The days on which you fly matter for cost savings. Flights departing Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays are generally much cheaper than Monday, Thursday, Friday, and/or Sunday travel. Furthermore, staying overnight on a Saturday tends to keep the price down.
If your schedule is set in stone, you will miss out on the lowest prices available. Even last-minute travelers should be flexible on travel dates by a day or two to increase the chance of finding a cheap flight. Departure time plays in the calculation also. Taking a red-eye (late night flight) will decrease the cost.
Get on the emailing list of different travel sites. By doing so, notification of last-minute deals, including flights will be emailed, and you can move on the offer quickly to obtain a cheap flight.
Look for cheap last-minute airline tickets on individual airline Web portals. In order to fill up flights, airlines will offer last-minute deals that can only be obtained online. These Web-only fares are discounted to fill up every seat, so be aware that your flight will be crowded.
Charter companies lease an airplane for a certain date and route, and then try to sell the seats. Usually a charter will charge a lower price than scheduled carriers. The price may decrease more if seats remain unsold closer to the departure date. The drawback is that the flight may be canceled at the last minute if there are too many empty seats.
Consolidators sell air tickets to the consumer at a substantial saving. The consolidator purchases tickets from the airline in bulk way in advance. The selections may be limited and tickets available are in competitive and busy traffic air routes. Find the company names and listings in the Sunday edition of a newspaper´s travel section or online under air consolidators.
