obtaining the cheapest airfare

China Southern Airlines, AirbusA380



I love to travel.

Finding cheaper airfare has become more and more easier for me over the years, especially if I'm looking up international airfare. Unfortunately, traveling internationally has become so expensive in recent years, due to fuel price increases, taxes, security fees, etc. Also, because of the lack of competition between air carriers - the US is soon only going to have three airlines (once American Airlines and US Airways merge) - there's no need to lower prices out of competition.

Indeed, this isn't the best news for budget travelers like myself.

I'm not going to discuss the qualms about increasing airfare. No, I'm here to show you how I find cheap airfare.

Every time I watch TV, I seem to see numerous commercials for Expedia and Priceline. They claim they have the best deals, the lowest airfare, and that isn't necessarily true. If you want the best deals, you have to spend some time, and sometimes even look over the course of several days to a couple of weeks, in order to find the best airfare. You can just look on a website or two and decide from there, but that's only if you're in a hurry or truly don't want to spend time looking around.

My advice for you: always check out the airline's website first.

Now, what I'll be presenting you today is airfare to the Tokyo Metropoliation Area (TYO). We're going to look at prices on search engines first before we look at the airline's respective websites.

 

This is what Expedia comes up with:

I have traveled from all three of these airports (Nashville, Atlanta, and Chicago) to reach my international destinations. Traveling from Nashville means there's always a layover somewhere. (Rumors started surfacing last year that Nashville was in talks to get nonstop routes to London and Tokyo. I hope this is true!) In recent years, I've found that if Nashville isn't the cheapest option, then it's Chicago.

With Expedia, there's only a $12 difference between Nashville and Chicago's airfare, and both are prices from American Airlines.

Here is what Priceline told me:

I only checked Nashville with Priceline. Expedia told me my roundtrip price would be $1245 from Nashville, while Priceline told me $1244. But, that's still $11 higher than the cheapest airfare I've found, originating in Chicago.

Priceline still allows people to "name your own price", where you can supposedly save up to 40% on airfare. I've never used this, though I almost did with my trip to Japan last year.

This is how "Name Your Own Price" works.

I decided to check out two different airlines. I've been a Delta Skymiles member for years, and I've never had problems with them, so I checked out their site first.

Unless you have specific dates to be at your destination, always check the option that says "my dates are flexible".

Delta's cheapest options are $1522 (Atlanta) and $1526 (Nashville). That's a $300 difference between Delta's site and Expedia/Priceline.

As much as I love Delta, I do not love those prices.

So, because Expedia and Priceline's cheapest prices were airfares from American Airlines, I decided to go to that airline's website. I flew with them to Tokyo last year, and I enjoyed riding with them. I know they went through a ton of problems late last year, so I'm glad I rode with them in April, before all of that mess.

Always look at the tabs at the top. You'll see airfare listed for that week.

My total roundtrip fare from American's website is $1244. It's the same as Priceline, and $1 cheaper than Expedia.

I decided to check out airfare departing from Chicago.

Look at this! A true deal. Expedia listed the cheapest airfare (via Chicago on American) was $1233, yet American's website is listing the airfare as $1174. That is a $60 difference, and quite a deal.


Now, I'm sure you all are wondering why I look up airfare from Chicago or Atlanta. If booked early enough, I can book a $1 ticket on Megabus.

To learn of weekly specials, you can sign up on an airline's website. I subscribe to Delta, Southwest, and American Airlines. I never take advantage of their offers (Southwest has some amazing deals) but they're always good to have, just in case myself or someone I know is traveling. Here's what American Airline's looks like:

I hope these tips have helped!