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.

How to find cheap airfare to London

It is not difficult to find cheap airfare to London provided you know where to look. It also depends on how flexible are your travel dates, and what kind of facilities you want. If you are not finicky about flying Asian Airlines like Air India or Kuwait Air then these should be your first stops.

Most of these Asian airlines fly through London and sell tickets through consolidators. Often, the seats allotted on the US-London sector stay empty because most Asian passengers use airlines of their countries to book home passages. You can easily get an inexpensive seat till London on these flights.

The London seats are even cheaper during the off season. Two periods when tickets are cheaper are middle January to end March and November 1 to early December. Few people travel during these months. If possible, you should plan your journey to London during these months.

Otherwise, you should plan your trip in advance. Most airlines release their cheapest seats to travelers who book their tickets well in advance of the flight date. If you are late for these tickets then you can look for slightly less discounted tickets. These tickets are released from time to time by airlines. However, you need to be alert and visit the airline sites frequently to grab them.

You can also quote your price on Priceline.com, and hope that some airline will be willing to sell you a ticket to London at that price. The downside of this deal is that there are no refunds. You have to take the flight even if it does not suit you.

And don’t forget the sites that send low fare alerts. You must become a member of at least a couple of these sites. You never know when you may get a great offer.

It’s not difficult to find cheap airfare to Europe

Almost everyone wants to go on a holiday to Europe. And almost everyone wants to save money on tickets because every dollar that is saved can make your holiday more memorable. But how do you find cheap airfare to Europe?

There are several travel agents who offer package tours to Europe. You can use any one of them who offers an air-only deal. The chances are that this deal will work out to be cheaper than the transatlantic fares published on the websites of airlines.

If, however, you can’t find such an operator then you need to go through the fare chart, and locate an airline that is offering the lowest. Next, you need to visit the travel site leaders like Travelocity or Expedia and find out the rates being offered by them.

Your journey is still not over. You also need to visit a travel site that uses a search engine to give you the cheapest transatlantic fares Once you have got the cheapest fare, you need to call some of the offline agencies and ask them if they can give you a better deal.

You have one more option. You can go to a “name your price” site like priceline.com and
put down a fare that is at least 15 per cent less than the lowest fare you have found on the net. Who knows it may be your lucky day, and you may walk away with the cheapest possible air ticket to Europe.

You can also try your luck with east European or Asian airlines that fly through Europe on their way home. These are hopping flights, and very often fly empty on some sectors. They also sell their tickets at a discount on these the US-Europe sector. You can always make use of these seats.