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.

There are several ways to get the best airfare

How do you get the best airfare? By talking to your travel agent? By visiting the airline office? Or by logging onto travel sites? All three can work. But the best chances are through the net.

The airlines have realized that the easiest way to communicate special fares is through the net. Almost every airline showcases its best fares on its site. Mostly, these airfares are put up either early when the bookings commence or when they are about to end, and the airline realizes that most of the flight is empty.

The airlines have no regular date or time when they put up their best fares. It’s just your luck. You may happen to be browsing at the time when you notice the cheap fares and make a booking.

You can also visit travel sites that buy tickets in bulk and sell them at a concession. Here too you can get a good deal, because these sites want to sell off as many tickets as possible – and are willing to part with substantial parts of their commission.

Ultimately, it is volumes that matter. Every site realizes that it stands to make more profits if it sells more tickets. The only way it can do so is by attracting more travellers to its site. So, you can expect tickets at cheaper rates; you can expect flexible ticketing where the prices vary from date to date; you can even also examine package rates where you end up paying less than the official fare.

Some net savvy travellers use the sites to hop across two or three flights to reach their destination. This enables them to use the cheapest airlines on different sectors. This is a good strategy especially when you are travelling abroad. Instead of flying non stop to your destination you can break your flight, and take a cheaper flight.