Many airlines and credit cards offer airline miles as rewards. If you sign up for one of these credit cards and use the credit card during the school year, you could accumulate a lot of useful miles. It may take a while to earn the miles, but you will be using the card to buy necessities you would be buying anyway. As long as you pay off the balance each month, you can eventually get a free or very inexpensive ticket using those miles.
Airlines start discounting their fares several months before departure. If you are certain of your travel dates, start shopping as early as a few months before the trip to ensure a discounted price. If you procrastinate you will be less likely to browse around for better options, and more likely to settle for an undesirable price.
There are a plethora of discount travel websites online, such as Orbitz, Priceline and Student Universe. They offer all types of travel deals from airlines to rail to car rentals to hotels. These websites buy tickets in bulk and offer them at a much cheaper price to individual travelers. They also offer vacation packages and alternative airports, and give travel advice.
If you make the effort to sift through the long list of items for sale on Craigslist, you might get lucky and catch someone selling an airline voucher. People also sell air vouchers on eBay. With eBay, however, you have the option to buy in an auction setting and name your own price, which gives you more opportunities to get the ticket you want at an even cheaper cost.
