Find the Cheapest Flights on the Internet

Once upon a time, travelling by plane was a glamorous endeavor, a luxury even. In its heyday, plane travel was seen as a symbol of upward mobility, prestige, and carried with it a sense of adventure and culture.

Not anymore.

Travelling by plane is now a hassle, if not a nightmare--especially during the holidays. Just ask those poor unfortunate souls who braved the weather and tried to fly out of or through Colorado during the third largest storm in Colorado's history. Bad idea. They ended up sleeping on an airport floor for the holidays.

The one thing you can control, at least somewhat, is what you pay for your flight.

There are several tactics to use to find the cheapest available flight that works for you. Mind you, these are all online.

There are three basic types of websites that sell plane tickets.

Traditional airfare booking sites

These are sites like Orbitz, Travelocity, and Expedia. These websites have search engines that check other websites for ticket prices. They charge a small fee, usually less than $10.00, on top of what you pay for the flight. So, these traditional sites act as an itermediary between you and the airline and process sales for a small fee. This is a good way to compare the costs of flights from different airlines.

Official Airline websites

It is helpful to check specific airline websites too if you want to avoid the small fees that other sites charge to find you plane tickets. Sometimes you can find a ticket for the same price you found it for on sites Orbitz or Expedia. Some airlines, like Southwest and a few others, do not even offer their tickets for sale on traditional booking sites. To buy a ticket from Southwest, you need to go to the company website and make a purchase there. It is worth looking at these sites to find cheap flights.

Fare Comparison websites

These websites (the most popular one is Kayak.com), also known as "aggregator" sites, are useful because they compile the airfares of many different airlines and do not charge any fees. These sites make money from advertisements on their sites, not from sales fees or charges. This kind of site is typically the best place to find cheap flights, simply because you avoid any extra sales charges, they are free to use, and you can compare the prices of many airlines as the same time.

That is not to say that you will find the cheapest tickets on one of these sites all the time. For example, depending on where you are flying to, you might want to check Southwest or Jetblue, two airlines know for lower fares. These two sites are unfortunately not included in searches on comparison websites.

The best way to find the lowest prices is to search for fares on several different sites. How much you pay for a flight is contingent on how far in advance you are planning your trip, how much time you have to search for a good deal, and how flexible you are with travel days.

Try all three kinds of site if you have the time. You never really know which site will provide the best deal, but generally, if you are short on time, use the "aggregator" sites first.

Another tip to finding a cheap flight is to search for flights on different days of the week and compare cost. Instead of a flight leaving Friday (a very popular travel day for obvious reasons), see what the rates are for Thursday of the same week. Often, since demand may be lower, it is cheaper to fly on different days of the week.