Friday, August 28th, 2009 /
steinapetra
To take advantage of this discount, you can split your international flight into two flights. Despite the small inconvenience, it is definitely cheaper than flying direct internationally. For example, to fly from northern US to South America, it is probably much cheaper to first fly domestic to a southern hub such as Miami, and then taking an international flight to South America. When searching for discount travel tickets, you want to fly as close as possible to your destination domestically, and you also want to fly between major hubs because the cheapest domestic tickets will always be between major hubs such as New York and LA.
Another popular discount travel flight option is charter flights. A standard airline generally has a set route and set schedule between two cites regardless of the amount of passengers. Standard airlines thus charge higher airfares in order to maintain these scheduled routes even if the plane is not half-full. On the other hand, charter companies usually charter an entire plane from an airline for a specific date and time, and therefore receive a good discount, which in turn is passed on to passengers. Airfares for charter flights also tend to get even cheaper as the departure date approaches. However, charter flights are also quite restrictive, in that there is a higher risk of charter companies canceling flights if enough tickets are not sold, and since there aren’t that many charter flights to multiple destinations, you may not be put on another flight immediately. You would probably receive a refund or you would probably have to wait one or two days for other charter flights.
The important thing about discount travel is to explore as many options as possible. If you are willing to be more flexible and to buy tickets on short notice, the cheaper your fare will be.
Friday, August 21st, 2009 /
steinapetra
Due to the high costs involved, most people don’t travel nearly as much as they would like too. Unless you are well off, chances are that traveling is something you only do a handful of times in your life, and there is therefore a tendency to try and get as much out of the experience as possible. There is, of course, nothing wrong with this idea, but a slight shift in your priorities can save you a lot of money, and once you learn some discount travel techniques you will be able to travel not only more often but in more interesting ways.
Because most people travel rarely, they naturally want to see as much as they possibly can in a foreign country. When happens when you do this though, is that you end up traveling quite a lot when you are in the country – traveling when you are traveling, as it were – which makes your trip much more expensive. No matter where you are, bus tickets, train fares and car rentals are always going to be relatively expensive. One of the best things you can do to lower your trips cost’s is to stay put for awhile, and explore areas around your location more closely.
If you’re willing to stay put, many discount travel opportunities will become available. For one, you can rent an apartment in a city for a short term, which will cost less than even the cheapest of hotels. Also, by getting to know a place you’ll learn where the bargains can be found: where the cheap places to eat are, where the cheap entertainment is. Not only that, but you will have the opportunity to immerse yourself more deeply in the culture – you’ll be able to get a sense of what it is like to live in this place.
Although it’s natural to want to see lots of things, many people come up with traveling itineraries that put them constantly on buses and trains and never staying in the same place for more than a few days. They get off a bus, spend a long, tiring day doing touristy things, and then sleep in a cheap hotel only to get on another train the next morning. While you’ll no doubt get to see lots of things if you choose to travel like this, it certainly won’t be cheap.
When planning your itinerary think of the difference between seeing things and experiencing things. You will no doubt see lots of sights if you choose to constantly tour around, but are you going to really get a sense of the country? If you choose instead to rent an apartment and stay put for awhile, you’ll find out what many discount travelers already know: that immersing yourself in a culture can not only be a more valuable experience, but it will end up costing you much less. You’ll get to explore areas around your base more closely, and let your curiosity guide you: a local may turn you onto an interesting spot you never would have considered when planning your itinerary back home.
In this way staying put is not only a great way to make your trip more enjoyable, but one of the best discount travel strategies there is.
Sunday, August 09th, 2009 /
steinapetra
Unless you are planning a short domestic trip, the cost of airfare is usually a deciding factor in an overseas trip. Most people with moderate incomes simply can’t afford to fly regularly, as much as they would like to. There are, however, some people out there who are flying all the time on regular incomes. The secret to achieving this is a willingness to be flexible and shop around with airfares, as well as employing some tried and true discount travel techniques.
The key to getting a cheap flight is to shop around, and the internet makes this easy for almost anyone to do. There are a plethora of websites that will conduct searches around the world for cheap airfares. Although the internet is a valuable tool in discovering cheap airfares, it’s important that you don’t rely on it entirely. Many sites claim they are searching “all flights” for the cheapest possible fare, but you really don’t have any way of knowing what they do and don’t have access to. Oftentimes the cheapest flights can come from the airlines themselves, and you’d be well advised to check their sites as well in your search.
No matter how much research you do online, you should always visit some travel agents. Keep in mind that these people make their livings selling airfares, and will often have access to deals that aren’t available to you online. Think of it this way: if you really could always get the cheapest flight online, travel agents would be out of business. The fact that they are not suggests that good deals are to found the old fashioned way: by visiting the office of a travel agent.
When looking for discount travel, you should also explore non-traditional methods of finding flights. Websites like priceline.com offer reverse auction systems, that is: you place a bid of what you’re willing to pay on a given route on a given date, and if it turns out that an airline is willing to release a seat for that price, your credit card is billed an a ticket is issued.
Another good avenue to explore is “bucket shops” – companies who buy bulk tickets from airlines at a heavy discount. They don’t have the choice that travel agent has, of course, but if you’re flexible you can often get a good deal. A typical bucket shop system will work as follows: you give them a week-long window during which you’d like to fly and some destination choices, and then if something comes up at the last minute you can have it at a heavy discount.
Another rarely explored discount travel technique is to look into bucket shops and travel agents located in ethnic neighborhoods. Often, foreign airlines sell discounted tickets to these shops, which in turn serve an ethnic community regularly traveling to their home country. These shops have access to tickets from airlines that often aren’t available at your regular travel agent, and can offer a significant savings.
The important thing to remember in terms of discount travel is to explore as many avenues as you can. The more flexible you are willing to be, the cheaper your fare is likely to be – but even if you’re stuck with rigid dates, a compressive search will often result in airfares that are significantly lower than those commonly advertised.
