Bargain Airline Tickets – Travel 1 or 2 Days Before or After
You can get bargain airline tickets for the holidays if you are flexible and patient and are able to travel one or two days before or after most holiday travelers take their flights, according to Rick Seaney, founder of air travel expert FareCompare.com.
As an example, Seaney cited fares for non-stop round-trip flights from Newark in New Jersey to Chicago in Illinois for Thanksgiving. He said that round-trip fares offered on the web site of Continental Airlines start at $378 for those returning on Sunday, but start at $251 for those who can wait and return on Monday.
Melanie Nayer of CheapFlights.com added that based on past online airline ticketing for the Thanksgiving travel, fliers who can take the risk and who can wait until the last hour can get the cheapest rates. She said that fares drop dramatically on web-based travel sites the day preceding Thanksgiving.
Seaney is also advising travelers to keep current with fare promotions and subscribe to alerts that provide updates on fares in real-time. FareCompare.com is one that provides real-time updates on fares, with its use of software systems able to make fare searches for various flight origins and destinations. It tracks 500 airlines that serve over 270,000 travel markets around the world.
One example of a fare promotion this week is the 72-hour fourth-quarter sale of Southwest Airlines. If you are reading this before October 29, you can still buy bargain airline tickets at amounts starting at $25 for one-way trips and just $100 for one-way trips more than 1,000 miles. These are tickets for trips from December 2 to December 16 and for parts of January and February.
If this promotion has expired, the information is still useful for you. This means that if you travel a lot, there are a lot of fare promotions that you can take advantage of if you just check reputable online air travel sites from time to time.
According to George Hobica, founder of airfarewatchdog.com, said that airline fares can change as often as 3 times in a 24-hour period for some routes, so signing up for alerts can result in a lot of savings for frequent travelers.
Nayer is also advising travelers to check their frequent flier benefits, as some airlines offer free baggage fees for members who have reached certain points.
All in all, buying bargain airline tickets entails a combination of flexibility and patience in keeping updated with promos and price changes.
