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How to score a bargain ticket
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It’s still possible to find cheap air fares
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Photo: Paul Noronha
Flying high After a good deal
With prices rising, the average cost of an airline ticket in the United States was up 10.2 per cent in March, compared with a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics — and with airlines raising fees on everything from ticket chan
ges to checked bags, it’s no wonder that a lot of travellers are talking about just staying home this summer.
But it’s still possible to score cheap airline tickets. Here are some strategies to help keep your costs down:
Book directly
Taking a page from the hotel industry, airlines have begun to guarantee equal or better prices to travellers who book with them directly. This helps drive traffic to their sites and save on commission expenses they would otherwise pay to third-party booking sites like Orbitz or Expedia. Moreover, some airlines — including Delta, American, United and Continental — are offering compensations like a $ 50 or $ 100 voucher for a future flight if passengers find an online fare lower than the one they are offering on their own sites for that flight.
Special coupons
Not unlike clothing chains that dole out special “family and friends” discounts to employees and repeat customers, airlines quietly offer special coupon codes to travellers who sign up for their weekly newsletters or frequent flier programmes.
Airfarewatchdog.com, which monitors such deals and posts the codes on its website, reports that it has noticed an increase in deals recently.
One at a time
Every flight normally has a range of price levels. Often, there are only a couple of coach seats offered at the lowest prices.
When you shop for multiple tickets, and there aren’t enough seats available at the lowest ticket price, the reservation system automatically kicks bookings up to the next price level.
“This happens all the time, as the ‘inventory’ systems for the airlines decide to start closing out cheap prices on a flight,”’ Rick Seaney, chief executive of Farecompare.com wrote in an e-mail message.
Make the computer work
If you don’t have the time or inclination to sift through dozens of airline newsletters for deals, you can sign up for fare alerts.
Nearly every online travel site these days, including Travelocity.com, Kayak.com, Orbitz.com and Expedia.com offers its own version.
Some airlines, including American, Southwest and WestJet, a Canadian airline, offer their own deal-alert software, which must be downloaded onto your desktop.
There is also a new website, Compete4yourseat.com, which encourages travel agents, who often negotiate contracts with airlines, to find you a low fare.
Travellers fill out a Trip Request Form on the home page and click Go. Once your request is bid on by a travel agent, you receive an e-mail message and can log in to view the deal.
Opt for packages
Travellers can often get a better deal with a vacation package instead of buying their airfare and hotel separately.
That’s because airlines and hotels are often more willing to offer deeper discounts when airfare prices are wrapped into a package.
That way, their competitors can’t see how much they’re slashing rates.
“Certain hotels allow me to provide greater discounts if creating a package,” said Jay Rein, president of Travelworm.com, an online travel agency that specialises in casino, resort and other leisure destinations.
“It’s sort of like when you go to Best Buy. You can buy individual stereo components or a big box with the receiver and speakers for one low price.”
You can often save by adjusting your travel dates by a day or two. Travel sites like Travelocity.com and Zuji.com offer flexible date searches that show the lowest airfare for your route as much as four months out.
To help evaluate prices, Kayak.com offers a trend chart (after a search), which shows whether prices for a particular flight have been going up, down or holding steady.
Farecompare.com displays the lowest published fare over the next 11 months for flights to more than 200,000 destinations.
If the prices are bouncing around by $100 or more a few times a month or more, make sure you buy on a downswing.
Farecompare.com shows a 30-day history bar chart so you can quickly check volatility.
Another site, Farecast.com, predicts whether prices will go up or down in the next week.
Go for it!
“If you see an airfare and it looks good to you, don’t shop — buy,” said Rein of Travelworm.com.
“It’s like wandering around the shopping mall. You can walk to the next store looking for a deal and the next, and by the time you walk back it might be gone.”
MICHELLE HIGGINS
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