If you want the bottom line lowest airfare, you should consider these tips before you begin your flight search.
Book your trip online and early. Most airlines will give you the best rates online because it cuts out the need for call center personnel to book it for you. The airlines will discount fares 7, 14 and/or 21 days out to encourage reservations. Usually, a certain amount to seats are sold at a discount rate and once that fills up the airline will raise seat prices. So, book as early as you can to get the best rates available.
Flying midweek usually costs less. Book your departing flight on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday and you will probably get the lower fare than booking on a weekend. The weekend flights are usually highest, but you may find discounts on Saturdays from time to time, then Monday and Friday are second highest, and the mid week is generally the lowest. Try to plan your flights with that in mind if you can be that flexible.
Plan to stay over Saturday night. Most low fares require that you stay over a Saturday and some just require that you stay a minimum for 3 to 4 days.
Consider other airports in your surrounding area. When you find a better price to another nearby airport, also consider how far that airport is in drive time to your final destination. It may be $50 dollars cheaper to fly into Orlando than Jacksonville, but after 2.5 hours of extra driving, you would most likely have spent that much in gas. But if the difference is between Tampa International and St. Petersburg Airports, with a 15 minute drive between them, then you should take the cheaper fare.
Try an earlier or later travel date. Sometimes fare can change dramatically within one day of your originally intended travel date. If you can be flexible with your schedule, this may save you some money.
Always use www.ChicTravelDeals.com. It combines the 3 major travel search engines into one and offers you great discounts on air/hotel and air/hotel/car rental combos. If you want to be alerted to the best travel deals, sign up there for the Deals and Steals weekly newsletter. It will give you great vacation ideas, last minute package deals and tours, you just click and change the departing city to your own to customize it!
