Last minute airfares are becoming more convenient. In the past they have been costly, and in some cases they still are. However, if you are willing to be flexible with travel dates and times, you will be able to find airfares that are discounted and generally very cheap.
Airfare booking companies such as Orbitz and Travelocity provide the opportunity to search for last minute weekend airfares from several airline carriers simultaneously. In addition, airlines issue cheap, last-minute travel airfares for travel between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, with a Tuesday return ticket. In some situations, this is a great option for airline travel over the weekend. Some will offer cheap airfares for the next weekend also, giving you ten days to plan ahead. The destinations change from week to week depending upon the lack of demands for a particular route. The departures are usually on Saturday, with some available Friday and returning Sunday. To be informed of these specials, you should register on the airlines internet site that is in your area. An offer might just pop up that will give you a cheap last minute airline ticket that you could use for a trip to explore an exciting destination, or to visit friends and family.
Listed are a few sites that are very good resources for finding cheap, last minute airfares:
www.smarterliving.com – Smarter Living is a free online organization that specializes in finding cheap airline fares. They do not sell tickets themselves, but will find the best fares and direct you to a source where you can buy the tickets.
www.travelzoo.com – Travelzoo searches and publishes the top 20 airfares and other travel package values including hotels, car rentals, etc. A few of their top 20 are cheap airfares. Some combine airfare with cheap hotel rates to create an economical package.
www.site59.com – Site59 obtains and lists last minute weekend specials. Most are a combination of air and hotel, or air and auto rental. Site59 is owned by Travelocity, and the same travel packages can be found on the Travelocity website.
www.lastminutetravel.com – Last Minute Travel searches, finds, and lists last minute cheap airfares and other travel services. Many are for travel packages, but they always have a number of cheap airline airfares as well. They provide a list of the top 25 deals that they find on their website.
If you’re looking for a site with good auctions, try Hotwire and Priceline. EBay also offers some travel bargains. You use the same system to bid on airfares that you use to bid on other merchandise offered through eBay.
Other Resources:
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Bring something to do on that long flight.