Finding the Best Flight
With Spring Break and Summer Vacation fast approaching, students may find their feet itching for the open road – or the open sky. The Internet provides a wealth of information on travel and allows customers to purchase airline tickets online.
Finding a good price is getting faster and easier, thanks to online travel sites. Travelocity.com and Expedia.com help e-customers to hunt for the best priced flight offered at a specific date to a specific destination. Priceline.com allows customers to name their own price, and finds a ticket priced to match after a credit-card number is supplied.
Students looking to bid through Priceline.com should be aware that if a bid is accepted, and their credit card is billed, they will not be able to change or cancel the ticket. Also, while customers of Priceline choose the date they fly, Priceline chooses the time, the Priceline.com Web page said.
Other online travel sites permit customers to change their tickets for a price.
“Economy class, which is usually the cheapest, is very restricted,” said a customer service representative of Expedia.com. “There is between a $50-$100 charge for a ticket change.”
Business or first class ticket-holders, however, can usually change tickets with no charge, he said. Clicking on the “fare rules” button of an online ticket-vendor will display all the restrictions and policies that accompany a particular ticket.
If a traveler must cancel a ticket, many airlines will apply a credit toward a flight taken that same year, said a customer service representative at Delta Airlines.
She offered some advice for students looking for cheaper airfare.
“Getting a good rate through an online site boils down to trial and error,” she said. “Sometimes the best fare is only for a specific flight.”
Potential flyers should try several different times to find the best price, she said.
A customer flexible with dates, times and airport locations has a better chance at a low rate, she said.
“Red-eye (really early flights or late-night flights) get the best rates,” she said.
Flying into an airport near a big city can bring significant savings, according to the Travelocity Web site. For example, the cost of a trip to San Francisco might be reduced by flying into San Jose or Oakland.
Flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays usually offer the lowest fares, according to the Travelocity Web site.
After finding a good rate on an online travel site, customers have the option of buying a ticket directly through the airline company offering the flight. But if you reserve a seat through an online ticket agency before buying a ticket through the airline, be sure to cancel your reservation, or the online agency might cancel your ticket, Expedia.com’s Web page said.
All things considered, buying a ticket online is an economical way to go, said Nick Haroldsen, a junior of Utah State University who several months ago used Travelocity.com to purchase an airline ticket.
“It’s cheap and convenient. I think it’s the only way I’d go,” Haroldsen said.