Travel

By Helen Hecker | Submitted On March 11, 2009

Nearly half of all travel airfare is booked online so it pays to look online to get cheap airfare. With a little bit of legwork you'll be able to come up with the lowest best airfare deal and often save hundreds of dollars on your airline tickets in the process.

First of all the three major travel sites will often have different prices for the same flight. So go the easy way to Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity and look up and compare prices side by side. If you don't have to fly at a specific time of day, try typing in different times for your arrival and departure. Be as open as you can and experiment a little. The airfares on the flights that are less popular will save you the most money. You should find significant savings and often a different price for each of the travel sites.

You can save even more money if you avoid the booking tools on the travel website's home page. Instead go to the search options box, Plug in more information such as airports located within a 50-mile or drivable distance. You can save a lot of money on your airfare and get it a lot cheaper if you're willing to be flexible.

Know what a ticket usually sells for. This may take a little research over time to come up with a good average price so you know what a good price for your airfare is when you see it.

Check to see if the discount airline Southwest Airlines flies on your route.

Start shopping for cheap airfare far ahead of time but don't book then, preferably three months ahead or so - airlines post their schedules from six to eleven months ahead of time. This will be information-gathering time.

Forget shopping and booking travel on weekends, the best time to shop and buy cheap airfare is late on Monday or early on Tuesday. Airlines will start their airfare sales on Sunday night or Monday morning. However other airlines usually match the airfares that are on sale by Monday evening so you have more options. The cheapest day to book airfare is Wednesday, followed by Tuesday and Saturday. Tuesday and Saturday can be good because the airlines are trying to fill seats because of the low demand for these days.

Airlines post airfare to the computer system that's used by the travel websites and travel agents, three times a day - 7:00 A.M. 9:30 A.M. and 5 P.M. Pacific time and on Saturday and Sunday at 2 P.M. also Pacific time. So make sure to have a fare in mind and check several times a day. Fares can change in an hour or two so if you see a price that you know is right make sure to book it right away.

Make sure to start shopping early. Know that fares will start to rise in some cases 14 days before a flight and for sure 7 to 10 days before your flight.

With these tips you should get off to a good start now that you know some of the secrets to how to get cheap airfare and finding the best airfare deal online. There are a few other trade secrets to learn also. Continue to do your research online and you'll save lots of money on your airline tickets and travel online when you fly.

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