Flying to Another Country on the Cheap

Undeniably, the best and cheapest tickets for air flights can be found online. The various travel sites have a distinct advantage over travel agencies. They are selling in massive volume, so their overhead per sale is much less. That being said, there are a few ways to find the best deals when trying to fly cheap.

1. Search for a range of go and return dates. Don’t get fixed on particular dates. A flight leaving on Thursday may be 30 percent less than a flight leaving on Friday.
2. If you are willing to rough it a bit, look for flights leaving around midnight or later. International flights out of San Francisco to Asia are 25 percent cheaper if you leave after midnight. It might sound brutal, but it actually works out pretty well since you immediately go to sleep and knock eight hours or so off the flight time.

3. There is no “best” site when trying to fly on the cheap. They all have different ticket allotments at different times. Don’t be lazy. Check across all of the major sites. You’ll be surprised to find you can save as much as 50 percent.

4. If you are flying domestic in the United States, keep in mind that Southwest Airlines does not participate on the big travel sites. You must book on the web site for Southwest. It is usually very cheap.

If you are looking to go international, but really need to save money, the best answer is a chartered flight. Chartered flights are small airlines that only operate during certain periods of the year. They usually fly out of major cities once or twice a week. A bevy of them are active during the summer months and offer flights to Europe. Because they are unknown, don’t have high labor costs and can’t compete with big airlines, they will offer round trip tickets for half of the going rate. It is definitely a no frills option, but it is very cheap.

Finally, you have one really cheap option if you only need to be somewhere for a week or two. The infamous air courier system exists and is extremely cheap. If you are close to a delivery time, air flights can be free. Realistically, you should expect to pay about 20 percent of a normal ticket. The only drawback is that you can only visit the location for roughly 10 days before you have to come back.

As you can see, there are a couple of different ways to go if you are trying to fly on the cheap Show a little flexibility and you can save some big bucks even in high season.

The majority of airline accidents occur on take off and landing, so you should try and book flights that don’t have a stop over destination. That’s a good preventative measure right there, not only that, but you wont have to sit and wait to change planes half way through your flight. Another good way to fly safer is to know that larger airplanes have stricter rules and the passengers have a better chance of survival if the plane should crash, so you might want to consider booking your flight with a large airplane of thirty or more passengers.

Like anything else, always be aware of the closest emergency exit, and consider keeping your seat belt on at all times while seated. This is especially true if you are nervous about turbulence; which is often unexpected and can cause injury. You should also keep anything too heavy out of the overhead carrier in case of turbulence. You don’t want anything to fall on you or anyone else. Also, allow the flight attendants to handle your hot drinks and food as they are trained to handle it and can safely manage giving it to you. You don’t want to be walking around with a hot cup of coffee in your hand and have some turbulence spill it all over you or someone else.

As far as airplane crashes go, they are very rare. However, if the incident should occur, try to remain calm and listen to the flight attendants. They know how to handle situations and keep you safe. Often the very front or very back of the plane is the safest. Sitting close to the wings is the worse place to sit. If the plane wings get torn off in a crash it could tear the fuselage and cause death to anyone near the carnage.

But don’t worry, airline travel is safe. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Just believe you will live and you don’t have anything to worry about.