Locating Air Travel Deals
Especially during the holiday travel season, finding the best air travel deals can help you create lifelong memories of special places with friends, family, and loved ones. Sometimes, the difference between an impossible dream and an affordable getaway is as simple as saving money on an airline ticket. If you know the right places to look and you follow a couple of other tips, you can find the air travel deal that can perfectly fit your needs.
The Best Internet Tools
Ever since the introduction of Expedia.com and Travelocity.com, more and more travelers have been turning to the Internet to find air travel deals and other money-saving travel information. But now there are many other tools at the traveler's disposal. If you are searching for a steal on a spontaneous, last-minute weekend getaway, try—what else?—LastMinute.com to locate deals on underbooked air travel options and special weekend air travel and hotel deals. Other sites that do instant comparisons among airlines and other search engines include AirFare.com, Mobissimo.com, and Kayak.com. Often, by using these "super-search" sites, you can locate air travel deals that Expedia.com and Travelocity.com overlook. They also return results for airlines that the "prime" travels sites do not feature.
Off-Peak = Air Travel Deal Savings
Traveling at off-peak hours, such as very late at night or very early in the morning, can often help you to significant savings in air travel deals. By traveling when most other travelers are sleeping, you can capitalize on often-underbooked flights that the airlines are eager to fill—often to the point of making significant pricing concessions in order to do so. If your travel plans include enough flexibility to take advantage of off-peak departure times, don't forget to include this in your search parameters while you're looking for air travel deals.
A Day here, a Day there
If you have some flexibility in departure dates—a day or two on either side of your primary target dates—this can also be a way to capture favorable air travel deals. Especially if you can plan your travel to span a weekend, many air travel deals will become cheaper in price. Be sure to include these "flex" days in your search parameters to allow the power of the Internet maximum room to work for you.
Beware the Restrictions!
As the saying goes, "There's no such thing as a free lunch," and this is true for air travel deals, as well. In exchange for deeply discounted fares, you generally give up the ability to make last-minute changes in your itinerary, except for the most dire circumstances. Be sure you check out the restrictions and other limitations; it's in the fine print that usually appears just before you click the "buy" button.
