Find Cheap Airfares - Tips and information on discount travel

photo credit: Deanster1983

Would you like to find cheap flights? Of course you would! Who wouldn’t? Sometimes, though, all the research in the world won’t get you anywhere, if you don’t know where to look.

A lot of people end up putting a lot of time and effort into searching the main travel search engines like Expedia and Travelocity. While this isn’t a bad idea, something the best thing that you can do to find cheap flights is to look in another direction. Often, discounts can be found by looking at alternate airports and by-passing the big airlines.

You would think that the major airlines like Delta, American, and Northwest would all have the best fares. We have been lead to believe that bigger is better, after all. Sadly, when it comes to cheap flights, this is not always the case. In fact, sometimes smaller is better if you want better rates.

Smaller airlines like Southwest, Song, AirTran, American West, and Spirit Air often have cheaper rates than the bigger airlines. Southwest constantly runs specials and web deals, and unlike the larger airlines, sometimes the closer to departure you purchase your tickets, the cheaper they are.

It used to be that the smaller airlines didn’t offer as many amenities as the larger airlines and for that reason, many people chose not to ride on them. Nowadays, though, with the big airlines charging for food and drink and other things that used to come for free, that doesn’t seem to be as much of an issue. In fact, some people even prefer to fly the smaller airlines because they seem to be “friendlier.” There are also many people that like the “free seating” that some of the smaller airlines offer that gives passengers more say about where they sit on the airplane.

Sometimes, the smaller airlines fly into smaller hubs. Southwest, for instance, flies into Chicago Midway instead of Chicago O’Hare. This is rarely an issue, however, since public transportation is still convenient to the downtown area from Midway. They don’t always fly into smaller hubs, of course. Southwest does fly into the major Orlando airport. National Airlines are based out of Las Vegas, too, and it’s the same airport that the major airlines use.

With that being said, you can sometimes find cheap flights by looking at other hubs. If you live in the Boston area, for instance, also check rates out of Providence, Manchester, and Hartford. There might be enough of a price difference to warrant driving an hour or two to get there. A price difference is usually significant between Indianapolis, Lexington, Louisville, and Cincinnati, too.

Make sure that your price difference is significant enough, though, to warrant the extra driving time. Don’t forget to factor in the cost of a hotel, too. You might need a hotel room over night if your flight is early the next morning. In some cases, it doesn’t make financial sense to drive 2 hours out of your way if the cost is going to be about the same.