How to Find the Best Airfare

There are many ways to save on airfare. Below is a list of some the best:

Where to Find Airfare

Orbitz  best site for piecing together multiple airline trips to save money.

SideStep a downloadable program that searches the websites of the various airlines and collates the results.

Mobissimo.com  a metasearch tool that goes out to the airlines and other travel sites to get results. This web-based tool even searches consolidators (such as onetravel) and international sites (like zuji and opodo). It is not good for searching over a range of dates or airports.

FareChase

OnTheFly Travel

Southwest.com  Travel sites like Expedia do not book Southwest flights.

Priceline.com Requires an extra level of flexibility as you don’t get to pick your flight times.

Finding Alternate Airports

Different airports sometime offer substantially lower fares, especially if it happens to be served by a discount carrier such as Southwest.

Whenever possible, check alternate airports both for departure and arrival: For example, Oakland and San Jose are serviced by Southwest while San Francisco is not. Other examples are Santa Ana, Burbank, Long Beach, or Ontario instead of Los Angeles... Baltimore rather than Washington's Dulles or Reagan... West Palm Beach or Ft. Lauderale instead of Miami.

When Buy a Ticket?

There's no perfect time to purchase a ticket. Often, if you see a good deal you should go ahead and purchase the ticket. Typically, good deals don’t last long

Generally the lowest fares are available with 14 days or more advance purchase. However, some low fares can be as late as 7 days advance. Also a Saturday stay and no more than a 30 day stay is optimum. Occasionally, the lowest fares are available right up until the departure time.

United, Delta, American, Northwest, and USAirways all offer a low price guarantee. Other airlines may offer this guarantee so check with the airline you're considering. Be aware that there's often some fine print, such as Northwest excludes web fares.


Where Are The Best Fares From My Airport?

Yahoo!'s Best Fares (This link defaults to BWI, reset to your own airport)

SmarterLiving Airfare Deals (This link defaults to Washington DC, reset to your own city)

Travelocity's Dream Maps (This link defaults to BWI, reset to your own airport)

Sites to Check for Period Good Deals

Travel Zoo Top 20

MSNBC's Travel Deals Blog

Advanced Tools

Class Availability Tools

Availability Tool (Software Install, Very Powerful)

Where To Sit On The Plane?

Seat Guru offers seat maps and commentary on seats for a huge number of aircraft on different airlines. Indispensable.

Seat Expert is similar to SeatGuru, covering several international carriers not listed on Seat Guru.

How To Earn The Most Miles for A Trip?

Unofficial Guide to American Airlines AAdvantage

Unofficial Guide to United Airlines Mileage Plus

Searchable Database of Current Mileage Promotions

How Many Miles Will I Earn for My Trip?