Be flexible when choosing an airport near your destination city to find the best savings options. Differences in fare pricing at local airports that serve the same city can be substantial. Large, high-traffic, location-convenient city airport destinations with major carriers can have consistently high fares. Check for lower fares at smaller airports, which are located outside city limits or are bound by the schedules of budget carriers but still serve the destination city.
Price comparative fares using various times of travel within the dates of travel desired. Be open to traveling on overnight flights or on nonpeak days, such as midweek on evening flights. These choices often net savings for the last-minute air traveler, as airlines reduce the price of seats on flights showing under-capacity loads to entice last-minute bookings.
Weigh the value of the money that you can save against the restrictions that you are willing to incur before booking last-minute nonrefundable or nonchangeable airfares. Consider extraneous costs, such as ground transportation cost necessitated by landing at a nearby airport or whether the timing of the travel will inconvenience the trip details too much, when deciding on the purchase.
Research tour companies that buy itinerary items, such as hotel rooms, tour space or airfare, for group tour package itineraries in bulk lots. To recoup some of its costs, the tour company often offers unsold rooms and airfares to the general public near scheduled departure from tours that did not sell out. This may allow you to purchase an individual item, such as airfare, at the discounted cost of the tour package without having to purchase the entire tour package.
Use the Internet and all its available free and current --- often up-to-the-minute --- information and resources. Discount travel websites, such as Expedia and CheapOair, can receive last-minute deals on airline seats that the airlines release to them. Register for these discount travel websites, and sign up to be sent email alerts when discounts become available.
Join airline frequent flier programs to take advantage of last-minute fare postings on individual airline websites or through member email alerts. Discounts are offered to the flying public or exclusively to their frequent flier program members only through the airline's website and not by telephone, counter or third-party reservation. Airlines do this to drive traffic to their websites or to reward frequent flier members or returning customers.
Inquire about available discounts offered by clubs or groups that you belong to. Credit cards and auto clubs sometimes offer their members incentive booking discounts with partner airline carriers.
