Air Travel Discount
Links of interest for your travel plans
Cheap
Air Travel
Ever wondered why some people traveling by flight are
always able to secure better deals than others? Frankly, I never even
imagined that two people sitting together in the same flight, to the
same destination could have paid vastly different fares. Till I got
chatting with a student on one particular flight that is. While I had
paid a cool five hundred dollars for my return fare, this student, who
had admittedly booked months before me, was getting his return fare for
almost half of the price I had paid. While my initial reaction was that
I had been cheated, I later resolved to find out all about cheap air
travel.
Since it was a student who had put me on to cheap air travel in the
first place, my first point of call was a web search for cheap air
travel for students. A number of links immediately popped up and the
first one to catch my eye was Student flights – the trusted
network for cheap air travel. As I browsed through the website, I
realized that all along, I had been paying an exorbitant fare. But
then, cheap air travel came with certain conditions. For one thing,
they needed to be booked at least three months in advance. Since most
of my travel was confirmed well in advance, I didn’t see any
reason why I could not book three months or more in advance in order to
get cheap air travel deals! Next, I realized that most travel agents
get a hefty commission from the airlines in order to ensure sufficient
bookings. And some of them were known to pass these commissions on as
savings to their customers. This made cheap air travel possible for all.
Since most of my travel bookings were done directly with the airlines,
I was losing out on these additional savings and thereby cheap air
travel options. I resolved then and there that I would find a reliable
travel agent and book solely through him, only if he offered to pass on
the commissions to me. Surprisingly, I found more than one travel agent
willing to do so. I could not believe that I had been losing out on
cheap air travel options solely because I was booking directly with the
airlines! The next thing I realized was that there were a number of
Internet booking options available that ensured that I got cheap air
travel options. Websites like Price line, cheap flights, e-bates and
even cheap tickets offered a range of cheap air travel options. Ho they
made their money or how they were able to offer such cheap options
became clear once I realized that all airlines offer commissions in
order to book to full capacity.
Finally, the airlines themselves sometimes offer cheap air travel
fares. This is done especially during the vacations and lean periods. A
trip that cost me upwards of a thousand dollars could be converted to a
cheap air travel option if only I kept a look out for the seasonal and
promotional prices offered by the airlines. Often, these seasonal
rebates were even better than the cheap air travel options offered by
the largest and the best travel agents.