Air Travel
Ready to book flights?
Before you dive in and book your flights we want to share some helpful hints.
According to USA Today, if you buy airline tickets too far in advance, you could be missing out on big price drops. Airlines do not release their "sale" seat tickets for domestic flights until three or four months before the flight. If you are watching flight prices more than four months down the road, wait until you see that first price dip. If you act fast, you can buy one of the first sale tickets and experience a significant savings over full-fare tickets.
For international flights, this drop occurs four or five months before the departure date.
For air fare watcher "alerts", try the following sites:
http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/
Travel expert and co-founder of FareCompare.com, Rick Seaney, claims that the best day of the week to buy airline tickets is Tuesday. If an airline decides to have a fare sale, it will post it on Monday night, releasing the tickets first thing on Tuesday morning!
Now you are ready to book your tickets. Who should you use? According to The New York Times, the following booking engines still reign supreme:
However, if you use the websites above pretty frequently, we ask you to consider this...in another recent New York Times article, they found that booking directly with the airlines could possibly save you even more money - especially if you are a Rewards Member for a particular airline.
Lastly, if you're an America Express card holder, you may want to try their air travel booking engine. We did a cost comparison and the prices are in-line with the websites above. Remember, with the American Express Pay With Points program, you may be eligible to fly for "free"...check it out!
If you have any questions, need help booking flights or want us to check your American Express points status, give us a call.
