In the good old days, you used to go to a travel agent, book a trip, and that was that. Airfares were pretty standard among the regular airlines, and if you wanted a cheap flight, charters were the way to go. But all that has changed, it seems. An airfare can literally change from hour to hour. I have called the same airline two or three times during the same day, requested the same flight, and gotten a different price quote every time. The price you see listed on line may have already changed by the time you pick up the phone. Many factors add into the price of an airline ticket, including time of year, advance booking, weekend stay overs, airline specials, price wars and so on. The Internet has opened an entire new avenue of travel planning, with many advertising discount fares and cheap trips.
If you are planning a trip to Europe this year, a little bit of detective work and price comparison can get you a good fare. First, it does depend on how flexible you are. If you must go during August, your airfare will undoubtedly be more expensive than if you can wait another few weeks. Prices generally begin to drop after September 15th, although for some locations, they remain at summertime highs until September 30th. For American travelers, one good place to look is in the travel section of major newspapers. Listed you will see numerous ads, advertising prices to domestic as well as international locations. In most cases, these ads are brought to you by consolidators. A consolidator usually has great fares to offer, because they buy up seats at wholesale prices and then resell them back to the consumer. The seats are on regular airlines (no charters), who fly on a regular schedule. In fact, the only difference is the price you may pay-if you buy from a consolidator vs going directly through the airline.
