How to find cheap airline tickets?

Searching for cheap airline tickets can be a daunting task. Once you strike the deal, traveling becomes much easier. However, while searching for cheap flights, one must be flexible about his/her trip, and precise about the date and time. Cheap airfares do exist, but one should know how to effectively search for them. The best part is that you can save a great deal of money by availing these cheap airline tickets.

• Try to adjust your schedule. Consider leaving in the middle of a week. Compare the prices for different dates. A day or two can make a difference.
• Choose busy airports as your destination as there is a lot of competition between airlines flying to those cities.
• Check out different sites, especially airline sites, and compare the prices of different airlines. The airlines keep changing their prices to gain competitive advantage over the other.
• Avail attractive discounts for student and elderly on tickets.
• Join a travel club. It can bring benefits in the long run.

Before choosing any airline, it is advisable to make a market comparison of flight prices. Farewatch search is directly linked with Department of Transportation (DoT), United States, to make it an unbiased search engine. By clicking on the departure and destination city, you can obtain a list of average airfare prices. Kayak travel search engine lists a number global travel sites and helps in identifying cheap flights.

Farecast is another search engine that gives ultimate predictions on airline fares. Based on the previously available airfare data, Farecast predicts regarding when one should purchase a ticket. Sidestep is another travel search engine that searches mores than 600 airlines to give a consolidated result of prices. Yapta is a travel site with a browser add-on to alert you if there is a price drop on your ticket. It also alerts you regarding whether you are eligible for a refund. These search engines help you to track cheap airline tickets if you have flexible travel dates, weekend flights, and cheap destinations.

Vayama is a popular site that focuses on international travel. It helps in identifying the right airlines and striking the best deal. They also have tie-ups with different airlines to avail direct discounts. Mobissimo is a travel-meta search website that has a database of travel offerings of different airlines. Skyscanner is the fastest and easiest way to find cheap airline tickets. You have to just fill in your departure and destination details with dates, and the site will give the list of available airfare prices.

Yet another flight search engine is Momondo which gives a sorted list of different airline flights based on prices. Trabber searches at least 43 websites simultaneously to give the result for cheaper airline tickets. Our very own Wikipedia also has an exhaustive list of low-cost airlines.

You can search auction sites that put up tickets for bidding. There are two categories of auction sites: the typical auction site and the reverse auction site. In the reverse auction site, individuals specify the price for the ticket and it is up to the airline to agree with that price. It is more beneficial to the traveller as he/she can choose the price. Some of the popular reverse auction sites are www.priceline.com and www.expedia.com. However, there are certain drawbacks too. You will have to fly at odd hours. A popular regular auction site is SkyAuction.com.

Travel agents can also help in acquiring better deals as they have access to different airlines’ booking systems and also good knowledge about the prices. However, all this comes for a price in the form of commission.
The above-mentioned sites are good resources for searching cheap fares; however, they also have some drawbacks. Most of these sites require the individual to register with them, giving personal information. Once you register, you are likely to receive frequent e-mails and SMS from these sites, which are really annoying at times. A major drawback is regarding the accuracy of information received. However, you still can bet on them. Enjoy flying!