3 Ways to Get a Lower Airfare on Your Next Flight

On any given flight, the passengers around you--those sitting in the same section of the airplane--will have paid different fares. Here are three easy ways to make sure that your airfare is the lowest.

1. Book a round-the-world ticket. Special booking agencies work with almost every airline in the world to combine the cheapest flight segments they find into attractive, inexpensive itineraries. And they buy so many tickets, they can negotiate low fares.

Say you want a cheap flight to Bangkok. A regular round-trip fare from New York to Bangkok is $1,261.40. But with a round-the-world fare, you can fly to more places…say, New York - London, out of Istanbul - Kiev - Bangkok – Hong Kong – New York.…but pay less for the total airfare; right now, just $999. All the details about this cheap flight are here.

2. Use last-minute fares. Lee Harrison spends a lot of time traveling on behalf of IL. And he's become an expert at getting cheap flights. One of his favorite techniques is to simply sign up for the e-letters most airlines send out. You'll get more e-mail…but it’s worth it. Lee has seen the Uruguay to New York route drop by $650 for a last-minute airfare…and he picked up a flight from Ecuador to New York for $203 thanks to LAN Chile. Lee goes through his top low-airfare tips here.

3. Fly with Europe's "penny airlines". The low-fare airlines in Europe like Ryanair routinely offer super cheap airfares…sometimes for pennies. These fares don't last long, so you have to be quick…and taxes aren't included, so that can push the price up. International Living Magazine's editor, Laura Sheridan, flew roundtrip from London to Italy for 4 cents. No penny fares on offer as I write this, but you can still fly from London to Italy right now with Ryanair for £2.50…about $3.50.

Len Galvin
Managing Editor, IL Postcards

P.S. Time is running out for you to save $150 on a flight to Quito, Ecuador…the Ultimate Event $150 flight credit expires tomorrow. Get all the details here.

To read more IL articles about getting low airfares, see:

How I Flew to Italy For 1 cent

Get a Cheap Flight With a Round-the-world Ticket

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