One of the most important things you need to consider when planning a trip is booking airline tickets.
Your whole itinerary of the things you want to see and do may be affected by this decision alone.
Especially when you’re traveling across the world to another time zone and you lose some precious sleep hours.
And see, traveling to me requires some level of commitment and yes, doing your homework well in advance, for it to be the life-changing experience it can be.
At least for my kind of travel, cultural travel that can transform the world by changing our way of thinking.
Ok, ok… enough with the inspiring stuff, let’s get down to business!
Basic rules for booking airline tickets
Airline tickets do change in price according to the date (sometimes even the hour), the conditions (Refundable? Transferable?), the destination, the airline and some other factors.
Prices can change during the very same week, depending on the day. You could spend hundreds of dollars more buying airline tickets for a Friday, instead of a Thursday.
Contrary to what most may believe, Saturdays are not necessarily more expensive. And the price can change from weekend to weekend.
On a regular airline, around 10% of the seats are the cheapest. The other 90% have up to eight different levels of pricing, according to Rick Seaney, from FareCompare.com
Cheap airlines are cheaper for various reasons, obviously they cut back on many expenses, like having numbered seats, printing out your boarding pass or even having a counter at the airport.
Leaving the task of buying airline tickets for the last minute will most likely leave you with unnecessarily expensive flights (though if you’re flexible, sometimes you can find amazing bargains!)
Research early, buy later
First and foremost, start researching early. Not buying just yet, but researching different websites so that you can start spotting trends.
To be quite honest with you, in all my years of travel I have not, to this point identified a consistent trend that works every time.
The best thing for me is to check regularly and when I see that the price drops, then I may decide that it’s time to purchase.
How early? 6 to 4 months in advance. You may end up purchasing around 3 months in advance or even one month prior.
The exception is high demand holidays like Christmas or Thanksgiving. You may want to purchase tickets even earlier than six months prior to lock the price.
There are many travel websites where you can research flights like Priceline.com, Expedia.com, Travelocity.com or AirtTavelCenter.com
I personally recommend three resources I always use in my Toolkit section:
Despegar.com, when traveling in the American Continent.
Momondo, when looking for flights in the whole world.
Kayak.com to find cheap flights in the US.
Even though I use these sites to research and compare, I generally purchase my tickets directly through the airline’s website or at one of their offices, using my frequent flier number.
Airlines send ticket deals in their newsletters. Sign up for a few of them to get the latest deals on airfares.
Signing up for airline newsletter is a great way to receive the latest information about bargains.
Also, it’s likely that once there’s a promotion in one airline, several others will follow suit.
Bottom line: Check prices regularly, until you either identify a trend or find a great deal! Then purchase!
Secondary airports
Many times flights that go through secondary airports have lower prices. For example it may be cheaper to arrive through Orly in Paris, than Charles de Gaulle.
You do need to consider how to get to and from the airport in these cases because the distances may be further away, adding transportation costs and time to your journey.
Still, it’s worth it to research if you’re flexible and the cost-benefit ratio is good.
No middle seat, please!
Don’t wait until check-in to choose whether you want an aisle or window seat. Do it just as you purchase the tickets.
You can use SeatGuru to find the best seats in the aircrafts of most important airlines. Some seats do not recline, some have limited leg room and some offer extra leg room.
Some seats are next to an Exit sign, which means you are not allowed to carry any packages on your lap and that it may get extra chilly.
However, I’ve read that you can reject an Exit seat and the airline has to accommodate you somewhere else. It hasn’t been my particular case though.
Layovers versus direct
Generally speaking, flights with layovers are cheaper, yes. But you need to consider:
- The extra time needed to hop on and off of each plane, and to run from end to end of airports.
- The high level of tiredness you may experience.
- The potential lack of good hygiene that can make you cranky.
- Horrible airport food.
- Paying fees if you want to leave the airport to wander around the city during a long layover.
- Arriving to your destination completely exhausted.
- Do you really want to spend those precious vacation hours traveling from airport to airport?
If you ask me, I’d rather spend a bit more money than sacrifice my sanity, patience and even health.
So think twice before booking a flight with layovers. Oh and if you do purchase layover tickets, make sure you check the dates with precision.
You don’t want to confuse 12 AM with 12 PM and end up having to stay an extra day at the airport.
Conditions
Check if your flight tickets are transferable, changeable or refundable before you buy, and how much each of these cost when booking airline tickets online.
Cheap tickets are generally less flexible and have tight restrictions. Most of the time they’re not refundable and you can’t transfer them to someone else.
If your frequent flier airline doesn’t go to your destination, you can ask if it has alliances with other airlines where you can add miles with the trip.
And last but not least, do take the time to print out your itinerary and leave a copy with someone at home.
Does this information make airline ticket shopping easier?
Share your comments in the field below!
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Thanks for the useful information.. the most important thing that I try to follow each time when I have to travel is to make the research as earlier as it is possible and keep track of the change in prices. The websites that you have pointed are really useful, I’ve already tried the first two. However I usually purchare flight tickets with Spies (in Danish Spies flybilletter) directly from their website. Thanks again for the information that you have shared!
Hi, Laura! Thank you for sharing!
Norm Schriever over at http://www.normschriever.com/ shared a fantastic article with me, which complements this one. Especially check out item #6, it’s truly a gem: http://www.normschriever.com/2/post/2013/04/9-secrets-to-booking-cheap-airfare.html