8 Steps to Getting Lower Airfares

This is my article published many years ago in the Baltimore Sun and other newspapers. I have been involved recently in many research projects. I will continue to re-publish favorite travel skills articles. Let me know what topics are of interest to you.

Be Flexible The most important factor for getting lower airfares is flexibility. When possible, check alternate airports, a range of days and times, other carriers, and various routings. Opportunities for lower airfares increase when you have more options.

Buy Early Most discounted airfares must be purchased several days before the flight­­—usually 21 or 14 for the biggest discounts. However, the lowest prices are offered during fare wars (sales), which may be several months before you want to fly. For instance, the cheapest summer flights to Europe are traditionally sold between the previous Thanksgiving and Christmas. One way to discover fare wars is to use a customized homepage (such as My Yahoo!) and continually check fares for your favorite routes. Investigate whether a sale is in progress when prices suddenly change. Many web sites, including airline and booking web sites, notify subscribers by e-mail when fares drop.

Buy Late Many airlines offer distressed inventory as last-minute airfares. They rarely match the lowest airfares offered during fare sales, but last-minute airfares can be great deals for emergency flights or impulse trips. Airlines release last-minute airfares each week around Wednesday morning for flights that weekend. However, a recent trend is to offer “last-minute” fares for flights more than one week into the future. Sign up to receive e-mail notification from each airline or SmarterLiving.com, who compiles the information from all airlines for most cities.

Surf for Lower Airfares Compare fares offered by major booking web sites to fares listed on the airline’s web site. The airline’s price may be lower or they may offer bonus frequent flyer points. Booking web sites do not include Southwest Airlines, so visit Southwest’s web site to find their fares.

Use a Travel Agent Travel agents usually save you time and stress and often save you money. For instance, they may have preferred discounts with certain airlines and can offer lower airfares than you can find. They can also sell consolidator fares and charter flights that are not available to consumers.

Book Direct Call airlines directly to book bereavement or compassion fares. Some web sites do not offer senior, children, or group discounts. Keep in mind Step 1, Be Flexible, when calling airlines for fare quotes.

Get More, Pay Less Look for packages—lodging, rental car, and/or meals in addition to the flight—that cost a little more or even LESS than the airfare alone. Each winter, packages (including seven nights lodging and rental car) to Australia and other South Pacific destinations cost only $100 more than the airfare. Prices do not increase as the departure date approaches and a Saturday night stay is not required, making packages ideal for last-minute travelers.

Airfare Ploys Big savings can result from splitting long flights into two separate round-trip flights. You can even create a stopover and use different airlines, if you choose. Lower airfares or more convenient flights may be found when using co-terminals, which are different airports in the same city or area. Open jaw, charter, courier, consolidator, or round-the-world flights result in lower airfares in some situations.

Charles McCool is a travel consultant specializing in helping consumers and businesses save money, time, and stress on all aspects of travel. He is the author of Winning the Airfare Game and operates http://lowerairfares.com/.

travel deals on Twitter revisited

Well, I did not get much reaction to my blog post about Twitter not being great for travel deals. I will assume, then, that it is still true.

In the October issue of Conde Nast Traveler magazine, Wendy Perrin wrote an article titled, "How to Tweet Your Way to Amazing Travel Deals," with a sidebar article to 21 Twitterers to Follow. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Thank you.
© 2009, Charles McCool

$163 cross-country flights

There are only a couple of hours left in this sale (expires 7 am Pacific time, September 22). Virgin America is having a business special for last minute travel. I combined these low almost-walk up fares with my promo code (for Elevate members, 20% off, sent by e-mail on Sept 3) to get this wonderful roundtrip fare.

Recommended Travel Book: Power Travel

It is not often that I am impressed by another travel reference book. I am only about 50 pages into a current one and I am thoroughly impressed. The book is "The Wall Street Journal Guide to Power Travel: How to Arrive with Your Dignity, Sanity, and Wallet Intact" by Scott McCartney (aka WSJ's Middle Seat columnist).

Scott's writing is unpretentious, straightforward, and, most importantly, valuable. So far in the book, he outlines important websites (and specific features and methods) for booking airfares.

