I'll Fly Away

If you are like me than you are looking forward to the warm weather that Summer will bring (Summer, please come soon!). Like me, you may also be looking forward to vacation. Here are a couple of airfare tips to help save you $ before you make those flight reservations.

1. Shop for airplane tickets on Tuesday thru Thursday. Most deals are put into the system Monday night making Tuesday thru Thursday ideal days to buy.

2. Compare. Use websites like cheapflights.com, travelocity.com, cheaptickets.com, kayak.com and many others to compare ticket prices between airlines.

3. Be flexible. It may be cheaper to fly out a day earlier or a day later than you had originally planned. Several websites now have a day earlier or a day later choice when you are looking for tickets - use it and be flexible!

4. Location is key. If possible, fly in and out of airlines hub cities (United Airlines - Chicago; American Airlines - Miami; AirTran - Atlanta) and wait to buy your ticket. Travel industry expert, Terry Tripple advises "If I were in a hub city I might wait awhile - especially a hub where a low-fare airline has a decent percentage of the business."

If you cannot fly out of a hub city, then it is advisable to buy your ticket as soon as you notice a sale.

5. Pay your fees up front. For instance, US Airways charges $23 to check your first bag online, but $25 at the airport. Of course, if possible, avoid checking in your luggage.

Side note: Child car seats and strollers are free to check in; however, if children are traveling for free, they don't have a baggage allowance. So any baggage for the child counts as part of the adult's baggage allowance.

6. Wait, but not too long. The article I read said many airlines are recycling sales over and over in an effort to fill their planes (this did not make sense to me as the planes I recently traveled on were all over-booked).

Book your Summer vacation tickets sooner than you would your Fall or Winter tickets as the Summer season is much busier.

The article did offer one last piece of advice for the air traveler: "While some airlines offer last-minute deals to certain points on certain days, in general for leisure travel it is a good idea to give yourself a cushion of at least a month from the time you buy your ticket to the time you plan to travel."