There are two main ways to book your plane ticket: you can do it yourself online, or you can go through a travel agent. If you go through a travel agent, they do all the work for you. You tell them what you want: where you want to go, the dates you want to travel, and approximately how much you are willing to pay, and they will present you with their findings. They typically add on a service fee to cover their costs.
These days you can do all this work yourself, just as easily, by utilizing the power of the Internet. Doing the research yourself allows for more flexibility – for example, you may come across a good deal that differs slightly from your original plans, or you may change your mind about dates or routes.
The key to getting a cheap international flight online is to start looking early. Begin your flight search months ahead of time. There are rumors that you can get cheap flights if you wait until the last minute, but this is generally not advisable.
There are two ways to book a flight online: booking directly through the airline, or booking through an online travel agent such as Travelocity, Expedia, Priceline, etc. The online travel agent sites have a feature that allows you to be notified when the price for your favorite route falls below a certain level, set by you. For instance, if you want to fly from New York to Amsterdam for under $500 roundtrip, you can set it up so that Travelocity notifies you whenever the price for this route dips below $500. This is a good way to keep an eye on flight deals.
If you do find a good deal on an online travel agent website, take note of the airline(s) who are offering the flight you want to take. Then go directly to that airline’s website, and see if they offer that same flight cheaper on their own site. Sometimes they do! In any case, it’s a good idea to sign up for that airline’s newsletter, so that you can be notified of special sales. I’ve found several good flights this way!
Here’s another important tip when booking a flight online: if you have any flexibility in your travel dates, do searches for several days before and several days after your selected date. Some days will be mysteriously cheaper than other days, so it pays to fiddle around with the travel dates in this way.
An excellent way to discover the cheapest flights available is to use a flight comparison site, such as HYPERLINK "http://www.kayak.com" www.kayak.com. You type in your travel details (dates and routes) and Kayak scours the web for all available flights that fit your specifications, returning you a list of flights that you can sort by price, time of departure, etc. Kayak searches both online travel agent websites (like Travelocity) and individual airline websites. It’s a brilliantly handy tool, and it’s free!
One last tip: Once you choose your flight, sign up for the airline’s frequent flyer program. Because you’ll be traveling overseas, you’ll rack up some decent points with your first round-trip flight. Frequent flyer programs are free to join, and you can get free stuff!
Choosing a seat.
Now that you’ve settled on a specific flight, how do you know which seat to choose?
What you consider to be the “best” seat will depend on your personal preference, and whether you are traveling alone or with others. Here are some things to keep in mind:
If you book a window seat, you do get to enjoy the view. However, for transatlantic flights, this view will mainly consist of ocean and clouds. Plus, since transatlantic flights go overnight, it’ll be dark out most of the time. Therefore you won’t have much of a window view for the majority of the trip. The major downside of having a window seat is that if you need to stretch your legs or use the restroom, the two people sitting next to you will have to stand up so that you can leave, then get up again when you come back. They usually don’t mind, but if you have an aisle seat, you can enjoy the freedom to get up and move around whenever you feel like it, without disturbing anyone.
The main gripe about plane seats in economy class is that you have no room to stretch out your legs while seated. Did you know that there are certain seats in economy class that do have extra legroom? If you are allowed to choose your seat when you buy your ticket, take a close look at the seat map. The seats located next to emergency doors often have extra legroom, depending on the plane. If you can snag one of these seats, you can stretch your legs to your heart’s content! It really pays off to examine the seat map closely to choose the best seat. You can also use a site like HYPERLINK "http://www.seatguru.com" www.seatguru.com, which provides detailed seat maps for most planes. They use color codes to designate which are generally the best and worst seats.
Choose your meal.
When you book your ticket, you have the option to choose a special meal. If you are a vegetarian or have special dietary needs, be sure to book a special meal in advance, because they don’t carry many extra special meals aboard (if they carry any extra at all). The best airlines have special meal options such as Asian vegetarian, lacto ovo vegetarian, vegan, Hindu, Muslim, kosher, gluten free, low calorie, low fat, low salt – just to name a few!
Another benefit of requesting a special meal is that they will deliver your meal first, before they hand out the regular meals.
Friends of Bewings!