Again, I have only read a small percentage but I believe this book is better than any other travel reference book published since 2001. More details to come but I do not hesitate to suggest that you go buy it (or check it out from the library, as I did).

© 2009, Charles McCool

Travel Book Special for 09/09/09 ONLY!

*** SORRY, Deal has expired ***

LowerAirfares.com and Charles McCool (author of Winning the Airfare Game) have a very special deal for travel consumers to celebrate September 9, 2009 (09/09/09).

Less than 100 mint condition copies of Winning the Airfare Game remain in our inventory. For one day only, we are offering one copy of our book PLUS a free gift, along with FREE shipping--all for a low price of $9.99 (local pickup from Northern Virginia ZIPCODE=20191, otherwise add $4 shipping).

Your free gift will be your choice of a current travel guide (including Zagats and other travel reference books), older travel guides, or a collection of travel magazines (current year, local pickup only for magazines). The free gifts will be first come, first served. I will send the updated list of available titles to buyers in chronological order, according to when payment is received by PayPal.

Each bonus travel book costs over $10. Retail value of Winning the Airfare Game is $13.95. With today's special, you get two travel books (worth over $20) for only $9.99. You will dave at least 50%. PLUS, I always guarantee that you will be learn to save money, time, and stress from my book. If you are not completely satisfied, return your order for a complete refund.

Please select the appropriate option from the drop-down list below and click the Buy Now button. Credit cards are accepted and your financial data is confidential. PayPal payments are completely safe and secure. If you wish to pick up your copy of Winning the Airfare Game and your bonus travel guide (or collection of current year travel magazines), select "Local pickup." If you want your two books mailed to you (for only $4!), select "Ship It!"

Please note that I have limited supply and this offer will expire prior to midnight on September 9, 2009, if enough orders are received. If too many orders have been received and I have not had a chance to update this web page, I will issue an immediate PayPal refund (sorry, I do not have a real-time automated inventory tracking system). Act early to get best choice of BONUS travel guides.

** SORRY, Deal has expired ***

Global Top 5 Under $5 Must Eat Dishes

In the September 2009 issue of Travel & Leisure, there is an article called, "30 Dishes Worth Traveling For." Of course you would have to be a hypertraveler to have tried more than a few of them.

What particularly caught me attention was the sidebar that they called Global Top 5 Under $5. Here they are:

* Duck-fat fries at Hot Doug's, Chicago
* Soup noodles with braised brisket at Kau Kee, Hong Kong
* Custard tart at Pastéis de Belém, Lisbon
* Poutine at La Banquise, Montreal
* Soup dumplings at Nanxiang Mantou Dian, Shanghai

Sorry, no mention of In & Out or Five Guys.

Has anyone tried any of these dishes? Are they worthy of inclusion? What are your top 5 under $5?

Thank you.

© 2009, Charles McCool

Is Twitter all that?

Is anyone reading this?

I am on Twitter (CharlesMcCool), use Twitter, but am not that impressed. Am I wrong?

Sure there is a lot of "social networking"--"follow me," "I'll follow you," "here is an article I found (probably written by one of your Twitter BFFs)," "ooh, look at me retweet someone's link to another article."

Most (if not all) of the information I find on Twitter is also posted elsewhere. Do you find it quicker on Twitter? If anything, it is more difficult to find worthwhile information on Twitter with all of the crud.

The most valuable and recent news item I remember finding on Twitter before anywhere else was jetBlue's All You Can Travel promotion. I happen to be on Twitter when jetBlue's tweet popped onto my screen. I was likely the first person (out of millions, it seems) to retweet the news. This promotion even spawned a Twitter acronym (Trending Topic) and accounts dedicated to the trip.

Sure, that is all entertaining but not informative.

So, what travel skills can be gained from Twitter?

:: cricket, cricket ::

Enlighten me, will ya, if there is some value for DIY travelers using Twitter. I have seen a couple of hotel properties list special rates and jetbluecheeps lists rock-bottom, last-minute fares (essentially useless since they are valid for just one day). Other than that, Twitter is not "all that." If it IS all that to you, please let me know what I am missing and who you are following.

Thank you.

© 2009, Charles McCool