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.