1. Buy Airline Tickets in Advance

The earlier you buy tickets the cheaper you can usually get them. This means 3 months in advance for domestic travel and up to 6 months in advance for international travel. During holiday seasons ticket prices are bound to increase as the planes fill up and airlines regularly raise their prices 3 weeks, 2 weeks, 1 week and finally 3 days before a flight. Buy your airline tickets early to avoid these price jumps.

2. Find a Last Minute Ticket Deal

If you can’t book your tickets way in advance or if you’re flexible in your travel plans you can sometimes find great deals on last minute tickets if the plane isn’t full. Many of the airlines publish weekly newsletters that you can subscribe to and find out about their best last minute ticket deals. And these days there are lots of websites that will help you find last minute dirt cheap airline tickets, like Travelocity or TravelZoo.

3. Do Your Homework

You shop around for cars, appliances and even groceries, airline tickets should be handled the same way. Don’t just take the first fare you find, compare the prices of various competing airlines to find the best possible travel deals. And while you’re doing your research you may even find some fantastic deals for future travel or some last minute deals.

4. Know When to Buy Your Tickets

You can track the changes in ticket prices, but unless you do it full time knowing when the right time to buy can be extremely difficult. Web services like Farecast will provide you with fare predictions for over 75 US cities. This will let you know if now is a good time to buy or if you should wait until later based on the predicted future price of your fare.

Another thing to keep in mind is that airline tickets are usually cheaper for flights leaving on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and the airlines often post their fare sales on these days as well. If you can travel on these days your chances of getting a dirt cheap ticket is much better.

5. Use Airline Ticket Discounters

Discounters usually won’t have tickets for the major airlines, but using these services can save you a bundle. These smaller operations aren’t as popular as the major airlines and maybe you’ve never even heard of them, but their fares can be substantially lower through discounters. They aren’t always easy to find, but they have been gaining in popularity recently, especially with the rise in the major airlines ticket prices.

Finding dirt cheap airline tickets isn’t that hard if you follow these five steps. In fact, if you keep these tips in mind you may be able to save hundreds of dollars on your next trip. Good luck and happy fare hunting!

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