Special Airline Rates

If you travel for business or pleasure, you always want to find the best rate. Special rates for air travel may seem difficult to find in today’s market but the fact is that airlines always use online travel sites to dispose of excess capacity. When an airline does not sell all seats on a plane, it costs them money. Today, with reduced routes and a reduced number of flights, airline excess capacity is not as easy to find.  

When you use a travel site to book in advance you can compare the best rates and any special rates offered by a particular airline to the rates offered by all other airlines serving the area. This is a good way to get the special rate you want. If you have a flexible schedule and you can leave a day earlier or a day later or perhaps stay a bit longer, you can also find better rates. It may seem counterintuitive but last minute bookings can often give you the best special rate. If, for some reason, the airline cannot sell its seats and the date of travel is drawing near, the airline will offer significantly reduced fares to make some money on the seat, rather than flying with the seat empty.

You can also get some great special rates to tourist destinations, spas, resorts and Caribbean islands by joining a travel club. If you plan to travel a lot during any given 12 month period, these travel clubs may offer some great deals. You will have to pay a fee for membership so be sure you intend to use the club to buy your tickets during the period of time your subscription covers. If you aren’t going to travel enough to warrant the subscription, a travel club may not be a good option for you. 

If you travel a lot you should also take the time to complete applications for every frequent flyer club. These clubs are free and while airlines have significantly reduced the rewards and mileage you can get, joining a frequent flyer club is still a good idea. It doesn’t cost you anything and if you are traveling anyway, you will get some miles to apply to another ticket and eventually you may get a special rate on an upgrade, a discount or even a free ticket.