Getting the Best Airfare

If you want to attend the conference and you are on a shoe-string budget, one way to reduce expenses is to find the cheapest airfare. The key to finding a low fare is to start searching early.

Purchase Early

The early bird gets the worm, meaning start searching now to buy the lowest fare. Airline ticket prices typically go up 21 days, 14 days, 7 days and 3 days before flying. If you’re traveling internationally, you’ll want to book even earlier, at least a month in advance to get the best deals.

Work with a Travel Agent

If you don’t have the time to do the legwork yourself, contact your local travel agent. Travel agencies charge a fee but do work to find you a low rate.

Search Travel Websites

If you want to start looking yourself, here is a list of travel websites that can help save you money on your plane ticket. 1. Kayak Kayak helps you find the best travel choices easily by searching the data from websites as soon as the information is available. Kayak lets you compare options, and when you find something that fits your budget and tastes, you book it from either the airline site or from a travel agent. Kayak also offers fare history graphs for domestic and international flights, allowing you to see whether your fare is headed in an upward or downward direction. You can also set up a daily fare alert and wait for the price to go down. 2. Yapta Yapta is the only site that offers fare-tracking updates for a specific flight at a specific time on a specific airline. So if you want to take a non-stop flight from New York to Sacramento at 9 am, Yapta will send you an email as soon as the price goes down. If you have already purchased your ticket and the fare drops, the service will alert you if you’re eligible for reimbursement. 3. Airfare Watchdog Airfarewatchdog‘s staff searches for and finds the best deals and then posts them. In addition, the staff lists Southwest Airlines fares as well as those of smaller airlines like Allegiant and USA3000 (other online sites don’t do this), most international fares including all taxes, airline website-only fares, and promo code fares. The site also compiles a daily list of the 50 best fares around the world. 4. SeatGuru SeatGuru maps out the seating chart of every commercial plane and marks which seats to grab and which to avoid. Just enter your flight information and SeatGuru will mark which seats have more legroom, which have better luggage storage and which have the best armrests, making your flying experience just a tiny bit easier.

Check Airline Websites

You should also go to the appropriate airline website you want to use to check if the same flights are cheaper (some airlines guarantee to offer the lowest possible fares on their own websites). While you’re there, check to see if the airline is running any sales or promotions to your destination. Ed Note: See the Transportation Options page on the Summit website for details on an extra discount from American Airlines. Can you recommend other travel websites to help get the best airfare? Have you used these sites? Share them in the comments section!