Shopping for the best airline fares used to mean hours on the phone or online. Now anyone with access to a computer or smartphone will find comparing flights and fares as easy as buying a book online. There is absolutely no need to overpay for airline travel in today’s market.
There are a numerous travel comparison sites, and while there are slight differences, most use all the same data from the airlines. Any easy way to choose is to check out a few online travel forums and see what users are saying. You will be amazed at the depth some people go into in reviewing sites.
Once decided on a comparison site to use, the rest is simple. On the homepage, you will find a search box to input the essential information. This includes departure and arrival information, preferred dates of travel, number of passengers and class and ticket type preferences. Type in the data and you are off.
The site will return a grid of prices for your route and travel date. This shows who is offering the lowest fares. But you will likely notice lower fares, also showing up. This is the real benefit of these sites: they help you uncover lower fares.
For example, there might be a significantly lower fare the day before or after the date, you put in. Alternatively, routing through a major hub may mean a reduction in cost. One trick to savings is to include alternative airports in the search. This can take advantage of carrier deals to boost traffic on flights that are less full. How flexible you can be depends on each person’s situation, but sometimes a little change in itinerary can lead to big savings.
