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.

You must always look for cheap business class airfare

The cheap business class airfare any day is better than a full economy class airfare. It brings you more privileges, and a more comfortable journey. The seats are wider, there is more elbow room and the food and liquor is superior.

Your objective should be to get a business class ticket that is heavily discounted. It was not easy earlier. Today, almost every airline is willing to offer a discount on business class fares. The luckiest are the corporate travelers whose companies have entered into an agreement with the airline. Their fare is always discounted.

However, this does not mean that you cannot find an affordable business class ticket. The best place to find cheaper fares are airline websites. Regular visits to these sites will familiarize you with the kinds of discounts that the airlines offer on your traveling routes.

You can also visit big travel sites like Travelocity or Expedia. These sites buy tickets in bulk from airlines, and very often pass a large proportion of their commission to the customers. Who knows you may be the lucky one?

You can also use the search engines on these sites or other travel sites to find the best business fares going on your route. You must also check date-wise the fares being charged. You will be surprised to find that on different days different airlines offer different discounts.

The best chances of getting a discount is to book early or to travel during the off season. You can also land a good deal if you buy a ticket on an early morning or a midday flight on weekdays.

And don’t forget to get yourself registered on sites that send fare alerts. You never know when you may find a business class fare that suits you.

Points to keep in mind while going for student airfare

Most students lack sufficient funds to travel. Recognizing this need, the travel industry has created a new form of airfare -- student airfare. This airfare is meant to meet the needs of students who want to travel for studies abroad or to universities that are located at distant places. The airfare is also useful for students who are doing research or want to visit their homes during vacation time.

The airlines were the first to extend this facility to the students, who could show their identity card and buy a cheaper ticket. However, this fare is not always less than the discounted fares that airlines offer to the general public. It therefore makes sense for students to visit the websites of airlines and compare the student tickets with discounted tickets.

The students can also visit specialized student sites like Student Universe or STA and buy specially discounted tickets through them. Sites like STA and Travel Cuts also have offline facilities, and students can call them to get the lowest airfare. However, all these sites insist on verification.

There are some travel sites that use search engines that display the best student airfares. These are useful sites to visit because they also display the normal discounts being offered by airlines. Very often, domestic discounts are higher than student discounts.

The students also need to be flexible about their travel plans if they want to get the best deal. They must book their tickets early, ideally on those days when the traffic is low. They can find these days by using the search feature on travel sites.

Another strategy should be to fly the cheaper airlines. Students don’t need special comforts, and should not be fussy about facilities. They should also not mind using smaller airports if theses are not too far from their colleges. This will help them cut their traveling cost considerably.

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.

Getting a Cheap Airfare Ticket

Today, it makes sense to look for a cheap airfare ticket, especially for frequent travellers. They can reduce their travelling cost by 30 to 40 per cent. The same applies to families planning a vacation. They need not blow up their vacation budget on airline tickets alone.

Instead, they need to plan their journey carefully. The best time to get a cheap ticket is the off season. The rush on the planes is less, and airlines are more than willing to offer big discounts.

However, this may not suit all individuals. They therefore need to plan a trip sometime during the middle of the week or select a flight that takes off during the middle of the day. They will find that these flights have low occupancy rates, and force airlines to offer bigger discounts.

The trick lies in finding the right airline and the right site. You must be willing to spend considerable time searching the net. There may be times when you are lucky and may hit the jackpot with your first few searches. At other times, you may have to spend several frustrating hours. But the search will be worth it.

Your quest for a cheap ticket should start with the airline sites, ideally a fortnight or more in advance. You must check all possible fares being offered by the airlines flying to your destination. To be on the safer side, you must conduct this search at two to three different points of the day. The airlines release the discounted tickets without announcement.

Your next destination should be the large travel sites. These sites work like online travel agencies and offer considerable part of their commissions to travellers. Once again, you can get a better deal if you apply early.

Finally, you should visit all search engine-based travel sites. These sites pick up information from several small and medium travel sites, as well as airline sites. You get to know the best rates being offered by different sites, and can select any one of them.

How to get the best discount airfare

There is a fare war out there with airlines, travel sites and travel agents offering discounted airfares. All that you need is patience and some search skills to locate the site that is offering the best discount airfare.

You can always start with the sites of airlines. Most airlines offer discounts if you buy tickets directly from their sites. Sometimes, these may be the best discounts, but not always. However, it makes sense to note down the discounted fares being offered by them before logging on to search sites.

These sites like Kayak.com or Sidestep.com search the databases of all travel sites, including airline sites that allow them, and display the best fares. They save you the trouble of visiting each site individually and searching for best fares.

