Cheapest Airline Tickets - How to get Best Travel DealsPosted by Panduro Chen on May 22nd, 2021 So you are in the market for cheap airline tickets, however, not sure where to start and how to find the very best travel deals. The truth is that in order to find the least expensive flight fares and schedules you have to know when and where to look and how exactly to search. Yes, it is that easy, and all you should know is several tricks. To start with, do you need a domestic or a global 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 US, you might contact local US airlines or travel agencies or research flights on the web 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. Here is the truth... lately several airlines and many large and popular travel agencies started having some issues and several airline banned those huge agencies from selling their flight tickets. Therefore, small and specialized agencies still do have excellent contracts with major airlines of the world. So, my advise is to look who gets the best flight deal, not at the size of the agency or the popularity. At the end of your day, it matters just how much you purchase the ticket and that you have a confirmed seat. Most smaller travel agencies have online only booking so they can save YOU money through the elimination of staff salaries. Quite often travel agencies use the same fares as airlines offer (unless negotiated better rates), but usually with 0 commission. Since agencies need to survive, they are forced to add a small service fee at the top of the ticket price. If you don't mind that, call your travel agent or on top of that go online and check flights yourself. In case 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 specialize in international travel will have low fares because they use very low so called consolidator fares. This is nothing else, but negotiated contracts with airlines to market special very low priced airline tickets. International Travel Whether you live in the US or other country, you travel internationally if you leave your country of residence. What concerns transatlantic, transpacific or other between countries international travel, your very 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 no right or wrong choice here. So long as you look for a flight and a fare that works for you personally, you succeed. How you can find a travel agency or perhaps a good travel website Always use the travel agent or travel website that focuses on your travel destination or region. For example, if you need to fly from the US to Europe, search for 'flights to Europe' or so. Usually online search provides you with best results. Check several websites or call several travel companies and compare the deals. NOTE, you might know lots 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 could be good for US domestic travel, but not always for international travel. HOW and WHEN to search for best fares Where you need a flight, hotel or perhaps a cruise, you should know how to find the very best fares and when to consider those. Suppose that you found a travel agent or travel website that specialized in your travel destination. 5 tips about how to Find your Best Travel Deal: Be Flexible. And discover lowest price, you may want to be flexible on travel dates, arrival/departure times, airlines, and sometimes destinations. In read more , there are different prices for every flight and the only real difference may be the price and amount of seats an airline assigns compared to that price level. Therefore, all hangs on when you buy 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 applied to some international travel as well). Most domestic airlines have best fares with 21, 14, and 7 day advance purchase. Therefore you might find lower fares when booking (= purchasing) a flight this a number of days before the flight. 'Play' with the search. Because of this you need 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 predicated on price and try searching predicated on schedule (you will see different results). Check travel package offers. If the goal of your travel is vacation, instead of booking flights, hotel, and car rental separately, check up on travel package rates. Sometimes your total package rate is leaner that if you book everything separately. Use miles or points when possible. Apply for airline/ hotel/ car rental, etc. frequent traveler programs. They're FREE, and you may get lots of benefits. For example, I cannot remember the final time I paid for a hotel room when Hilton Hotel is in my own destination. Have a look at hiltonhhonors.com website. Go to the airline, car rental, or hotel websites and subscribe. The only real 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 plus they go fast. If you fail to decide whether to use an airline or perhaps a travel agent, below are a few suggestions. AIRLINE vs. TRAVEL AGENT/AGENCY WEBSITE Advantages of booking a ticket having an airline: you are talking directly to the carrier, the entity responsible for a flight it may take much less time to deal with the airline directly (if a realtor knows his/her job) airline customers representatives are often 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 just one low fares available 24/7 considering that an agency has a online booking system Please submit your comments on how you discover your best deals, and I will be pleased to share them with all of those other world. Good luck!Like it? Share it! More by this author |