With increasing personal and business needs to travel across cities, countries and continents, the air traffic is also growing. The demand for flights has increased manifold in the last few years, which has induced many players to enter the industry. New ideas, methods, technologies and management skills introduced by these entrants have changed the scenario of air travel. The onset of low-cost carriers (LCCs) has turned around market equations by breaking all the norms of pricing set by full-fledged airlines. Now, travellers can use this revolutionary mode of transportation at cheap air tickets offered by LCCs, especially on domestic routes. During festive seasons, they roll out deals and offers, which reduce the cost further. However, there are many tips, which help travellers in reserving seats at a lower cost throughout the year.
Myth Regarding the Magic Day
The price of air tickets change every hour; hence, travellers can get cheap flights to Pondicherry or any other destination in one moment or may have to pay quite high, just the next moment. Many researchers claim that reserving a seat exactly before 54 days of journey or getting a ticket at 3 am can assure the lowest cost; but is a myth. There is no such magic day or time and it is all about proper research and timing. However, it is true that booking in advance may reduce the cost to some extent, and if complemented with flash sale or any other special offer launched by carriers, it gets even lower.
Flexibility Matters
In the case of a business trip, it is impossible to change the date of journey, but those looking for a getaway or leisure trip can be flexible about travel dates. A huge difference in fares has been observed by frequent travellers in just one day or two. So while checking fares, it is advised to go through the prices on the next and previous days or two days in advance of the scheduled date. The traffic on weekends is quite high because of obvious reasons; hence, leisure tourists can plan trips on weekdays. Also, the price not only fluctuates everyday, but also changes every hour as some people hold the ticket by adding it to their cart and may decide to give up on it for the other one. This gives other people an opportunity to book the same ticket, especially during the sale period.
Email and SMS Alerts
If sitting in front of a computer or laptop is not possible and checking it on the phone every other hour hampers the work, the best thing to do is subscribe for alerts from travel portals. Dedicated websites provide email as well as SMS alerts in case any carrier launches an offer or the airfare drops. Most of the times, some useful information is provided. Expert travellers suggest keeping track of these alerts even if a person is not planning a trip in the near future because often these offers are for a future date.
Martin Wynn
