use the travel agent or travel website that specializes in your travel destination or region. For example, if you want to fly from the US to Europe, seek out 'flights to Europe' or so. Usually online search provides you with best results. Check several websites or call several travel agents and compare the deals. NOTE, you might know plenty of huge agencies like Travelocity, Orbitz, etc. They could seem attractive to you because they're big and well known. However they will not always give you the best flight, hotel or cruise deals. They might be best for US domestic travel, however, not always for international travel. HOW and WHEN to search for best fares Where you will need a flight, hotel or perhaps a cruise, you must know how to find the very best fares and when to look for those. Suppose that you found a travel agent or travel website that specialized in your travel destination. 5 tips on How to Find your very best Travel Deal: Be Flexible. And discover lowest price, you might need to be flexible on travel dates, arrival/departure times, airlines, and sometimes destinations. In short, there are different price levels for every flight and the only real difference is the price and number of seats an airline assigns compared to that price level. Therefore, all depends on when you purchase a ticket, how popular is the destination, travel season (peak or low), and how full the flight gets. Book domestic travel tickets as soon as you can (this put on some international travel as well). Most domestic airlines have best fares with 21, 14, and 7 day advance purchase. This means that you might find lower fares when booking (= purchasing) a flight this many days before the flight. 'Play' with the search. This means that you have to be creative when looking for flights. Check flights couple days or weeks (if possible) earlier and later, check various airlines, different connections (an airline might have several hubs or fly with 1 or several connections), search based on price and try searching based on schedule (you will see different results). Check check here deals. If the purpose of your travel is vacation, instead of booking flights, hotel, and car rental separately, check on travel package rates. Sometimes your total package rate is leaner that if you book everything separately. Use miles or points when possible. Make an application for airline/ hotel/ car rental, etc. frequent traveler programs. They are FREE, and you will get lots of benefits. For example, I cannot remember the last time I paid for a accommodation when Hilton Hotel is in my destination. Check out hiltonhhonors.com website. Visit the airline, car rental, or hotel websites and sign up. The only disadvantage of using miles and points is you'll want to book your travel early as there's limited amount of seats for miles or points on the plane and they go fast. If you fail to decide whether to use an airline or perhaps a travel agent, here are several suggestions. AIRLINE vs. TRAVEL AGENT/AGENCY WEBSITE Advantages of booking a ticket having an airline: you are talking right to the carrier, the entity responsible for a flight it may take significantly less time to cope with the airline directly (if a realtor knows his/her job) airline customers representatives are usually open 24/7 Advantages of using travel agents or travel websites: lower negotiated (consolidator) fares more flight options; travel agents/travel websites search all possible airlines, not only one low fares available 24/7 considering that an agency has a online booking system Please submit your comments on how you find your best deals, and I shall be pleased to share them with the rest of the world. Good luck!Like it? Share it! More by this author |