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VAGABOND JOURNEY |
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Wade and Chaya are in Maine, USA. Read recent travelogue entries!
| Wade
from www.VagabondJourney.com
has been continuously traveling around the world
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How to Find Cheap Airfares
This is a small collection of tips on how to find cheap airfare. If you have any other strategies please help other travelers (and me!)by publishing them on this page below.How to Find Cheap Flights- Some tips on finding cheap flights.
Airfare. The largest strain on the traveller's purse is weighted by this single word. How can we subvert this major expense and keep tramping on like the happy rolling cowboys we are? Well, we could always just travel overland- the idealistic way of vagabond travel. But sometimes it is difficult to get across those oceans, and sometimes we just want to get to (or away from) somewhere quickly. So, in these cases, flying is could be the only option. Although flights are nearly always expensive, there are ways to lessen the burden. The following tips should help out a little:
1. Ticket Consolidators. These are companies who have the ability to search a wide range of airlines to be able to offer you to compare fares. There are destination consolidators who offer flights (usually in hotel, rent a car packages) to specific destinations, wholesale consolidators who act as a sort of "blanket" organization by bringing many travel agents together in order to negotiate cheaper fares, and online consolidators who are the ones who usually come up when you search for airline tickets on the internet. This is usually the route that I have gone while purchasing plane tickets.
You should always try to book flights with consolidators as soon as possible if you want a better price.
2. Courier Flights. I have not yet tried this option, but I am told that it could be a good one. Basically, high costs of postage, lenghty shipping times, and import duties on internationally mailed packages have caused some business to send thier goods through the check-in baggage allowance of lay air passangers. So, basically, there is a need for passangers to take these flight just to haul baggage. Most often, these flights are dirt cheap or even free. Although many companies that arrange courier flights require potential passangers to pay a nominal (usually around $50) sign-up fee. This is what has always kept me away from these flights- it kind of seems like a gimmik to me. But I may try it someday just to find out how it really works. http://www.websciences.org/dvhpub/courier.html is a page that explains courier travel in detail.
You can usually only book courier flights a couple days in advance.
3. Budget Airlines. Simply put, these are airlines that seem to run on the NASA mantra of "faster, better, cheaper" asthey cut out unecessary details to provide cheaper flights. They usually would rather take a little money for flights than fly a plane full of empty seats. They just make sense.
Again, for a better price, you should book as far ahead in advance as you are able to.
On Airline Vouchers, Try to Get Them!
Are Airline Vouchers Pie in the Sky- By Jim Warren"If you've been in an airport, particularly on a busy travel day, you've seen gate attendants looking panicked, and heard the calls for volunteers to bump from a plane flight. The usual reward for this is a voucher generally good for a flight comparable to the one you've been bumped from."
- Read the above article, it is pretty good. Remember, act upset if ANYTHING goes wrong with your flight and ask for free tickets.
Cheap Airfare Links:
How to find cheap flights- short guide to finding cheap airline flights.
Sta Travel- student discounts and fairly decently priced flights. Somtimes you can get a really good deal from them. . . but lately thier prices have not been too much to boast of.
http://www.skyscanner.net/ This is an interesting flightsearch database that I got from Mark: www.itinerantwitness.com
Courier Flights:
Budget Airlines:
www.ryanair.com/ For flights around Europe.
Jetblue www.jetblue.com is a great airline for flights around the USA and the Caribbean.
http://www.easyjet.com/ Is also a budget airline with services around Europe.
Random pages about flying cheap:
Ryanair not
lenient with carry on/ cabin baggage allowance
Jet Blue Good Airline
Jet Blue Airline Makes Me Angry
Jet Blue Flight from Rochester to JFK
Shelter from the Storm
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