Finding Cheap Last Minute Airfare

If you find yourself having to take a flight right away, you probably feel that you have to forget about cheap airfare, right? You might be surprised to find that low cost airfare is not necessarily limited to flights that are booked well in advance. If you know where to look or what to do, it’s possible to travel on discount airline tickets even if you have to leave at the last minute.


Though the easiest way to find the cheapest airline tickets is to book in advance, there are a few places online that you can check for cheaper airline tickets even if you don’t have the advantage of time.


Orbitz is an online travel search engine that was started by airlines. With Orbitz, you’ll get your best last minute airfare deal if you can be flexible about departure and arrival times. Orbitz has access to airfares from a multitude of airlines and can search millions of fares usually in less than a minute. A comparison of booking through Orbitz versus booking directly through an airline will show that with Orbitz you will probably save money and time.


TravelZoo’s Net Fares and Hotwire are two other good Internet travel search engines for getting cheap airfare, and work pretty much the same as Orbitz. Your best bet is to pick two or three of the best discount travel search engines and put your flight information into each to get a better list of airfares to choose from.


“Standby” is another method of getting discount airfare. Most airlines will sell you a standby ticket at much cheaper rates than regular fare. Of course, the potential drawbacks are obvious; you are not guaranteed a seat on a particular flight at a particular time, and you may have to wait for quite a while. If you are traveling alone, your chances of getting on the flight you want are increased. If you have the option of being flexible on your times, you might want to consider standby. Remember to ask the airline ahead of time if there will be discount airfare for standby, and if so, how much.

If you explore your options, you’re sure to find cheaper airfare no matter how soon you need to fly. A little last minute homework can go a long way!

May, 22nd 2006

 

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