Did you know that the time to purchase airline tickets for the best price is after midnight on Tuesdays? Business travelers travel with the most frequency on Mondays and Fridays, thus the prices go down and specials are offered to make up for any lost projected revenue if business travelers went another route or through another airline. Remember airlines are all about filling a quota. Fill those seats' is a cheerleading mantra I am sure all airline employers are forced to remember.

I discovered that nifty tidbit of information during the many hours spent looking for the best deals. But who wants to spend hours and /or days searching on line for the best deal? The majority of society does not have a travel agent to do so for them. In fact, there's a good chance you can discover better deals on- line without the assistance of a travel agent-should you know where to look. I know that I have- for other family members as well as myself. If you do have a travel agent, take the deal that you found and let him or her book it-but only after seeing if they can if fact "beat" it.

Other tips I recommend are:

Shop around and be prepared to spend more than a few minutes searching. Look at more than one search engine. By going through www.kayak.com or booking buddy.com you can see comparison prices for both the airlines and travel sites. It is all right there for you, and it saves you so much "surfing around" time.

Be flexible with traveling dates. Wednesdays are the cheapest day to travel to somewhere and Tuesdays are relatively cheap to fly home as opposed to a Friday or Saturday. Sometimes a great deal is available for Sundays or Mondays, but Tuesdays I have found to be the best return time.

Know the airlines policies and confirm your reservation in advance. Carry a copy of your confirmation with you.

Can you be flexible about where you are flying into? www.kayak.com also allows for a comparison of different airports within a 100 mile radius. An extra hour or so of driving time (whether it is you in a rental car or someone coming to get you) might be worth the savings of what can be a hundred dollars or more.

Purchase in advance. Three weeks or more. The earlier you purchase your ticket, the better the deal.

Make sure to identify yourself when searching for the best price. Are you a senior citizen; are you active or retired military? Are you a student? By identifying yourself, more deals might become available to you.

One company I do not recommend at all is Ultimate Fairs. I have researched them through various on line sites and none of it was good. A rule of thumb, it the deals appears too good to be true, it probably is. Search elsewhere!

Enjoy your flight!

Learn more about this author, Lori Piper.
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