ShareThisBy CHRIS WALSH
Scripps Howard News Service
With CHEAPAIRFARES
Perceptions and realities regarding air travel:
- Perception: Buy as early as possible to get the cheapest fare.
- Reality: Purchasing tickets months ahead of time used to be the best way to get a lower fare, but that's not necessarily true now. In fact, you can often find decent fares a few weeks out, and there's an abundance of last-minute deals. However, it's usually better to book international trips several months ahead of time.
- Perception: There's a specific day and time of the week, say, Tuesdays at 11 p.m., when airlines change fares.
- Reality: Years ago, fares changed only once or twice a week, giving those in the know a leg up on average consumers. Now, though, airlines change fares up to three times a day. The lesson: Check fares often.
- Perception: Southwest Airlines usually has the lowest fares.
- Reality: Southwest does indeed have low fares and offers some real bargains for flights booked well in advance. But other carriers typically match -- and sometimes beat -- Southwest's fares. So the real benefit of having Southwest is that you can find lower fares in general, not just on the carrier itself. Southwest also can be much more expensive if you're booking one or two weeks out.
- Perception: It's impossible to find advertised sale fares.
- Reality: This is a top complaint I hear from colleagues and friends. In almost every case, though, the complaining party isn't willing to be flexible. The advertised fare doesn't mean every ticket costs that much. It often applies to an extremely limited number of seats for flights at off-peak times. They are there -- you just have to be quick and consider alternate dates and times.
- Perception: If you already bought a ticket and the price drops, you're out of luck.
- Reality: Several airlines, including United, will actually refund the difference or apply a credit to your account if the price drops after you bought your tickets.
Sites for finding flights
Rocky Mountain News aviation reporter and avid traveler Chris Walsh reveals Web sites he uses to land cheap fares:
- Airfarewatchdog.com: This Web site alerted me to $260 fares between Denver and Puerto Rico, which I capitalized on last fall. It lists great "unadvertised" deals, although connections often are involved. The newsletter is one of the best in the industry.
- Bestfares.com: This site is great for finding the cheapest destinations in a given time and for listing lower fares to nearby airports, all in a very user-friendly layout. It has a wealth of free content, but you can also subscribe annually to get access to members-only fares.
- Bookingbuddy.com: Provides a quick way to search for fares on various travel sites, including several you've probably never heard of. The major drawback: You have to choose each site you want to search, and each result appears in its own pop-up window.
- Farecast.com, Farereport.com: Both sites help you determine if you're getting a good fare, using historical data to identify average prices and trends. Farecast, for example, attempts to predict whether the price of a certain route will go up or down. Farereport gives you the historical average fare for a route.
- Kayak.com, Sidestep.com, Farecompare.com: These sites are great to use after you've identified the cheapest days to travel. They search dozens of sites, including individual airline Web pages.
- Southwest.com: The discount giant doesn't let other travel sites list its fares, meaning you can miss out on good deals if you neglect to check its site.
- Travelocity.com, Zuji.com: Both sites are among the best for flexible searches, which let you find the cheapest fares for a certain route over a given period of time. Travelocity lets you search for flexible domestic fares, while Zuji focuses on international routes. Beware, though. In many cases, the sites will identify the cheapest dates and then, when you go to book, say they are no longer available. Use the flexible-fare feature simply to identify the cheapest dates. You can then use that information on other sites.
- Yapta.com: Allows you to "tag" fares that you're interested in or that you already bought. It tracks those flights and alerts you when the price drops. It's especially beneficial for a flight you already purchased. If the fare goes down, you could receive a refund for the difference, depending on the airline.
Other useful travel-related sites
- Seatguru.com: Helps you figure out the best -- and worst -- seats on a plane for most airlines.
- Tripadvisor.com: Use this site to find hotels and bed and breakfast reviews, and photos from fellow travelers.
- Hotwire.com: Great for exclusive hotel deals. The drawback: You don't find out the name of the hotel or the exact location until after your purchase, and you can't get a refund.
- Flightstats.com: Provides a wealth of information, including airport delays, on-time status, security wait times and weather data. Also lets you track the progress of a flight and estimates when it actually will land.
- Flylc.com: List of low-cost airlines that serve European airports.
