If you’ve always wanted to go to Europe, but every ticket deal for which you’ve searched has skyrocketed outside your price range, don’t give up yet. But don’t go out and buy a lottery ticket, either. You still have a few other options with better chances to save you money and get you on the plane. Many times, the airlines themselves can help you out – but they won’t come begging at your feet. However, if you know what the airlines need from you, and if you’re willing to make a few compromises, then you can try your luck and probably find an airline’s ticket deal you can afford.
Read on to see if some of the following ways that the airlines can help you will save you enough to buy a cheap airline ticket.
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Frequent flier miles – You can earn frequent flier miles either from an airline’s frequent flier program, or from your bank’s credit card when an airline has a deal with your bank. Usually you receive about one mile per dollar you spend on your credit card. If you use your credit card often, then you could earn a lot of miles just by going to the grocery store and buying other necessities that you would have to purchase anyway. Credit cards with airlines’ frequent flier miles sometimes have annual fees, however, so make sure that you account for the trade-off that this fee might create. Also, credit cards with airlines’ frequent flier miles might charge high interest on late payments, so make sure you pay your bills on time. But if you keep these precautions in mind, the airlines could help you save big on airlines tickets.
Get bumped from an overbooked flight – Airlines actually try to overbook most of their flights because they lose money when some passengers don’t show up. However, airlines have a difficult time calculating how many people won’t show, so if your flight has too few seats, the airlines will ask passengers if they would like to give up their seat. If you choose to help out the airlines in this way, it will also help you out, often by giving you free round-trip airline tickets for the destination of your choice. You may have to wait a while for the next flight, but sometimes the airlines will give you free meals and even a free night at a hotel if you have to stay overnight.
Serve as an air courier – As an air courier, you don’t have to do anything, and you receive greatly reduced airlines tickets. So how does it work? If you want to fly overseas, find a company that needs to ship its packages to the same country. You agree to put the company’s packages in your luggage space in exchange for a cheaper ticket, but you can’t bring along any luggage of your own except carry-on and that which can fit in the overhead bins. The company will do all the paperwork; you just have to have a flexible schedule and take the plane and airlines that the packages will go on.
Bid on your airline tickets – If you have a flexible schedule, then you might want to try bidding at Internet services that will offer you reduced ticket prices from the airlines. You don’t get to pick choose the airlines or the time of day, and the tickets are also non-refundable. But if you’re feeling lucky, then it only takes a few minutes to try it – and you’ll still have better chances than the lottery.
By Lisa Zyga