Tips To Save When Booking Airfare

​Save Money On Airline Tickets

​Airline tickets can be very expensive and you’ll find that the prices can vary greatly.  You will want to consider some ways that you can save money, but you’ll also want to think about your options.  You need to know where to look and when to travel.  If you’re traveling for leisure, you’re likely buying your ticket well in advance.  As a result, the prices are set high early on, and then adjusted based on consumer response.  If you’re traveling for business, the prices are set relatively low, in advance. Business travelers who purchase their airline tickets last minute tend to pay the highest prices.  The best time to buy tickets is the beginning of the week.  ​The most expensive tickets tend to be booked on Thursdays and Fridays.  Airlines tend to evaluate available space on flights at the beginning of the week and adjust their prices accordingly. If a given flight is not selling many seats, the price of tickets will drop. This is why it is usually best to ​shop for tickets on a Monday or Tuesday.  It may not be the best idea to buy your airline ticket first thing on Monday morning.  Many airlines will not have had the chance to change their prices yet.  So, even though you’ll want to take advantage of good deals early in the week, you don’t want to be too early.  Wait until mid-to-late afternoon on a Monday or Tuesday to give airlines enough time to lower their prices.  Some have also reported finding the cheapest fares for economy and premium cabin travel are booked on a Sunday.  Once you know when you’re going to travel, you should try to buy your tickets between one and three months before the departure date.  Fares tend to be at their lowest about six weeks out from travel.  However, even if you can’t buy your tickets early, you can still find good deals.  Many airlines offer last minute deals on flights that are not sold out, though this is not always a reliable option.  Do you want to find cheap flights for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve?  The best day to book your domestic Thanksgiving flight is three weeks out.  Flight prices skyrocket for both domestic and international airfares a week before Thanksgiving.  To find a better deal, book your airline tickets four weeks before Christmas.  The best time to book cheap New Year’s Eve flights around the U.S. is two weeks before departure.  Also remember, flight prices fluctuate drastically depending on your departure and arrival days.  Usually those who have to stick to a ‘typical’ workweek schedule pay more.  Flights that depart Monday through Thursday morning, generally are cheaper.  The most expensive days to fly are Sunday and Friday.

Whether your going to Europe or just across the country to Florida, here are some good tips for finding and choosing a good charter flight to make sure you save plenty of money for your vacation.  A standard airline will have a set route between two cites.  The airline will fly a certain amount of times a week between two cities, and this remains constant regardless of the amount of passengers.  In other words normal airline routes function like bus routes, and sometimes there may only be a few people on the plane.  It is this need to average out costs – to be able to afford all those times when the plane is a third full – that leads to high airfares.
A charter company can offer cheaper fares by working in a different fashion.  They will charter an entire plane from an airline for a particular date and time, and thus receive a heavy discount on the cost. They can then pass some of this discount on to you by offering a lower per seat price for the flight.  Most charter companies operate along very common routes during peak times – for example, sunny vacation spots during the winter.  Charter fares will generally get cheaper as the departure date approaches.  There is a certain amount of risk.  A charter company can decide to cancel a flight if they haven’t sold enough tickets.  If your charter flight is cancelled you’ll either be receiving a refund, or waiting at least a day or two for another charter – which of course can ruin any vacation.  So if you’re flexible and willing to buy a ticket on short notice, you can find many excellent airfares from charter companies, making charter flights one of the more popular discount traveling methods.

When it comes to cheap airline tickets, you'll need to consider the source.  You'll find advertisements on media outlets and online claiming to have the cheapest flights.  Finding cheap airline tickets has become almost like an art. You'll find that there are ways to get cheaper flight tickets, but it will take some work.
One source you can still go to is a travel agent.  If you're traveling internationally, to a part of the world you have never been before, they are a good option.  Travel agents are able to use their connections to make things happen.  Some travel agents offer package deals, with more savings passed on to you than booking the trip on your own.   You'll also find that it can be just as quick and easy if you go online and do it yourself.  Keep in mind that you'll need to compare some of the fares, but you'll also want to look at the packages and even the tickets that you are thinking about. You'll find that there are a lot of traveling options that will affect whether you get a reasonable price or a higher price.  Direct flights tend to be a lot more than if you were to have a layover or connecting flight.  You may also find that there are times when you just don't have a lot of options.  If you can't find options you may need to change your arrival and departure dates or times in order to get cheaper tickets.   Of course the cheapest flight tickets you can get would be free.  The way to do this is with a travel rewards credit card.  Travel credit cards earn points (sometimes called miles) each time you buy something.  Your points accumulate in a rewards account, where you can use them to pay for travel.  Three of the top travel rewards credit cards are:  Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.  Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card.  The Platinum Card® from American Express. 
​To get the cheapest airline tickets available, do your research and try to be adaptable.