Airfare Anxiety
© Diane Goldberg under the original topic name
Lesson 3: Airfares
A completely fool-proof system of always purchasing an airline ticket at the lowest possible price probably requires a Faustian bargain involving your immortal soul, first-born child, or objects of equal value.
However, you can increase the odds of getting a lower priced passage. Recall the obsessiveness of first love, how every detail of the beloved was etched on your mind, how at sixteen you charted the routine of beloved so that you could show up at the right place at the right time. Getting a good price on an airline ticket is a lot like pursuing a reluctant love.
Travelspeak for air travel
APEX Advance purchase excursion fare. Generally, this means a ticket purchased 21 days in advance for international or 14 days in advance for domestic travel. The fare requires a minimum stay which varies according to the airline and almost always requires that the stay involve a Saturday night. The majority of the time this is the cheapest ticket available.
Consolidator or Bucket Shop A business independent of an airline which purchases blocks of tickets for re-sale. Often they cut prices close to the day of travel. Best for folks in DC, Atlanta, LA, NYC, Chicago, and other major market areas. Flying out of a smaller market, these tickets seldom compete with APEX fares. Consolidator tickets are often non-refundable and sometimes you can not claim frequent flyer miles for them.
Low, Shoulder, and High Season London in February is gray, drizzly, and the cold seeps into your bones. Few North Americans want to watch the changing of the guard while courting a cold. Airfares to London are slashed to unbelievable lows during February, in June when the English roses are in bloom airfares escalate. After the first of October, as the gardens fade the airfares decline. Every destination have low, mid, and high season prices; for this can mean that if you are willing to fly during less conventionally attractive times you can save hundreds of dollars.
Always plan months in advance.
Be flexible up to the last possible minute
The great pricing contradiction is an abstract universal travel truth. Plan months in advance; book a refundable APEX fare. Then watch the airline you've booked like a spy on a surveillance mission. If the price decreases beneath what you have paid, purchase the less expensive ticket and return your original for a refund.
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