Not everyone pays the same price for airfare on the same flight. So, how can you be the one who pays the least amount possible for airfare by always finding the best deals first? I have some insider tips that can make the airfare purchasing process easier, faster, and a lot less expensive.

No one wants to pay more than they have to for air fare. But next time, look around. The guy in the seat next to you might have bought a ticket that cost $100-more than yours; the woman on the other side of you might have paid $50-less.

Arghhh!

What to do? Start by going to FareCompare.com. And Ill walk you through the process.

How to Buy Right: An Example

Got this letter awhile back; lets solve this problem, so you’ll learn how to solve your own.

“Looking for Senior rate (if available) for travel about 6-months from now; leaving Harrisburg, PA on Jan. 30, 2007 to Kelowna, British Columbia, and returning on 2-6-07 … do you have available itineraries?”

First, the bad news:

• Medium-sized cities: airline tickets from/to smaller citiies are often more expensive than larger hub cities
• Lack of competition: this can mean higher-prices for smaller-cities
• Senior fares: these are disappearing; when they are offered, such airfares are typically not the cheapest (though the airline tickets are usually fully-refundable and require no advance-purchase)

Now, the good news:

• Travel is 6-months away; plenty of time to make the best airfare purchase

Step-by-Step

• STEP 1 - Go to FareCompare.com. Enter Harissburg and Kelowna and select “Best Deals” then hit “Find Airfares”.
• STEP 2 - Check for Volatility - Notice the fares that appear on your screen may look high, but again, thats not unusual for smaller markets. Also look at the “Lowest Fare Last 30 Days”; fares between these 2-cities are likely flat (not volatile).
• STEP 3 - Check the Departure Month Star-Rating
  A 4-star rating means buy now; 3-stars is also a good rate, and 2-stars is so-so. When I originally looked up this airfare, I saw that that travel departing in February had a 2-star rating ($718). But travel departing through December had a 3-star rating ($559).
  A December price-break is not unusual and indicated the airlines were managing this market in five month increments. This quick look gave me an inkling that we might want to wait a few months before purchasing a airfare.
• STEP 4 - Check the Airfare Trend
  Always look at our price-trend graph; after enter your city pair and click to find the fare, this chart is on the lower-left of your screen. In this particular case, I saw the trend was moving downward, to lower prices. Thats a good sign, obviously. If we wait a bit, at least we are on the proper price trajectory.
• STEP 5 - Check the Previous Year Airline Ticket Prices
  Just above the Airfare Trend Chart, you’ll see the words Advanced Historical Graphs; click that to see previous months, even years. Again, in this particular case, I saw some nice airfare sales occurred (down to the $400 range) and the prices trended down from November to December of the previous year. You cant always count on that, but generally its a good indicator.
• STEP 6 - Sign Up for FareCompare’s FREE Airfare Email Alerts
  You’ll see this right on our homepage; it takes about 20-seconds to sign up and we will alert you to the best prices for the cities your interested, as soon as that information becomes available. And no one, not even the airlines, will get you that information faster. We guarantee it.

BOTTOM LINE: The buyer should wait a few months before purchasing these tickets, as the price will likely go down.

2-Final Thoughts:

• If a buyer can be flexible on travel dates, its easier to find cheaper airfares
  • Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday are the cheapest travel days
• If a buyer can be flexible on airports, again, its easier to find cheaper fares