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Techniques For Finding Airfare Bargains

By Dean Packingham,

Trying to find great airfare deals can be extremely frustrating, especially if you are hoping to fly out of a smaller, regional airport to another regional airport. The good news is that there are some methods to use to try to find the best deals. Please let me know if you have any others that you'd like me to share with the other Travel Hunters!

Priceline

     I must admit, I use Priceline all the time for hotels and car rental, but have not used it for airfare. I know of many people who have used it and have had great success, but if you are not willing to be flexible when you are flying, this is probably not for you. Whatever the case, be sure to read up on the rules of bidding on airfare on Priceline . You could save a great deal by using this service, and as long as you're flexible, this may really work out well for you.

Hotwire

     It's pretty hard to ignore the prices you see on Hotwire. Hotwire is similar to Priceline , but gives you a few more pieces of information. You still don't know which carrier you will fly on until you've purchased, but you can control how many connections you are willing to make, and you know that your flight times are somewhere between 6 am and 10 pm. Hotwire also tells you the price, something that you don't have with Priceline . If you're going on a longer trip, this may be perfect for you. On a recent check of airfare from Minneapolis to Orlando, from a Tuesday to a Tuesday, all the major travel websites showed the lowest price to be $277. Hotwire was $85 less, with $192, which already includes taxes and fees. I know people who have had a tremendous amount of success with Hotwire.

Using Flexibility Searches

     One of my favorite things to do is check the flexibility searches on Orbitzand Travelocity . If you are at all flexible in your travel dates, you could save a small fortune by using these services. From the Orbitz main page, enter your departure and destination information, then click on "my dates are flexible". Enter some additional information on the next page, and you will be shown some pretty amazing prices. If you've never tried this, you will be amazed at some of the deals you can find. The Orbitz "Flex Search" only allows you to search for deals within 30 days, so if you can travel on relatively short-notice, you'll have a lot of fun here! Travelocity also has a great flexibility search. From the main page, just click the button next to "Search all dates for best fares". Travelocity's flexibility search will actually look several months in the future. It will help you to realize when the best time to take your trip might be.

Try using Comparison Search Websites

     There are a couple of really useful websites that compare prices from many different locations. The first is called SideStep, which searches 140 websites to try to find the best bargains for a specific date. I always check SideStep, as well as the main airfare websites when looking for airfare deals. Another comparison website is QIXO, which searches about 20 different websites.

Visit the Airline Websites

     Know which airlines service the airport you are using for your departure airport. Then, check out each of their websites to find any specials currently in effect. Search for the dates you'd like to fly, and see if the rates are any different than those being posted on the big travel websites. It also doesn't hurt to call the reservation center for the airline you are interested in flying on. They may be able to tell you what the cheapest flights would be for a particular time frame.

Flexibility Can Lead to Big Bargains

     Often it is hard to be flexible with vacation times, as you try to match time off with your spouse or significant other, as well as the kids breaks from school. If you are able to be flexible, you can save some serious money. If so, you will probably find better prices on flights on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Stay away from the prime days of Friday, Sunday and Monday, if at all possible.

Last minute bargains

     If you are extremely flexible, you can come up with some amazing deals on last minute travel. There are several last minute websites offering terrific deals on our travel resource page. Some of the main sites are Site59, Moments Notice and Go Today in the US and LastMinute in the UK.

Charters, Charters, Charters!

     There are some terrific charter companies that can offer amazing deals, especially on package deals to major tourist destinations, like Las Vegas and Orlando. Some of the major charter vacation companies include Apple Vacations, Funjet, Transglobal (MSP only) and Worry Free Vacations. One way to find out about the charters is to check your Sunday newspaper or call your travel agent.

Try an Alternate Airport

     There are some really great alternate airports across the country. If you are lucky to live near one, or if you are flying into an area where there is a great alternate airport, you may be able to snag some pretty good deals by using them instead of the main hub airports. Some examples of great alternates:

     Chicago - Midway (MDW)
     Houston - Hobby Airport (HOU)
     California - Oakland (OAK) and John Wayne (SNA)
     Florida - Fort Lauderdale
     New York - Lehigh Valley (ABE)
     Washington D.C. - Ronald Reagan (DCA)

For more alternate airports, visit alternateairports.com!

Check the Sunday Newspaper

     Airfare charter companies and travel agencies love to show off great deals in the Sunday Newspaper. Check it out for all kinds of various travel deals. Availability of some of these specials is sometimes quite limited, so it is best to check right away if you find something you are interested in. Also, check with the companies that often advertise in the newspaper when you are trying to find a good travel deal.

Call Your Travel Agent

     Travel agents can come up with some miraculous travel deals. Check around with a few travel agents to see what they can come up with. You are not obligated to purchase if they work up a price for you, so why not give it a try.

Try the Travel Hunters Top 10

     We've developed our top 10 lists as a way to help you out when trying to find airfare deals with as limited amount of searching time as possible. If you have the time, I would recommend searching through each of these websites for the best deal. You should do this after checking out the options above. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to which of our top 10 websites might offer a better price at a certain time, but these top 10 are proven to CONSISTENTLY offer some of the best deals. You'll find our top 10 lists to the right!

Resources That May Help You

How to Find Bargain Airfare Online (About.com) - Some additional tips to help you find airfare deals.

50 tips for Planning an Affordable Trip to Florida from $70 a day - a terrific article from Frommer's. Many of the techniques explained in the article apply to anywhere.

Sixty-five Tips for Planning an Affordable Trip to the Big Apple from $90 a Day - another great article from Frommer's. Again, many of these techniques can be applied elsewhere.

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