|
| Seat availability |
| Do not expect an airline to sell all seats on the plane for the cheapest fare. There could be just a few seats or more depending on an aircraft or route. For certain days of the week (for example, weekends) or during special events and holidays the cheapest fare may not be available at all. |
 |
Seasons |
| There are high seasons (summer, Christmas etc.) when all fares become more expensive, so it is important to choose the date of departure in a low season as this date determines the season of the fare. |
 |
Advance purchase |
| Buy tickets in advance but not too early as cheap fares sometimes may not be available 7-8 months in advance (flights appear in reservation systems only 9 months ahead). Good practice is to buy tickets 2-4 months before departure. Some low fares have advance purchase limitations which means that you can get such fare only if you buy a ticket, for example, 21, 14 or 7 days advance. |
 |
Minimum stay |
| Choose a minimum stay for 2 or three days or spend a night from Saturday to Sunday at the destination. For some destinations minimum stay can be 5-7 days, so play a little bit with departure and arrival days. |
 |
Maximum stay |
| Maximum stay is essential too, if this is not a city break. Maximum validity of any airline ticket is one year, but the fares usually have less validity. For long haul flights this is usually 1 month. For short haul flights it differs a lot depending on routs and airlines. |
 |
Combinations |
| Try to compose your itinerary so that all flights are operated by the same airline or choose its code share flights. If you still want to include other airlines in some complex itineraries, choose a pair of return flights operated by that airline instead of one-way flights. |
 |
Open jaw |
| Usually the fares allow open jaw which means arrival in one city but going back from another one within the same country or region. Be careful with promotional fares as they usually do not allow such combination. |
 |
One-way |
| If you need a one-way ticket in most cases it will be cheaper to buy a return ticket. But if you are not going to use the outbound flights your reservation with inbound flights will be canceled by an airline due to flight coupon sequence violation. That is general rule in passenger carriage regulations. Be wiser and buy your airline ticket the other way, so that you definitely use the outbound flights and miss the inbound ones if you wish. |
 |
Separate tickets |
| Sometimes it is cheaper to buy separate tickets instead of one complex ticket. Compose your itinerary so that you have plenty of time between connecting flights especially if different airlines are involved. Otherwise it might be risky and you can loose the connections, baggage and probably tickets too. Airlines in general do not take responsibility for separate tickets. |
 |
Last minute |
| It happens that a day before departure there are some booking cancellations or if the plane is not fully booked, some cheap seats may appear for sale. If you are lucky, they can be yours at the very last minute. |
 |
Competition |
| A ticket to more distant destination may cost you less than a transfer point or a closer destination. A fare from your departure country may be higher of lower than from your neighbour country. This is due to competition among airlines. So if you are flexible, check similar itineraries before you buy a ticket. |
 |
Add-on |
| Airlines have special agreements with other airlines for special fares for special flights that can be added to the main ticket. Such add-on tickets you cannot buy online and have to contact your airline directly. For some destinations such combination may result in a cheaper fare to the final destination than the regular one or even separate tickets. |
 |
Web fares |
| Large online travel agencies like Expedia, Orbitz or Travelocity have discounted or web-only fares. Compare offers from different sites before you buy. |
 |
Sale |
| Don't forget to subscribe to news from airlines to get the information about special fares and sales! |
 |
|
Basic tips on how to save money while you book your airline ticket and make your travel smarter and easier. In this article I want to share my experience of working for KLM airline as a ticketing agent for a couple of years. These tips mostly apply to cheap return ticket fares.
Travel tips