7 Money-saving Tips For Flying In A Recession

By Author: Joseph Lawsomier
Total Articles: 3
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The key to affording travel during a recession is to find cheap tickets. Here are seven ways you can still see the world, or just other parts of the country, without breaking your budget.

1. Buy early or buy late. If possible, avoid buying or booking flights during peak travel times. Airline tickets are often bumped up in price 21, 14, 7, and 3 days prior to the travel date, so if you book far in advance you may be able find some easy-on-the-wallet discount airfare. Particularly in a recession, when airlines are struggling to make money just like everyone else, airlines make last-minute cheap tickets available for flights they aren't able to fill up.

2. Scour for discounts. With new discount airfare sites popping up practically every day, it can be overwhelming to search for discount airfare. But these sites are extremely useful when you're looking for cheap tickets on a budget. Check out as many sites as you can and always compare one site's cheap airline tickets with other discount airfare site's prices and with the airline itself¬ - sometimes the major carriers will actually have better travel deals, particularly ...
... on Tuesdays and Wednesdays when they typically announce their airfare sales, than the discount fare sites themselves.

3. Use your inbox. Sign up for an e-mail account that you will only use to direct discount airfare alerts to. Then sign up for e-mail alerts from the major discount airfare sites, as well as the airlines themselves, and check that account periodically to find the best deals in airline tickets.

4. Ask for refunds. Not only will all the e-mail alerts you sign up for help you keep track of when cheap flights become available, they will also help you track the cost of the airfare you've already purchased. If you've already booked your flight and a cheaper fare becomes available for that flight, don't be afraid to ask the company you bought the tickets from for a refund.

5. Be flexible. If you're not locked into specific travel dates try searching for tickets during the off-season. You can still find cheap flights during peak travel times, but you may also be able to shave a few dollars off your ticket price if you book your flight for a few days before or after when you were intending to arrive or depart.

6. Take advantage of membership services. You pay for AAA and the Entertainment Book for a reason to save money. You'd be surprised how often you can use these types of membership services to lock-in cheap flights.

7. Ask around for buddy passes or frequent flier mile tickets. Maybe you don't travel enough, but someone you know does. The people who fly enough to accrue rewards tickets won't use their free tickets for all their flights so that they can continue to build up more frequent flier miles. You never know when they may have a bank of frequent flier vouchers or buddy passes built up and it can never hurt to ask if they might be willing to spare.