Airfare Reservations

airfare reservations

Caveats of Cheap Discount Airfare Reservations

Your friend tells you she scored a great deal by getting a cheap discount airfare reservation to New York for under $100 and you vow that you’ll never pay full price again. Sure, there are some excellent deals available on the web whereby you can get actual cheap discount airfare reservations but you need to know what that means.

No Return, Exchange or Transfer

Once you click the checkout button for a cheap discount airfare reservation online, that’s it. You can not change your reservation date, city, airline or time of departure/arrival at any cost. These cheap discount airfare reservation tickets are non-transferable meaning that in case you are unable to make the trip, you can’t give it to a friend to use instead.

One way out of losing all your money may be to buy trip protection of some sort. Not everything will be covered, but it does cover things like cancelled flights and lost luggage. Check when making your reservation if such a feature is offered, what it covers and how much is it for.

One Way or Round Trip

At times airlines and travel websites advertiser amazingly low airfares. You might be tempted to go to Orlando for $69 but do find out if this is a one-way fare that is quoted or a return trip. Also take in to account all fees, surcharges, government taxes etc. and look at the final price carefully before you enter your credit card information.

Inconvenient

Although not always, but many a time cheap discount airfare reservations are possible because they have the most inconvenient flight itineraries. They may leave at 6 AM which means you need to get out of bed at 3 AM to make it to the airport. They may also return at odd hours or they may return at a different airport from where you departed; this leaves parking you car at the airport out of the question.

Cheap discount airfare reservations may also have inconvenient layovers which do not just increase the travel time; they may entail terminal change or be too close or too far apart. Either way you may miss a connecting flight due to shortage of tm or inclement weather and be stuck in a different city.

Remember that cheap discount airfare reservations are a good deal provided you are flexible with your time, date and airline. If you are a frequent flyer it always pays to stick with one carrier so that you can earn and redeem miles. A few hundred miles on each airline can not get you the same rewards that a couple of thousand on one carrier can. So read the fine print and check everything twice before you make a cheap discount airfare reservation. Bon Voyage!

Airfare Questions:

What are the best vs. worst months to buy airfare?

My fiance and I are looking at airfare for our honeymoon, right now. It’s a few months early, but people generally advise booking stuff about six months in advance. The prices, however, seem to have taken quite a leap lately, versus the last time we checked, back in November. Fiance had just booked the reservations for our cruise and didn’t want to put too much on his credit card that month, and December wasn’t an option because of holiday shopping and expenses.

It depends on where you are going, and when, which you didn’t specify. In general, definitely avoid the summer months, when the school kids can travel with their families, and Aug/Sep before the college students scramble to get back to school. Avoid spring break if travelling to the Carribean islands and tropical beachfront locations (generally the 2nd and 3rd weeks in March, check the college academic calendars). Winter is the absolute cheapest for both travel to Europe (incredible rt fares to London and Paris, etc) and other USA domestic fares. Winter sale fares are in effect now, for domestic travel nationwide. The fares go up in spring, when the winter sale fares end, and then again in late May for summer. The thing to remember is that most cheap fares are bogged down heavily with restrictions, beginning with at least a 21-day or 14-day advance purchase, travel within a specified date range (which means even if you bought tickets now, those fares may not be valid for travel during your honeymoon) and cheap fares are NONREFUNDABLE fares. read the fine print for all restrictions!!! Also prepare to buy today and find out that the price has changed by as much as $100 the very next day, that sort of thing is quite common as airlines scramble to release seats that were previously held back. The reason the fares were cheap in Nov. is because those were winter sale fares and the reason the fares are expensive now is because your travel dates, I suspect, is after the winter months.