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Airfare: the largest strain on the traveler’s purse is weighted by this single word. How can a traveler subvert this major expense and keep traveling on long term? Well, the best way is to try to always travel overland — the idealistic modus operandi of vagabond travel — but this often does not cut it. For the modern traveler, taking flights is often necessary and wanted. It takes an effort of extreme endurance and a highly idealistical perspective to travel long term without flying. In point, to easily get from one region of the world to another, most travelers fly. This is not just for the convenience of air transportation, but because it is often the cheapest way to conquer long distances.

When the miles are calculated, air travel is relatively cheap. I know that I usually cannot drive or take a boat for less money than I can fly. As far as aifare is concerned, I want to pay under 10 cents per mile, if I want to change continents I want to do so for under $500 one way; for regional flights I want to pay no more than $250. These are my parameters for flight costs, and I will look for flights until I find one that fits within these amounts.

Internet flight search engines

I usually start a search for flights with an online booking agent such as Kayak or Bookingwiz. I use these engines to search a large number of websites to see who has the best prices. This gives me an approximate idea of how much a flight should cost. If the amount that these booking engines turn up are still over what I want to pay — $500 to cross between continents, $250 to fly within a region.

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 their goods through the check-in baggage allowance of lay air passengers. So, basically, there is a need for passengers 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 passengers 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 gimmick 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.

Budget Airlines

Simply put, these are airlines that seem to run on the NASA mantra of “faster, better, cheaper” as they cut out uneccessary 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.

Factors that impact flight costs and how to minimize them

Flight costs are determined by numerous factors — some follow patterns, others are random. The key to finding cheap flights is to recognize the factors that determine flight costs and to abide by them.

Guide of when to fly where

Airfare is directly connected to the seasons of the year. There are two types of “seasons” to watch out for: the first, is climatic, the other is social.

If the weather in a destination is cold, wet, and uninviting, you can often get there for very little money. If the weather in a place is warm and inviting, and lots of people are going, then the price will be three times as much as it is off season.

More coming soon!

Airfare Search Engines

Kayak is a classic flight search engine.
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.
Sky Scanner.

List of Courier Companies:

http://www.courier.org/
http://www.aircourier.org/

List of Budget Airlines:

RyanairFor flights around Europe. Be warned though, they are a very sketchy company. Go to Ryanair says they have no hidden fees.
Jetblue 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.
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