Best Tips for Online Flight Booking

While booking a flight ticket online, many of us face the dilemma on whether to book the tickets on an online travel portal or directly from the airlines website. There are pros and cons to both and it all depends on time of your travel, number of stop over and the destination.

Many people are the under the false notion that booking directly on an airline website means they can circumvent commissions charged by online travel portals. Unfortunately this is not the case; very often online travel portals will have an exclusive partnership with certain airliners. This will allow the portal to display fares which are much lower compared to what you will get when you book directly with the airlines. Another factor to note is the deals and discounts offered by online travel portals which will give you considerable savings on your flight ticket.  Booking your airline tickets online has another benefit of raking in reward points which you can redeem for future bookings. Though the trend of reward point system is catching up among airliners, very few have adopted the system till date.

Having said that, there are countless advantages of booking domestic flight ticket directly on an airline website. The most important of them is that you get to see an extensive flight schedule. Most airliners publish a comprehensive flight schedule which states the precise time at which their flight departs and arrives. This can be difficult to obtain from an online travel portal. So if your travel involves multiple stop over and flight changes, it might be a better idea to book directly with the airlines.  When you do an online flight booking with an airliner, they save a significant amount on overheads. Most airliners pass this savings on to the customer in the form of a discount. Another major advantage of booking directly with the airlines is the extended period for alteration or cancellation of your flight ticket. Most airliners allow you to make changes to the timing and seat as late as 24 hrs prior to departure. Making a change in timing or seat with an online travel portal tend to be cumbersome and they have a longer cut off duration for the same.

The next time you are confused whether to book cheapest airline ticket from an online travel agent or the airliners, take these things into consideration for helping you make the choice that works best for you.

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Cheap Air Ticket Booking Tips for Domestic and International Travel

Booking cheap air ticket is not a complicated affair , yet very often we end up spending more than we should during flight booking. Here are a few tips to help you save some dough the next time you are doing a flight booking.

1. Always compare your air fares, never assume one carrier is going to be cheaper than the other. The cheapest air ticket factor depends on a variety of factors and is not always carrier dependent.
2. Book Early, this is true especially during peak dates, and you stand to snag cheap flight tickets with no hassle.
3. The best time to scan and book air tickets is on Mondays and Tuesdays since airlines typically launch their rates on these two days. 
4. Try to be flexible about the dates of travel, if you can afford to travel on a weekday and away from the peak dates, you might end up saving a lot on your air ticket fares. 
5. Subscribe to an airline newsletter as they usually advertise their last minute deals and other promotions on them. This is a great chance to scoop those last minute unsold seats at throwaway prices. 
6. Your choice of airport makes a huge difference in your flight fare, try changing the destination airport to figure where you can get the lowest prices. 
7. Check your ticket price 24- 48 hrs after you have booked, if you noticed a slump in the price of the ticket, contact your ticket agent or the airlines. Most often, you will be refunded the difference amount. 
8. These days, airlines will charge you for everything from snacks to baggage, travel light to save up on your baggage fees. 
9. Opt for a flight + hotel package. These are the newest trend in travel packaging and is a great way to save on your dough. 
10. Wednesday has been officially declared as the cheapest day to fly due to the surplus supply of empty seats which the airlines will try to fill up as quickly as possible. Another trick is to fly the first flight of the day- though it means waking up at 4 am. 
11. Always search the airline websites - they usually reserve the best prices and discounts for people booking from their website.

There is no really one silver bullet which will drastically help you save on your flight tickets. All there is a series of steps and practices which you can employ which will result in a cumulative savings on your domestic or international flight booking. 

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