The quest to save money is a real motivator for me. Let’s face it the more money you keep means the more options you have later on in life. One of the biggest expenses in traveling is the airfare to your chosen destination. With gas prices on the rise so are the ticket prices on the major airlines.
To find the cheapest airfare you must first have a plan in place. Here is my step by step process for finding the best deal on whatever flight I may be taking. The first step is to check the major airfare search engines such as Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity and Cheaptickets. This will give you an idea of what is the standard going rate for a ticket at full retail price. I would not initially go for the deals offered on these websites without some further checking however. Also it is always a good idea to check the surrounding airports from your departure and destination. If you are willing to drive a little bit before or after you leave it could save you some serious money.
The second step is to check what is known as aggrregator sites such as Kayak, Qixo, Sidestep and Mobissimo. These aggregators will search all the major search engines mentioned above and also the airline websites which should give you a betteridea of what a good price for a given ticket should be.
The third step is go directly to the airline that displays the cheapest ticket for where you want to go. For instance if you find the best airfare on American Airlines through one of the aggregators or search engines I would then proceed directly to the American Airlines website. The reason is there is usually a transaction fee that these search engines place on each transaction for booking the flight for you.
Finally check the budget airlines themselves as they would not be listed in the search engines or aggregators in some cases. You can find some really good deals on flights from Southwest, AirTran and Ted airlines.
Having a plan to save money will ultimately make you a better consumer and help you with your bottom line. Whether you travel for business or for fun hopefully these tips should save you some money and enrich your travels.
Happy trails!
