Remember when you used to pick up the phone and simply said, “I would like to fly to California on Aug. 1what time can I go and how much will it cost?” Or you just went to the travel agent and said book me to Las Vegas. With the age of the computer, and many other factors booking a ticket to fly anywhere can become a computer game all its own.
Although going to a travel agent to book a trip is still a good thing to do many people sit at the computer for long periods of time and compare prices and travel times.
The experts say that Wednesdays are the best days to book your airfare. That is the day that most airlines change their pricing. Some Web sites and travel experts say that the best time on a Wednesday to book is 12:30 a.m. and others are certain that they get the best pricing at 6 p.m. If an airline does not have a full plane they will discount some seats. It is better to have the seats full at less money than seats without people.
If you choose to book a ticket online usually the best place to do is on the airlines Web site such as Southwest, Delta, Continental, etc. The sites will often have last minute deals if you are booking last minute travel or deals to certain locations. Compare different carrier prices, they all take off and land at the same airports. Today there is not much difference in which airline you fly as they all have peanuts or cookies for the snack and give you a drink. However, some do charge for luggage and some do not. Check all of those things out before you commit to your ticket. All of that info is on the Web site and is easy to find.
The best days to fly are weekdays and it seems that most experts state that Tuesdays are usually the cheapest. Business travelers are filling planes on Monday and Friday first thing in the mornings and the later afternoons and early evening flights and fares are higher at that time.
You can get good deals if you are a flexible flyer and can go on any day of the week or if you can explore pricing from other airports. Most websites give you those options when entering dates.
You can plug in several dates surrounding your date as well as options from other airports.
They will do that work for you.
If you are worried about your seats visit www.seatguru.com where you can see all planes from
all airlines and which seats are the good or the bad.
In some cases how long you are gone can affect your ticket price. Play with the dates and the days. It takes time but keep putting in different dates and times until you find the best price. You have to work for the discounts. It can be well worth you time to investigate your options.
Some airlines have a service on their Web site that will send you weekly emails for the deals.
