Want to travel by plane but don’t want to spend too expensively on your airfare? Well, you better keep your eyes peeled for low-fare promos being offered by various airline companies. As you take advantage of these offers, you’ll be able to fly to your destination without breaking the bank.
But wait, before excitedly jumping on the cheap deals you spot online, you have several things to consider first.
Take it from George Hobica, founder of travel website Airfarewatchdog.com, who said:
“Sometimes you’ll find lower prices, but don’t assume when any airline announces a sale that’s the best deal. Sometimes there are even lower prices lurking in the reservation system.”
So if you want to learn the tips and tricks of getting the most for your budget, read these reminders from Hobica and FareCompare’s Rick Seaney.
- Wait until the afternoon of the first day of sale.
Of course, it can be easy to get all too excited and reserve your seats immediately when you see them on sale. However, that might not be the wisest thing to do. According to Rick Seaney, it is usually better to wait until the afternoon of the first day of sale – which is usually a Tuesday or a Thursday. By doing that, you’ll probably end up with better offers. Besides, other airline companies will try to match the offers of their competitors.
As Seaney shared, “You really don’t want to shop until the afternoon on Tuesday because you want to give the other airlines time to match it. That’s when you’ll see the maximum number of seats available.”
- Take advantage of fare calendars and alerts.
This might sound surprising to some but there are indeed instances when, for some reason, the cheapest airfare deals are left unadvertised.
“When they have a sale it’s usually over a longer period, but you might find a short-term deal on a flight leaving next week,” explained Hobica. “The airlines every day have unadvertised price reductions, mainly when there are only a few seats available.”
For this reason, you may want to utilize fare calendars on airline websites so you can stay updated about low fare prices.
“People need to realize a fare can go down unadvertised any day of the week and they often beat the sale prices. People shouldn’t take advertised sale as gospel that that’s the rock bottom price,” added Hobica.
- When traveling as a group, try to book tickets one or two at a time.
Why do you ask? Well, there are instances when system glitches prevent discounts from showing up when you are booking a flight for, say, four passengers. But when you book one or two tickets at a time, then you’ll see the advertised cheaper rates.
As Seaney tells us “It’s a weird glitch in reservation systems. Try shopping for one and if you see that sale price, you know there’s a few cheaper seats available. You can split the ticket so maybe two in the family get the sale price.”
source: travelertips.org