TravelTips 101

Airline Tickets

With so many airlines ticket sites, you could spend hours searching for airfares. Many of those websites use a central reservation system and will give you similar results. Some of the sites we list here, offer special negotiated fares often called "consolidator fares". What is a consolidator fare? It is a discounted air fare that major airlines sell only through designated "wholesalers". Since the wholesaler sells in bulk, the commission he gets from the airline is smaller than other travel agents, thus passing the savings on to you.

Our recommendation is that you look at several online ticket sellers and compare. You might find similar prices but very often you will find more variety when it comes to choosing the airline.

Important Tips:

When buying airline tickets online or over the phone, ALWAYS verify the flights and dates as soon as you receive the tickets. If you wait, it might be too late to change even if it wasn't your mistake.

Don't be fooled by low fares that do not include taxes. Taxes can be very expensive.

Do your price comparison first, then book your tickets. Most websites will not allow you to make an airline reservation unless you pay at the time of booking.

Some cheaper fares require connections.

E-tickets might be cheaper than paper tickets, but not always. They are easier to track, so it is an advantage since you might lose or misplace paper tickets. When purchasing e-tickets, you always get some sort of written confirmation, which allows you to verify your flights and dates. The main drawback is that it is more difficult to reroute an e-ticket if your flight is cancelled and you need to fly on another airline. We recommend that you get paper tickets if you have a long itinerary, or you are travelling to a foreign country.

Economy Travel.com is an online travel agency, providing discounted airline consolidator fares, including Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Hotwire.com

Hotwire is an interesting way to save money while traveling. They have contracts with companies that allow them to sell their unsold inventory (empty seats on flights, empty hotel rooms and also car rentals). If you are flexible, you can save a lot of money on travel by using Hotwire. Sometimes, up to 50%. It's worth it checking it out.