Hunting out the best airfare prices might seem a little daunting when you consider all of the options that are on offer to you.
How to compare all of the different options, comparing "apples to apples" so to speak can be quite mind boggling.
Some of the price determining factors you will be faced with when comparing the best air fare prices are:
Factors that effect your ability to acquire the lowest airline ticket prices
-Time of travel (season)
-Date of travel (season and event considerations)
-Day of the week you depart and return (choosing the day of the week can make hundreds of dollars of difference to your fare)
-Length of stay (airlines don't advertise what suits them as they want to pay full fares if possible)
-Where you stay (hotels and airlines have reward systems for each other - again this isn't common public knowledge)
-Seat disbursement & oversell (another airline term that you won't have heard of that determines whether you pay premium or discounted best airfare prices)
These are just a few of the considerations you'll be making when searching online or with your travel agent.
No matter whether you are booking online or with an agency there are a few critical points that can save you hundreds - even a thousand dollars in some cases on airfares and hotel deals.
Do's and dont's to save you hundreds on the best airfare prices:
Do:
-Travel over a weekend if you can, airlines like you to stay for weekends at a destination, especially a Saturday. When searching for online airfares, include a weekend in your dates, this can make a difference to airfare pricing.
-Use wholesale websites, there are a bunch of websites unknown to the general public where you can pick up the wholesale flights travel agencies bid on (airline employees know what these are but can't tell you)
-Be prepared to stay an extra night in an uncommon destination - deferring even for one extra stop off in a non so common city sometimes helps the airlines to fill seating gaps during peak periods. There are even tricks that mean you can get free airline paid accommodation in these destinations if you know how and who to ask.
-Book one way flights, sometimes this can save you a huge amount, if you think outside the box and try a different route made up of one way flights to your destination. It's a common assumption that it's cheaper to book one flight all that way to where you want to go but is can be cheaper to book different legs and include a Saturday (or other airline favored day) and save further on airfare prices.
Don't:
-Assume travelling a direct route is the cheapest. Some of the most interesting destinations are "off the map" and you can take massive advantage of the many nuances & gaps in the way airlines fill flights to get the very best airfare prices.
-Book any hotels until you know which airline you are booking with. Many times booking with a particular airline and stopping over means you can get free accommodation.
-Buy tickets without checking wholesale website fares. You can avoid paying agent (middle man) booking fees with no extra effort.
There are many ways you can bypass many of the consumer or retail on and offline methods airfare sellers use to promote what look like low prices. Many travel companies claim to be offering the best airfare prices, and this is true if you are comparing these with what every other retail paying traveller is paying.
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Still the Best Option for Great Deals on Airline Tickets
If you wanted to purchase an airline ticket many years ago, you'd have no choice but to go to the airport direct to or to a travel agency to get your tickets. These options are still available of course, but nowadays you have several other options open to you, including buying your tickets over the telephone, or going on the internet to buy them.
These are modern times and everyone is looking for convenience. Time seems to be short for many people today, so to be able to make the best of what time you do have is essential for some. With the newer options you have, you can even organise your tickets while sitting in the comfort of your armchair at home.
It's just as well that you have more convenient ways to purchase airline tickets these days, because buying them direct from the airport when you arrived certainly wasn't ideal. For a start you would have to wait in a queue, not even knowing if there are actually any spare seats, or whether you will need to be put on a waiting list. If you're short of time to begin with, you certainly won't appreciate wasting what little time you do have wandering around the airport until you get lucky.
Going to a travel agency is still quite a good option, because they can access many different flights with different airlines directly on their computer while you're sitting there. They will be more than happy to help find you the best flight available for your circumstances. You might even be able to save some money because travel agencies can often get great deals which you might not know about.
Travel agencies obviously have a working relationship with the main airlines and so they will often be the first to know about any specials which may be available. Don't think you can necessarily get the same deal yourself by looking on the internet either, because that's often not the case. Going on the internet can be a great option however if you know which websites to look at. Unfortunately there are so many websites you will be hard pushed to know which to look at and you may well waste a lot of time going around in circles.
These are modern times and everyone is looking for convenience. Time seems to be short for many people today, so to be able to make the best of what time you do have is essential for some. With the newer options you have, you can even organise your tickets while sitting in the comfort of your armchair at home.
It's just as well that you have more convenient ways to purchase airline tickets these days, because buying them direct from the airport when you arrived certainly wasn't ideal. For a start you would have to wait in a queue, not even knowing if there are actually any spare seats, or whether you will need to be put on a waiting list. If you're short of time to begin with, you certainly won't appreciate wasting what little time you do have wandering around the airport until you get lucky.
Going to a travel agency is still quite a good option, because they can access many different flights with different airlines directly on their computer while you're sitting there. They will be more than happy to help find you the best flight available for your circumstances. You might even be able to save some money because travel agencies can often get great deals which you might not know about.
