Searching for Airfares Doesn't Have to Be a Gamble

FILE - In this file photo taken Oct. 11, 2010, Aan American Airlines airplane takes off at Miami International Airport in Miami. Searching for airfares often seems like a game passengers are set up to lose. Prices change from day to day, even minute to minute. Scouring multiple websites for the best deal can be overwhelming. And after you book, there's no guarantee that you got the best price.(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Prices change from day to day, even minute to minute. Scouring multiple websites for the best deal can be overwhelming. And after you book, there's no guarantee that you got the best price.

"You just don't know when to pull the trigger. It's not like buying anything else I can think of," said George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com.

Harriet Levy paid $179 for a recent round-trip flight on American Airlines between New York and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Sitting just one row behind her, Shirley Harrison paid $215. A few rows back, Ellis and Dianne Traub paid $317 each. There were at least 12 fares on the flight, ranging from $169 to $360.

"There's no rhyme or reason to it," Harrison said.

Fares can fluctuate significantly in just a few hours. One Delta flight from New York to Los Angeles jumped from $755 to $1,143 from a Friday to Saturday in late April, then fell to $718 on Sunday.

The flight was one of a dozen The Associated Press tracked over three months for a July 16-22 vacation. The No. 1 finding: Avoid booking tickets on weekends. It's the most expensive time to buy.

There's no way to guarantee the best fare. But before booking, travelers should heed this additional advice:

— Book on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. That's when airlines most often offer sales.

— Buy in advance, but not too early. The best time is four to six weeks before traveling. In general, prices for any given flight are highest eight to 10 weeks and two to three weeks in advance.

— Embrace social media. Airlines are giving more benefits, like exclusive sales, to travelers who interact with them on Twitter and Facebook . Those specials are often gone within hours.

— The so-called discount airlines — JetBlue, AirTran, Southwest and Frontier — adjust their fares less frequently than other airlines, so you can feel more confident locking in a price. But their prices aren't always the lowest. Researching multiple airlines' fares is the only way to get a good deal.

Tricks To Get The Cheapest Airline Tickets | Travel information ...

If you have ever wanted to get extremely cheap airline tickets then the one thing you should not do is book your tickets online. What most people get roped into doing is booking their tickets online and although that will save you and the airline some time there is no way to get better deals than what is actually posted.

What I suggest is not to skip the whole online booking process but instead modify what you do and make it work to your advantage. What you need to understand is that using the internet is just going to give you a foundation to work from and then you can use that knowledge in order to save money on your ticket.

The first thing you need to understand is that in order to get cheap airline tickets you will have to look around online and find the cheapest prices, my guess is the cheapest price you will find will be on the actual airlines website but every once and a while there will be a slightly cheaper price. When you have finally found the cheapest flight you need to pull all the information together and have it readily available for when you call the airline directly.

The entire reason for calling the airline is to ask them for a discount, the problem with booking online is there is never a person that talks to you and so you can't ask for a discount that way. Have you ever heard those rumors about the ticket personnel giving a really good discount to another person? This is why you need to call, if you can talk to one of these people then the chances of you getting a great deal are much more likely.

When it comes to getting a cheap airline ticket you need to make sure you are always booking over the phone because that is where the ticketing personnel are. My suggestion would be to get to know a few of the people if you fly a lot that way the next time you need a cheap ticket you can call one of the ticketing personnel directly and get your discounted ticket much faster. Trust me, when it comes to getting extremely cheap airline tickets this is the way to go about it.

When it comes to getting airline tickets the first thing you need to know is that you have to do all the work. Most people think getting cheap airline tickets won't happen for them but the truth is that there are a bunch of cheap tickets out there.

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