If AmEx has a hit man out for you and you’ve got to scram on the cheap and
fast before they put a lien on your juice box funds we can help.
If you are a delicate flower who requires only the most tender
treatment in first class we can also get you there. Here’s how:
Thing No. 1 Know the online sites.
A) If you’re a frequent flyer who is willing to
pay a
little bit to get access to the best information and rates try
Expertflyer.com. It gets you into every airline’s stockroom,
access to all the fares and upgrades that airlines don’t publicize.
Pricing starts at $4.99 a month and rather than sell directly they point
you to the best option.
B) cFares.com is another paid service ($50 a year) that gives you
access to the 20 percent of airfares that wholesalers offer at a
discount. Wholesale fares average between $25 and $50 lower than public
fares so it pays off after a couple buys. cFares will also set up
a persistent search on a particular flight and put a 24-hour hold if it
meets your price. That’s better than Priceline because you don’t
get blindly locked into a bad flight option since it just holds the
option till you decide if you want to buy.
C) There are other free travel meta-search engines (that’s what these sites are called).
Check out Sidestep.com for travel in the U.S. and Mobissimo.com for
international travel. They check all the discount sites like Orbitz or
Expedia and tons more. They just don’t have unique features like
wholesale access, upgrade search or persistent search like expertflyer
or cFares.
D) Check out Groople.com if you’re traveling as a group. It has
some nifty group organization features for taking care of all the
rugrats heading to Mickeyland or your college goon-buddies getting your
Swingers thing on in Vegas.
E) One other interesting option is Farecast.com. It predicts the
best time to buy for the best fare based on historical pricing.
If you have flexibility it’s a great little tool.
Thing No. 2 The other stuff.
A) Many discount sites are sold a handful of tickets
at a deep discount. Since these are limited, it’s usually better
to search for a smaller number of tickets.
B) Keep in mind that tickets bought through discount
sites are usually non-refundable and non-transferable, so if you think
there’s a chance that you’ll have to change your trip details at all,
you’re better off going through the airline directly.
C) Discount sites usually sell their highest priced
tickets 14 days before travel. New prices are usually released on
Wednesdays so you are likely to get the best deal between midnight and
5AM. If you have the luxury of choosing when to travel, try to
avoid the peak months of June, July, and wintertime between Christmas
and New Years. But, since almost all of us are searching for
flights for those times, the more flexible you can be with your dates,
as well as the earlier in advance you can book, the better your rates
will be. Also, traveling on weekdays can save you some cash.
D) After you have found the lowest price offered, go directly to the airline website that is offering that flight. Sometimes the ticket will be just as inexpensive from the airline and often they give you more flexibility than if you buy through a clearinghouse.