Finding a Cheap Airline Ticket

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Tips For Finding Cheap Airline Tickets

Keep your travel plans as fluid as possible.
Check out prices at multiple airports; some may have lower fares than your home airport.

Research Cheapest Airfares (as opposed to Exact Travel Dates).
Find Fares and you”ll see prices and star-symbols: 3-stars means a good buy, 4-stars is a great buy. Also check at the bottom of the page, on the left for the year-long pricing history.

Last-minute flights are expensive. Book as early as you can to get the best deals, as the cheap fare classes fill up fast. (Very occasionally, airlines do offload excess inventory at cut-rate prices at the last minute, but it's foolhardy to rely on this.)

Many cheap fares require staying at least three nights, and the famous Saturday night stay requirement — designed to trap businessmen who want to return home for the weekend — is still in force in many places.
Monday morning and Friday evening are the most popular times for businessmen to fly, which makes seats hard to find.
Holiday seasons are bad times to fly, because everybody else is also on the move.
Worldwide biggies include late December to early January (Christmas/New Year and southern summer vacations) and July-August (northern summer vacations), but watch out for local holidays as well, such as the Golden Weeks in China and Japan.
Direct/non-stop flights (see box for the difference) from A to B are always expensive, as some people will pay a premium for the convenience and there is little competition.
Transferring at point C is a time-consuming hassle, but it can save you a bundle, as there are many options and airlines compete to undercut each other.