How to Get Cheap Airfare

Traveling and experiencing other cultures is an essential part of a deeply fulfilled life. Especially for outdoor enthusiasts, visiting other parts of the country and the world and experiencing what they have to offer is one of the greatest pleasures possible. Unfortunately, extensive travel can be hard on the wallet. With some planning and research, you can save quite a bit of money on airfare and use it for more important things, like a season ski pass in the Alps or a new tent for camping in Ireland.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Step 1

Plan to take your trips at less popular times of the year. You'll save money on airfare and be able to explore many places without interference from crowds and large group tours. Generally, try to avoid flying during the summer months and the weeks around Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Step 2

Choose to travel on the days that are less expensive. Pick departure and return dates so that you will be flying on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Tuesdays, as these tend to be the least expensive days (see reference 1). With that said, try to keep your dates flexible, because you can often save even more by moving your trip up or back by a day or two.

Step 3

Check low-priced flight finders such as Priceline.com, Expedia.com, Travelocity.com, and Orbitz.com. If you are going to be flying internationally, try CheapFlights.com/International. These will often show you good fares, and will give you a good idea of where to start your in-depth research.

Step 4

Call the airlines where you found the lowest prices online and ask them if they have any specials or lower rates. If you're the negotiating type, you can even play airlines off each other by telling one that you found a lower rate elsewhere and asking if they can beat it (it never hurts to throw in a few complimentary words about how you much prefer this airline).

Step 5

Go to the Web sites of the least expensive airlines you found in the previous step, and do a search on the individual airlines' own Web sites. The flight finders will generally find the lowest-priced airlines, but there are often less expensive flights available directly from the airlines that don't show up on the secondary sites.

Step 6

Check the fares for several airports within a reasonable distance of your home base. For example, if you are going to fly to San Francisco, California, you should check the fares not only to San Francisco, but also to Oakland and San Jose. This applies especially when you are going to be renting a car anyway, because it means a couple of hours of driving time may allow you to pay a lot less for your plan tickets.

Step 7

Ask the person checking you in for your flight if there are upgrades available. If there are unused seats, you may get to enjoy a first class ride for very little extra money, or even for free.

Tips & Warnings

Be persistent. It can be frustrating to spend an hour or more comparing times, number of stops, length of layovers and ticket prices, but the Internet has made it a lot easier to do your homework. And when you end up with an extra couple of hundred dollars to spend on your vacation, you'll find it well worth while.

Article Written By Morgan O'Connor

Morgan O'Connor has been writing professionally since 2005. Her experience includes articles on various aspects of the health-insurance industry for health-care newsletters distributed to hospitals as well as articles on both international and domestic travel.

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