Travel agencies obviously have a working relationship with the main airlines and so they will often be the first to know about any specials which may be available. Don't think you can necessarily get the same deal yourself by looking on the internet either, because that's often not the case. Going on the internet can be a great option however if you know which websites to look at. Unfortunately there are so many websites you will be hard pushed to know which to look at and you may well waste a lot of time going around in circles.
The Best Travel Deal Out There
In 1999 I made a lot of wrong predictions. I predicted that most computer systems would fail at the end of the year. I predicted that Madonna would grow old gracefully. I predicted that the Dow Jones industrial average, which closed above 11,000 in May of that year, would rise to over 20,000 over the next five years.
I was never very good with predictions.
I was also wrong about Tracey. She's a travel agent. And a really good one. I first met her in 1999. The year that the online travel Web site Expedia.com was spun off from Microsoft. At the time she worked in one of those travel agency chains with outlets in malls. As the Web grew in popularity back in the '90s and sites like Expedia and Travelocity came on the scene I thought that that was it for poor Tracey. She'd be out of the travel business and looking for something with better, longer-term prospects. Like an Internet company or a savings and loan.
But Tracey was no dummy. Sure, her fashion taste was limited to Reebock pumps and cargo pants. She liked Cher. She watched "Dawson's Creek." But she was better at predicting things than I was. Her professional sense was a lot more accurate. She knew something I didn't: People are too busy to do everything themselves. Especially penny-pinching business owners.
She was right. Tracey stayed in the travel business. She's done well. The travel agency she worked for grew in popularity, despite the online services that came about around her.
How is this possible? Aren't there good travel related websites for business owners? Sure.
For example, TripAdvisor.com and Igougo.com are great sites to find out people's reviews of hotels and destinations. To get cheap airfares, you'll want to check out Travelocity.com, Airfarewatchdog.com and Bookingbuddy.com. To get good rates on rooms go to Dealbase.com, Hotwire.com and Priceline.com. Other sites like Kayak.com and Farecast.com bring this stuff together and compare rates from all over.
So with all these great sites available, it seems like the best thing a penny pincher can do is go online to get the best deals, right? Wrong. Because when people ask me the best way to save money on travel I always say the same thing: Call Tracey.
Life has become more complicated. We can't be experts in everything. It's not just about time. It's about time and money. Both have huge value. And penny pinchers understand this.
They understand that travel agents really know what they're doing. And we, for the most part, don't. We don't know the routes that well. We don't know the system. We're not travel professionals. We run businesses. We make sure shipments get out the door. We complain about the economy. When it comes time to look for the best airfare or a great deal on a hotel room we're not familiar enough with the industry to know where to go. Travel agents do this for a living. We lean on them for advice.
I was never very good with predictions.
I was also wrong about Tracey. She's a travel agent. And a really good one. I first met her in 1999. The year that the online travel Web site Expedia.com was spun off from Microsoft. At the time she worked in one of those travel agency chains with outlets in malls. As the Web grew in popularity back in the '90s and sites like Expedia and Travelocity came on the scene I thought that that was it for poor Tracey. She'd be out of the travel business and looking for something with better, longer-term prospects. Like an Internet company or a savings and loan.
But Tracey was no dummy. Sure, her fashion taste was limited to Reebock pumps and cargo pants. She liked Cher. She watched "Dawson's Creek." But she was better at predicting things than I was. Her professional sense was a lot more accurate. She knew something I didn't: People are too busy to do everything themselves. Especially penny-pinching business owners.
She was right. Tracey stayed in the travel business. She's done well. The travel agency she worked for grew in popularity, despite the online services that came about around her.
How is this possible? Aren't there good travel related websites for business owners? Sure.
For example, TripAdvisor.com and Igougo.com are great sites to find out people's reviews of hotels and destinations. To get cheap airfares, you'll want to check out Travelocity.com, Airfarewatchdog.com and Bookingbuddy.com. To get good rates on rooms go to Dealbase.com, Hotwire.com and Priceline.com. Other sites like Kayak.com and Farecast.com bring this stuff together and compare rates from all over.
So with all these great sites available, it seems like the best thing a penny pincher can do is go online to get the best deals, right? Wrong. Because when people ask me the best way to save money on travel I always say the same thing: Call Tracey.
Life has become more complicated. We can't be experts in everything. It's not just about time. It's about time and money. Both have huge value. And penny pinchers understand this.
They understand that travel agents really know what they're doing. And we, for the most part, don't. We don't know the routes that well. We don't know the system. We're not travel professionals. We run businesses. We make sure shipments get out the door. We complain about the economy. When it comes time to look for the best airfare or a great deal on a hotel room we're not familiar enough with the industry to know where to go. Travel agents do this for a living. We lean on them for advice.
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