Free Airfare...The Ultimate Discount

The ultimate travel discount is to fly free. Unless you work for the airlines, it will be a very rare occasion that you can do this. However, like some of the other cool things in life, it feels REALLY good when you do it. Below we will list a few of the ways that your airfare can be free


Airline Bumping
Airlines typically overbook their flights. They know that some people will make a reservation and then switch flights at the last minute. Unless they sell a few more tickets than available seats, they will often be left with empty seats and an empty seat doesn't make them any money. The airlines spend millions of dollars each year on computers and software to calculate the optimal number of tickets to be sold and the most effective prices. Often they are right, but sometimes they are wrong. When they are wrong, you have an opportunity to fly for free.


When an airline finds that it has overbooked a flight, they will ask for volunteers to take a later flight. They usually give the volunteers " vouchers" for future flights, and these vouchers are just like cash that can be used to buy tickets in the future. The airlines will sometimes fly the volunteers first class on the later flight.


Why do they do this? Well, if they don't they will invariably have to "bump" someone from the overbooked flight, and that someone is often a business traveler that shows up late for the flight. Since business travelers are often on tight schedules and usually pay more for their tickets, they tend to write angry letters and the last thing that the airlines want is a bunch of angry letters to corporate headquarters.


If you properly schedule your business or personal travel, you can take advantage of all of this by occasionally being in the right place at the right time to be bumped. You can increase your likelihood of being "bumped" by traveling during a heavy travel period such as a Monday morning or Friday afternoon on a small bodied aircraft such as a 727 or 737. Schedule your travel so that a delay won't mess up your plans and the airlines will love you for volunteering.

May, 8th 2006 - More

 

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