SubscribeWed 9 May 2007
I was reading last week on Beyond Consumer about yet another airline fee, I started thinking about what it takes to get the cheapest fare.
There are the standard rules for booking a flight.
- Book earlier rather than later, at least 2 weeks in advance
- Saturday night stay (though I’m finding this to be less and less of a factor)
I don’t hunt for days for the best airfare. It takes too much time to get absolutely the best price, but I do have two general rules I try to abide by.
- I generally have a rule of thumb that if I can get direct flight for under $300 for travel that’s 4 hours or more, it’s a good deal
- Always check with a travel agent/consolidator to get better fares for international travel for travel that is planned well in advance.
I’ve also started using FareCast to get estimate if I’m getting a fair price at the time. To me it’s like the Zillow of airfares. Having used farecast a bit, I realize how important knowing a route is. For example I have a friend who flies to Cincinnati more often than the average joe, and if it weren’t for him I wouldn’t know snagging a $300 flight is a good deal. Delta apparently dominates the airport. That’s the hardest problem with pricing a flight – knowing what is a good deal and what’s not. Airfares most often don’t make intuitive sense. Distance by itself is not a good measure.
I think probably the most important thing when it comes to booking travel is to understand your nature and the nature of the trip. Why are you traveling? How much do you value your time? Are your dates more flexible than you think?
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May 10th, 2007 at 5:41 am
As that fellow who I believe Dong references as the frequent Cincinnati flyer (why does everyone want to give the ‘nati two t’s?) Check out this link:
http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/2006/07/what_is_the_usa_1.html
CVG is the most expensive airport in the country. (Memphis and White Plains are also in the top 5). So I don’t think you can put much method to the madness of airline fares (though with fuel prices constantly being blamed for fare hikes, you would think distance would be the primary determinant, but Cincinnati is rather centrally located, along with DFW, which was #2).
As a guy who purchases airline tickets 4 times a month for work (less cost sensitive) and for myself (more cost sensitive) I’d suggest that you simply set a price you are willing to pay and go find it. Worrying about finding the “best price ever” will simply cause indecision when you find an acceptable fare, and if you delay to hit that purchase button, you may be left without acceptable options at all.
May 10th, 2007 at 7:36 am
I just checked out the FareCast site. It’s great! I will definitely use that when I’m planning my next trip.
May 13th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
Spelling and Grammar are not my strong suit. I think people want to put two two t’s because they don’t want to put two n’s….. At least I do.