Top 8 Tips for Finding Affordable Airfares!
By M Prouse

Affordable air fares are not that hard to find! Just use a bit of commons sense, add a dash of planning and a sprinkle of research and you can save major bucks! The price of air fares can vary greatly for many different reasons. Time of year, fuel prices, flight demand, taxes and many various deals and promotions run by the companies. However getting the best deal out of all this information can be confusing. Here are 8 simple tips to help you in your search for a cheap air fare on your next flight!

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1 - Be Flexible

If you can afford to change the date of your arrival or departure by a little bit you can sometimes cut the cost by 25 to 50 percent amazingly! You will of course have to balance this out with cost of accommodation for extra days and of course possible inconvenience but if you can be flexible you can make great savings!

2 - No Need to Stay Saturday

There is a belief that staying overnight on a Saturday to fly out on Sunday can save you money. While this perhaps may have been true at some point it seems to no longer apply in today's market. Comparisons between ticket price and the days across a number of airlines show no definite or great difference so this myth can be busted. Hopefully this will help with your flexibility!

3 - Book Ahead

When we say book ahead that is not just a week but even three to four weeks ahead. The price of plane tickets seem to climb as the number of seats go down. If you get in early you can save amazing amounts this way especially if you are used to booking only a few days before as that is when the price as more than doubled compared to a week or so before.

4 - Fly Midweek

While Saturday or Sunday are similar there is a distinct difference between the weekends and weekdays. Since most people travel on weekends the prices are raised for more profit, flights during the week however will be lower to various degrees so if possible plan to fly on Monday to Friday.

5 - Be Flexible on Your Airport

While one airport might be closer to your final destination neighboring airports might have much cheaper flights to them. This may require a trip via public transport to get to your destination and some more time on your part to get there but the costs of ground based public transport are usually cheap enough that you are saving money in total!

6 - Check Return Trip Fares

Though it sounds just plain wrong sometimes return trips can cost LESS than one way trips! IF you are just going one way check the price for a return fare and you can sometimes find it cheaper! Why this is I do not know but



promotions and sometimes just plain screw ups in their pricing system can work in your favour!

7 - Avoid Holidays

Fairly obvious this one but sometimes lost in the rush of our busy lives. Holiday season is the busiest time of the year for companies and they jack the price right up. If you can get in early or later you can avoid their price hikes. You can also avoid the air commuter crush of those times too!

8 - Multi-City Trips

Many companies offer deals on trips that have multiple stopovers. Instead of searching for individual fares for each leg of your trip see if you can get an all in one multi-city trip. These can often be cheaper then the individual trips but using all the other tips I have given it is not always so but keep it in mind!

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Using these simple common sense methods you can shave hundreds of dollars off your trip which leaves you with more money to enjoy on your holiday or simply more money in the bank. You don't even need to sacrifice on seating and comfort if you don't want as most of these tips are a matter of good timing and organization!