Rare mahdnc Posted August 22, 2006 #1 Share Posted August 22, 2006 This link will take you to an article that appeared in the 8/21/06 edition of the Wall Street Journal: Frugal Flying. The link will only be good for up to one week for us non-subscribers. Without violating copyright stuff, I cannot cut and paste the article here in the post. For those that are reading this post after the link expires, I will summarize very briefly what it says on some favorite strategies among TAs and road warriors. Much of it may be oversimplified or old news, but it can give one food for thought: 1. Pick the cheapest travel dates--Tues/Wed for US. Mon-Thu for Europe. 2. Buy tickets to Europe in Dec for winter trips--fare wars are typically launched in Dec for Jan-Mar travel. Also consider flying into a highly competitive destination like London (to get a low transatlantic fare) and then use a low cost European carrier like Rynair to your intended destination. 3. Watch for fares closely--new domestic fares are released every weekday at 10am, 12:30pm, and 8 pm. On weekends, only at 5 pm. 4. Don't plan too far in advance--if you buy outside of 6 months, you are overpaying (unless it is holiday travel). The article says to start looking 3-4 months ahead (buy only if there is a deal) and get serious about buying 1 month to 90 days before travel. 5. Last minute travel--deals can be had if you are willing to travel on 1-2 weeks notice. 6. Pick your offseason travel carefully--make sure that you do not overly compromise your vacation plans by snagging a cheap offseason fare. They did mention that LAX to FCO is $573 from Nov-Mar. Then it jumps up to $809 after Apr 1. 7. Subscribe to ExpertFlyer.com--among other things, it tells you what the actual inventory of seats are on any given flight--broken down by fare categories. Gives you an idea of whether you need to book right away or whether you can wait. 8. Subscribe to email alerts--available from TAs and airlines. 9. Senior Discounts--Southwest and United still have strong Senior Discount programs which have a membership fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyerTalker Posted August 22, 2006 #2 Share Posted August 22, 2006 A lot of good advice there. One caveat that you ALWAYS have to remember - the less flexible your travel plans can be (dates, times, routings, airlines), the more likely it will be that you can't get the absolute lowest fares for your flights. ExpertFlyer is quite good (I am a subscriber) IF you like the intricacies of fare buckets, fare rules and the like. For Orbitz/Expedia/Travelocity type folks who like to make a few clicks and go, it can be overload. It may not always be the case, but good ol' supply and demand are still the drivers behind scheduling and pricing in the airline industry. Keep that in mind when booking Florida cruises over Spring Break, or Christmas or Thanksgiving - your airfare won't be cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NVR2LTE Posted August 22, 2006 #3 Share Posted August 22, 2006 Great tips! Just wanted to clarify though; Southwest does not charge any membership fee for Senior fares. They are fully refundable, & changeable, (no change fees) for passengers 65 and older. Thanks for the tips! KB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mahdnc Posted August 23, 2006 Author #4 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Great tips! Just wanted to clarify though; Southwest does not charge any membership fee for Senior fares. They are fully refundable, & changeable, (no change fees) for passengers 65 and older. Thanks for the tips! KB The error is mine--in my haste to summarize. Thanks so much for correcting this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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