Shopping for cheap international airfare

The best way to get cheap international airfare is to book in advance. This is the time when carriers are happy to book as many seats as possible, and are willing to release their cheapest fare seats. The booking can be made through a travel agent or from the website of the airline.

Early booking has one more advantage. You can shop around on the net to see which sites are offering the best fares; if you have a flexible schedule then you can alter your travel days to locate the best fare. This is specially true of off season fares and mid-week flights. These flights are invariably priced a little less than peak season or peak hour flights.

There are some European and Asian airlines that offer special discounts on certain sectors that are part of their flying route. These discounts can be very attractive if you are flying on those sectors.

Besides this, there are several low cost international carriers like Ryanair that offer discounted rates. But these airlines are meant more for the budget tourists. They have few support staff on board; they allow very little luggage and charge heavily for every extra kilogram of luggage. They may also fly to airports that are a few hours away from your destination cities. However, all these disadvantages are worthwhile if you want to save money.

You may also use sites like Priceline-com. These sites ask you to name the ticket price; after that they search different airlines to get you the ticket at your price. These tickets, however, cannot be refunded and once obtained have to be used.

There are several travel sites that use a search engine to locate the best fares. This gives you a wide choice of fares across a range of airlines. You can decide which fare suits you most.

Military discount airfare is a great way to say thank you

All commercial carriers extend special fares and privileges to members of the defense services. The fare that is known as military discount airfare can be availed by soldiers, sailors, marines, air force personnel, and members of the Coast Guard. It can also be availed by families and dependents of the military personnel.

Some airlines limit the discount fares to active duty personnel but most provide it to even those who have retired from the services. This is the airline industry‘s way of extending a big thank you to the men and women who make the country safe.

The discounts are not fixed and vary from airline to airline. On some they can be as large as 70 per cent, and can be availed after showing proper documentation. Once they have established their identity, military personnel can also buy tickets online.

The airlines are very large-hearted when it comes to extending facilities to both past and serving military personnel. They do not discontinue or limit these facilities during peak season. Even at that time any army man can avail the same discounts. However, there is no special quota for the military personnel. To avail the discount, they have to buy the ticket like any other traveler. That is why it is important to buy the ticket early.

The good thing about this discount is that it is not limited to official duty. Military personnel can avail it even when they are making private trips or are traveling with their families on vacation. The discount is also available on international travel. But in this case it is lower than domestic travel.

Military personnel are also extended special boarding privileges, especially if they are on active duty and traveling on a mission. This is yet another goodwill gesture from the airlines to the men in uniform.

How to obtain lowest airfare prices

The lowest airfare prices are available on the net. They can be obtained at travel sites, at sites set up by airlines or travel-based search engine sites. Each is an important source to obtain the best airfare.

A good place to start is the search engines. These sites run robots that collect information from different travel sites. The information is then presented to the traveller who can decide which fare and date suits him best.

The traveller can also visit large travel sites like Travelocity.com or Expedia.com. These sites are averse to search engines collecting information from their sites, and selling tickets. A few of the large travel sites have even blocked access to search engine robots.

You have therefore no option but to visit them to know what kind of airfares they are offering. It is a visit that can pay rich dividends because you may find the lowest airfare on these sites. This is because most of the large travel sites often buy tickets in bulk and then try and sell them at attractive prices. Sometimes, when the tickets are not moving they offer real rock bottom rates.

Another good tactics is to log onto airline sites at different points of the day. You may find that the fare being offered in the morning is different from the fare that is being offered late in the evening.

Some travellers fly during the off season. This gives the benefit of using the low fares that the airlines offer. Some also use flexible travel dates that allows them to travel on that date when the fare is the lowest.

This is not all. You can avail low airfare if you buy a return flight on some sites or buy a package that includes hotel room or car rental. What is needed is some research on your part. You must spend some time on the net visiting different sites to find the lowest airfare.