When you book flights, are you dead sure you’re getting the cheapest ticket possible? Contrary to what you think, most people end up purchasing tickets for well above the price they need to pay to get to their destination. Independently booking your tickets online is definitely the way to go, so lets look at 3 great methods you need to follow to bottom out your price:
Step One: Website selection. You can rest assured that most of the “big name” sites scour the same database, and have roughly similar prices. You should give these sites a shot:
(.com)
Travelocity
Priceline
Expedia
Orbitz
And make absolutely sure you visit the “king” of ticket searchers, Kayak (.com)
Checking your dates on each site for your trip will honestly take no more than five to ten minutes. In this 5 minutes you can save hundreds of dollars.
Step 2: Consider your dates.
It’s pretty much a no-brainer to book as far ahead as you can. The closer you get to your departure the more expensive the ticket, but you probably already knew that. However, you strongly need to think about what day of the week you’re flying out and in on. Monday through thursday will definitely be the cheapest dates - If you can slide the schedule of your flights back and forth even a day, it can be the difference between a 500 dollar and an 800 dollar ticket. No joke.
Also, are you traveling internationally? Make sure you look up local and national holidays of the country you’re visiting! If you’re flying in on a local holiday when everyone and their mother is going to have tickets booked, prices will be sky high.
Step 3: This will save you at least 10 dollars, and most people don’t even know about it. The big airline discounters you searched on usually ALWAYS tack on a 10 dollar “service” fee to beef up their revenues. Once you find the right flight with them, simply visit the .com website of the airline that’s scheduling that route, and book through their website. Instant Savings for 45 seconds of effort. Not bad huh?