Cheapest Airline Tickets - How to locate Best Travel DealsPosted by Panduro Chen on May 23rd, 2021 So you are searching for cheap airline tickets, but not sure the place to start and how to find the best travel deals. The truth is that in order to find the cheapest flight fares and schedules you have to know when and where to look and how to search. Yes, it is that easy, and all you should know is several tricks. To begin with, do you need 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 searching for flights within the US, you might contact local US airlines or travel agencies or look up flights on the web travel search engine. Airlines compete among each other and they can provide 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 many 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 world. So, my advise is 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 just how much you purchase the ticket and that you've got a confirmed seat. Most smaller travel agencies have online only booking so they can save YOU money by eliminating staff salaries. More often than not 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 do not mind that, call your travel agent or best of all go online and check flights yourself. Should you be traveling within Europe, you should contact a travel agent or search online travel agents' websites first. In Europe local travel agencies and agencies outside Europe that specialize in 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 the US 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 very best bet is a travel agency. The consolidators will offer you the best fare deals and can find you the very best schedules. Depending on personal preferences, some might prefer talking to a travel agent, while some would want to do their very own fare search online at their own pace. There is no right or wrong choice here. So long as you find a flight and a fare that works for you, you succeed. Where to find a travel agency or a good travel website Always work with the travel agent or travel website that focuses on your travel destination or region. For instance, if you need to fly from the united states to Europe, seek out 'flights to Europe' or so. Usually online search will give you 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. But they will not always give you the best flight, hotel or cruise deals. They could be good 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 need to know how to find the best fares and when to search 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 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 buy a ticket, how popular is the destination, travel season (peak or low), and how full the flight gets. Book domestic travel tickets as early as you can (this put on some international travel aswell). Most domestic airlines have best fares with 21, 14, and 7 day advance purchase. Which means that you may find lower fares when booking (= purchasing) a flight this many days before the flight. 'Play' with the search. Which means that you should be creative when searching for flights. Check flights couple days or weeks (when possible) earlier and later, check various airlines, different connections (an airline may 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 travel package 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 lower that should 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 could get lots of benefits. For example, I cannot remember the final time I paid for a hotel room when Hilton Hotel is in my destination. Check out more info . Visit 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 number of seats for miles or points on the plane plus they go fast. If you cannot decide whether to utilize an airline or a travel agent, below are a few suggestions. AIRLINE vs. TRAVEL AGENT/AGENCY WEBSITE Benefits of booking a ticket having an airline: you are talking directly to the carrier, the entity responsible for a flight it may take significantly 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 only one low fares available 24/7 considering that an agency has a online booking system Please send in your comments on how you find your best deals, and I shall be happy to share them with all of those other world. Good luck!Like it? Share it! More by this author |