Friday, September 12, 2014

TRAVEL TIPS: Buying Airline Tickets Online



There are many online sites that sell airline tickets; airline sites do the same. Here are some tips that can help you when buying plane tickets online:

1. Don't wait until the last minute, especially for holiday travel. Buy a month or two ahead of time, but before you do so shop around to get an idea of how much tickets cost. Check the airline site itself; and check sites like Kayak, Travelocity, Cheap Tickets, Expedia, and more.



2. Various sites suggest that buying mid-week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) are generally the best days to buy tickets. There is another site that says Saturday and Sunday are when airlines put out sales and so there are cheap fares then. I try to buy mid-week.

3. Before you actually buy the ticket, make sure you have your itinerary down. Have your credit card and passport ready because you'll need them.


4. When comparing prices in these sites, don't just look at the price, watch out for factors such as waiting time if you have connecting flights, number of stops, and times of departures or arrivals. In other words, you don't want to wait 6 hours in an airport if you can help it. and you don't want to leave at 6 a.m, if you have a choice. Note also the weight allowance. These factors affect the cost of the plane ticket.

5. Be careful with the travel sites themselves; there are popup ads that take you someplace else with other deals; I recently bought tickets from Kayak.com, and Air France showed up as having the lowest fares. However, when I clicked on Air France, I was led to their site, and by the time I almost completed the transaction, the final price was more expensive than advertised on Kayak. I cancelled that reservation, got back to Kayak and found a better deal.

6. Avoid buying other unnecessary services, while doing online transactions. There are many ads that try to convince you to pay to hold the flights, or to buy insurance, and so on. If you don't need the services, don't buy them.

7. Once you've bought the tickets, the site will email you online confirmation, which you should print out.  Be sure you have a printout of your e-tickets.

8. It's a good idea to get your seating choice done beforehand, and you can can also do that online. There is another site called, SeatGuru that allows you to browse seat maps of various airlines.

9. It's also a good idea to check-in online; you can usually do this 24 hours before the flight. This hastens your transaction with airline personnel at the airport.

10. Here are some helpful travel-related sites:

- SeatGuru
- Kayak.com
- Tripadvisor

Happy travelling!

Read also
From Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City
Burma: Moving Forward

Tags: travel, tourism, airline tickets, plane tickets, buy online, tips

This is all for now,
Cecilia



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