With the plethora of routes and airliners, it can be little tricky to find the best way to book cheap flight tickets, here are a few nifty tips to help you in the endeavor. Generally, the best time to book a ticket is as soon as the airliners release them as the prices increase closer to the departure date.
Figure out which airliners fly on which route
Most people base their research around flight fares, but if you want a more comprehensive overview on which flight flies to which airport you should check out this site called flightmapping.com. The site allows you to see what your options are and it is an extremely comprehensive in terms of the flights and airports covered. You cannot do a booking on the site, but you can click on links that will redirect you to booking site of the airliner.
Price comparison sites
In theory, price comparison sites are the easiest way to find the cheapest flight ticket. You get to see the fares from several online travel sites for your route on a single screen. However, they can be misleading. Firstly, these sites do not pick fares from all airlines flying in the route.
Secondly, the price shown by price comparison sites is sometimes not inclusive of all the taxes and surcharges. The reason is that price comparison sites can't reflect variable charges that incur with different credit cards and check in baggage charges for different airliners. Not withstanding these issues, price comparison sites are a useful guide, as long as you recognize their limitations.
Check a wide range of dates
All major travel search sites have a flexible search function. Travelocity lets you search for the lowest fare for trip across several months which it will indicate it as green on the calendar. Make sure you click all the way through to the booking page while researching on the lowest fare calendar. This is because the calendar is not updated frequently and might show sold out dates as available.
Orbitz has an option to search for the cheapest flight ticket over a weekend;you can search for fares +3 days or -3 days from the date you picked. This can be a good way to locate a cheaper fare,especially when it doesn't take too much of a difference in your travel plans.
Watch for the hidden extras
Several online travel sites tempt you to buy insurance and other extras like cabin bag. Ryanair is infamous for these tactics and you should go through the booking process carefully to eliminate these extras.
Don't waste money on change fees
Even if there is a slight chance that your plans may change and you might need to cancel the ticket, book directly with the airlines. Several online travel sites charge for a flight change on top of the $100 cancellation fee.
Nguyen An Tra My
Martin Wynn