However, some big travel sites like Travelocity.com have started closing their databases to these search engines because they don’t want to loose traffic or revenue to other sites. So, you need to visit the big travel sites like Expedia or Orbitz to learn their discounted airfares.

If you are not in a hurry, then you should spend a couple of days checking airfares at random hours; say 8 in the morning, 4 p.m. in the evening or 10 p.m. in the night. You may find a flight that is offering a discount of almost 50% on the rates it was quoting in the morning. However, you have to be lucky and persistent to be able to get such fares. They get sold out very quickly.

You can also try the flexible fare searches, if your dates are not final. This gives you the airfare on different possible dates. Locate the date when the fare is the lowest and make the booking.

Another way of getting discounted fares is to book two or three weeks in advance or to travel during the lean season. You will find that most airlines give you big discounts on such bookings.

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.

First Class Airfare Promises Royal Treatment

Few people can afford first class airfare. But those who can travel like kings. They get wide pushback seats, lots of elbow room and a superior service. The airlines also try to win them over by providing several thoughtful gifts. These include lip balm, cooling gel, mouth wash moisturizer, hand lotion, hand gel, body gel and even socks.

On long distance routes and international flights the first class passenger also gets a privacy divider, seats that recline completely, eye shades, fresh linen and even duvets. Another area where the airlines pay great attention is food and drinks. They serve possibly the best food you can imagine to their first class passengers. The same goes for drinks.

And why not. The first class passenger pays ten to fifteen times the fare paid by an economy class passenger, and certainly needs to be pampered.

This does not mean that you cannot travel first class. You can, especially if you are a frequent flyer. You can collect all the miles and convert them into a first class ticket. You can also fly some of the cheaper airlines that charge less for first class. You can also get your business class ticket upgraded to first class, if the first class is empty.

Flying first class is certainly an experience, and if you can afford it you must fly first class as often as you can. There can be nothing better for the ego. The service and treatment is impeccable. You feel like royalty.

In fact, the difference in treatment can be felt from the point of check in. The first class counters are separate. They are not meant for the hoi polloi. Then when the boarding call comes the first class passengers either board first or board last.

No wonder the dream of every economy class passenger is to fly first class.

It’s not difficult to get the Best Price Airfare

Today it is not difficult to find the best price airfare. All that you need is some patience and the ability to search the net. You should also be willing to spend some time on the net, and be flexible in your schedule.

The best is to book the trip in advance. You will find that it costs less to buy a ticket 14 days in advance than three days in advance. Of course, if you have an emergency then you have to depend on last minute fares. Some airlines keep a few seats aside to meet such needs. But you cannot always get them. So, last minute fares should be your last option.

Another way to get a good deal is to fly during the middle of the week. These flights are relatively less booked than weekend flights. Similarly, flights that take off very early in the morning or during the middle of the day have lower occupancy rates. It therefore makes sense to use one of these flights.

You should register yourself with sites that mail information on the availability of lowest priced tickets. This saves you the trouble of doing the search yourself. You get to know the best airfare available on your travel route, and travel days.

You always have the option of visiting the large travel sites on the net. Most of these sites have entered into deals with airlines and provide special discounts on several sectors. You will have to visit several sites to get the best discount because these discounts vary from site to site.

Otherwise, you can visit those travel sites that use a robot to find out the best fares available on the net. These sites do the searching for you once you have indicated your travel date and destination.

Finally, you should not forget the airline sites. Several airlines release cheaper tickets on their sites, especially on those flights that are running empty. You need to keep track of these tickets by visiting the airline sites regularly.

You need patience to find Cheap Airfare

The best place to find cheap airfare is your desktop. All you need to do is to log onto the net, enter your destination and search dates in important search engines like SideStep.com, Kayak.com or Mobissimo.com. Then hit the Go button, and wait for the search engine to display airfare availability.

You will find the cheapest airfare displayed first. You can book the ticket immediately or continue with your search by moving to other search engines. You will find that there are still better options available.

This is what the Internet has done. It has made it possible to find the best fares at the click of a button. There are times when you may find that the early morning fares offered by an airline are much les than the fares offered late during the evening. This may happen because the airlines has decided to release more seats on a flight that is running empty.

The same happens with large travel sites that use consolidator fares. These sites buy tickets in bulk from airlines and then offer it at low costs on the net. Their strategy is to offload all tickets that they have bought. They become desperate to get rid of tickets as the flight time nears. You can get one of these tickets if you are willing to play the waiting game.

Most travel sites offer flexible searching. This gives you the option to find a low fare on a future date. You also have the option to register for low fare alerts. These alerts are mailed whenever the airline or the travel site cuts the fare further.

You can also go for a package deal that includes hotel and car rentals. Very often, you will find that your total cost is much less than what you would have ended up paying if you had booked them separately.