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When
it comes to finding the best airfare, advice abounds.
Problem is, some tips and conventional wisdom are
questionable or downright wrong. Yet the myths are
repeated everywhere from cocktail parties to media
reports.
Of
course, booking a flight is a far different experience
than it was a generation ago. Instead of consumers
calling an airline on the phone or using a travel agent,
today it’s mostly a do-it-yourself, online task.
You
can book on the airlines’ own websites and use
fare-comparison sites, such as Kayak.com, Bing.com,
Expedia.com, Orbitz.com, Hipmunk.com and Travelocity.com.
Even Google recently got in the game with its new Flight
Search feature.
Check
Southwest Airlines fares at southwest.com because it
isn’t listed on most comparison sites. As robust as
today’s online tools are, airfares can still seem
confusing, and they vary wildly, said Rick Seaney, chief
executive officer of FareCompare.com, a comparison site
that has studied years of fare data and offers tips and
advice on airfares.
“Most
consumers know they can shop at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 5
p.m. and get three different prices for the same
flight,” he said. “The playing field for the game is
pretty simple. The airlines’ job is to make the most
on each seat on every flight. The consumer’s job is to
pay the least for each seat on every flight they take.
Somewhere in between is what actually happens.”
Here
is a sampling of the bad advice and common myths about
booking a domestic flight, along with some better tips.
—“Shop
on weekends.” This advice is more likely to get you
the worst fare than the best. FareCompare’s analysis
of airline pricing shows that 3 p.m. Eastern time
Tuesday is the optimal time to start shopping for
airline tickets. Why? Typically, one airline starts a
sale on Monday night. Other airlines, being price
copycats for competitive reasons, follow suit on
Tuesday. The reservation system is updated by about 3
p.m. Tuesday with the maximum number of cheap seats
across the most number of airlines. Sales typically end
by Thursday night. “The window of time to buy is
between Tuesday and Thursday night, generally,” Seaney
said. That’s a rule of thumb. Prices vary by airline
and route for all kinds of reasons.
—“Buy
your ticket very early or at the last minute.” Better
prices on tickets don’t start until about three and a
half months before departure, Seaney said. “People
think that by being a very early bird, they’re getting
a good deal, but that’s just not the case,” he said.
And prices rise dramatically starting about 14 days
before departure. “Once you hit the 14-day mark,
airlines start treating you like a business customer who
can afford more.”
The
cheapest days to fly are generally Tuesday, Wednesday
and Saturday. They’re cheaper because they are
typically slower days for the airlines. That has an
added bonus: You’re more likely to travel in “poor
man’s first class” — meaning an empty middle seat
and more elbow room. Unfortunately, in recent years
airlines have cut back on service, reducing the number
of seats and your chances for an empty middle seat.
—“Use
a travel agent.” Using a travel agent can be a good
idea for a variety of reasons, especially for
complicated or unusual trips. But for booking a domestic
flight, not so much. For the most part, travel agents
don’t get commissions from the airlines anymore. With
a basic computer search, you have access to all the same
tools, anyway.
—“Airfares
are based on distance traveled.” Competition drives
the price of a ticket more than anything. That’s why
consumers can see a ticket from New York to Boston for
$600 and a ticket from New York to Los Angeles for $300.
Jet fuel is a huge expense for airlines, but competition
drives pricing more than the prevailing price of crude
oil, Seaney said.
—“Major
airlines provide the best service.” Quality is in the
eye of the beholder for any single flight, but
satisfaction surveys, including complaint rankings by
the U.S. Department of Transportation, consistently show
most of the majors score relatively poorly. Southwest
Airlines is an exception, scoring well, along with
several smaller discount carriers.
—“You’re
out of luck if an airfare drops after you book your
ticket.” Actually, quite a few airlines will refund
the difference if you ask. For some airlines, the price
drop must reach a certain threshold before you’re
eligible. The highest threshold is for the biggest
airlines, which require a price drop of at least $150
— to cover a $150 rebooking fee — before they will
issue a refund. Typically, airlines require that you
purchase the ticket directly through the airline to
qualify for a refund, which might be in the form of a
credit or a voucher for a future flight.
And
here are a couple of tips that might sound fishy but
actually have some merit.
—“Try
standby rather than pay a change fee.” This is worth a
shot. Sometimes you can get a confirmed standby seat,
which might cost you $50, rather than paying a $150
change fee to rebook a flight, Seaney said.
—“When
shopping for multiple passengers, shop for a single seat
too.” This is actually a good trick, Seaney said. If
you have a party of four, for example, you might find a
single seat costs $200, but seats for four people cost
$300 each. It’s a quirk of airline reservation
systems. “Everybody who is on the same itinerary has
to have the same price,” he said. “So if you have
four people and there’s one cheaper seat, they’re
going to bump all four to the next higher price.
So,
by shopping for one, you can easily tell whether there
are some cheaper seats on the flight.” Then you can
split your itinerary to capture the cheaper seat.
———
COOL
TOOLS:
—InvisibleHand:
This web browser plug-in stays hidden until you’re
shopping for something, including airfares. Then it
shows up as a bar across the top of your screen and
tells you where you can get the item for less. http://www.getinvisiblehand.com
—Bing
Price Predictor: Formerly called Farecast, this tool
analyzes past airfare pricing trends to predict whether
the flight you’re interested in will rise or fall in
price, which helps answer the nagging question of
whether to book now or wait for a price drop. http://www.bing.com/travel
—Yapta:
This site does two primary things. It will track
airfares before you buy, and it will help you get a
refund if a fare drops after you buy. http://www.yapta.com
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