Airfares:Check out of season bargains among several top tips
07/18/2017
Firstly be flexible
By this, we mean time, date and location.Early morning flights typically have cheaper airfares than at other times of the day.Do you need to go between those particular dates in your diary ?. For example, anywhere near a school holiday will find you paying a lot of money for airfares, any holiday where lots of people are not working will also hit your wallet hard.Many will argue that going on holiday in say March or December will not get you good weather, but there is half the world where this is Summer.
Choose the best search times
Airfares can be very different depending on the time of day or indeed the day itself. Since airfares are at the whim of demand and supply, if you choose to go online at the right time it may be that prices are down. This is simply because there are fewer people searching for, and buying airfares.In the travel industry, it is a top tip to search the web late on Sunday night.
Why may you ask?
Choose less well-known airports and destinations
Be ready to go to a less well-known destination
Airfares: Check Out of Season Bargains among several top tips
If you are happy to hunt around, then certain periods of the year are surprisingly cheap and relaxing for vacations.For instance the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, any period when the kids are at school, outside Easter, and in the winter/autumn.Prices are very low with many special offers. Flights to Europe are cheap outside the summer. Even in June/July, for example, there are cheap return flights to Lisbon Portugal. Indeed the Portuguese Algarve coast is a real gem.
There are numerous beautiful and charming European cities with easy access to mountains, lakes, forests and the sea. Northern Italy is one excellent example of this.Many of these locations do not immediately come to mind so, for instance, many people just search on Rome, when Naples or Milan might be better options in airfares terms.
There are some elements to consider when searching for good value airfares:
Firstly be flexible
By this, we mean time, date and location.Early morning flights typically have cheaper airfares than at other times of the day.Do you need to go between those particular dates in your diary ?. For example, anywhere near a school holiday will find you paying a lot of money for airfares, any holiday where lots of people are not working will also hit your wallet hard.Many will argue that going on holiday in say March or December will not get you good weather, but there is half the world where this is Summer.
Choose the best search times
Airfares can be very different depending on the time of day or indeed the day itself. Since airfares are at the whim of demand and supply, if you choose to go online at the right time it may be that prices are down. This is simply because there are fewer people searching for, and buying airfares.In the travel industry, it is a top tip to search the web late on Sunday night.
Why may you ask?
It is at this time that many travel agents are putting offers on and taking them off. Therefore, if you are lucky, you can get some great deals.
Choose less well-known airports and destinations
There are many airports that are close to popular destinations but not necessarily the popularly perceived airport for that town or city.Budget airlines are famous for choosing such airports and just prefixing the relevant City name to the airport's title.Indeed in a lot of cases, only that airline refers to the airport concerned by that title creating much confusion.
A case in point is Milan which has three airports Milan Malpensa, Milan Linate and Milan Bergamo.London has countless airports: London Heathrow, London Luton, London Stansted, London Gatwick, London City, and London Southend.London Southend is 35 miles from the city center, and none of the airports (except London City) are in London itself. Heathrow is just outside the capital.If you are prepared to travel overland, for example by train or bus, then an out of town airport may be a cost saving option (though we must factor in the cost of public transport).
Be ready to go to a less well-known destination
Resorts that are famous attract a lot of vacationers; we suppose that goes without saying.But, that does not necessarily make them the best. However, it can make the resorts more expensive.Our advice is to do your research before searching. Firstly, go online and identify the country or countries that you want to visit.Read up on these locations and then whittle down the areas to a short-list.
From there start reading reviews, but not travel blurb, real reviews by people who have been to visit.Some people go to the same place every year because they have found somewhere they view as special. These are the ultimate recommendations. And relative obscurity may mean cheap airfares.
Avoid Thanksgiving
Airfares, especially last minute, can be horrendous as is everything else in travel in this period. However, the week after or the week before will be relatively cheap. It may seem obvious, but people just do not think about it.