How to Compare Airfare Tickets

Compare the best flights for your next trip. (Photo: airplane image by Christine F Saulnier from Fotolia.com )

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The Internet has brought airfare searches to our fingertips, but when comparing airline tickets, the staggering amount of information available is overwhelming. It s often difficult to know which websites are the best or what tactics will yield the very best fares. Often the answer depends on what type of tickets you are searching for. Knowing the best way to compare tickets can help you get the best fares for your travel plans, with a little planning and organized research.

Step 1

Determine your travel plans. The way you compare airfare tickets will largely depend on several factors: where you are traveling (domestic or international, major hub or remote area); your budget (are you looking for the cheapest ticket, or are direct flights and convenient schedules more important to you); and, perhaps most importantly, your travel dates. If your travel dates can be flexible, you will have much wider options when conducting your airfare search.

Step 2

Know when to search. Early Wednesday morning is usually the best time to look, advises Keith Hajovsky, a travel consultant. The airlines typically dump all their unused reservations for sale-priced tickets from the previous weekend back into the system at midnight on Tuesdays.

Step 3

Begin your search on the best aggregator websites. These are the major travel search engines that access thousands of flights from most airlines to return the most comprehensive results. The top aggregator sites are Kayak.com, Wego.com, Momondo.com and Skyscanner.com. No website can honestly claim to find every single possible flight or the best possible fare every time, says Hajovsky. You should always search at least two or three of the best aggregators; there is a lot of overlap in the results, but each searches a different set of websites.

Consider revising your dates or airports to expand results. If you have any flexibility in your dates, selecting a range such as 2 days before and after can greatly affect ticket prices; the same flight just one day before may be significantly cheaper. Also, you might consider searching surrounding airports; most major cities around the world have several airports, and often the low-cost airlines fly into smaller hubs. This can expand your choices and possibly save a lot of money.

Search individual airline sites. Using the results from the aggregators, search for your preferred flights at each airline s own website. Occasionally the fares will be slightly lower there, or there may be more flexible ticketing options or upgrades available. Also, if you use frequent flyer programs, you want to ensure that you book your ticket using your account number to receive mile credits and any benefits.