Are Air Fare Deals really such Good Deals?

We're all looking for the best air fare deals right? But at what cost? Discount air fares on long journeys can be flights from hell! I took the cheapest route back from KL in Malaysia to London's Heathrow airport and here's what I experienced!

The saving was about £140 but I tell you something now, never again! We stopped in Calcutta, India and had to get off the plane and wait in a hot sticky room without as much as a drop of water and a fan between us. That was for almost 2 hours. We had to land and get off the plane again at Abu Dhabi for 2 hours. Romania for 4 hours and a change of planes. We eventually arrived at Heathrow only to find the luggage had gone missing.

That £140 saving caused more stress, inconvenience and upset than you could ever imagine. Door to door, it took around 33 hours in all for what would have been a 13 hours on a regular flight. There are some great air fare deals around, but make sure you know what you're booking before you part with your cash.

Don't be too put off by the above as there really are some fantastic low air fares to be had on both long and short haul flight. All I'm saying is check the routes, times and anticipated delays if you want a reasonably hassle free trip with the cheapest air fare available. No matter where you are going, from Alaska to Zimbabwe, and anywhere in between, chances are that you can benefit from air fare deals, or at least would not turn them down if they are available. With gas prices being what they are, and transportation costs rising in proportion, it is just about as important as can be to get the best deals on air fare unless you are filthy stinking rich.

For a while, especially post 911, you could basically take cheap air fare for granted. Everyone was worried about security and terrorism, no one wanted to fly, and so the airlines had awesome air fare deals all over the place – they were practically begging people to fly, and that is no joke. There were literally cheap air fares to just about anywhere in a bid to get folks back onto the planes.

Now, with a bloated war chest and a shrinking economy, getting good air fare deals is more important than ever. No one can afford to pay the standard price of tickets, and so internet sites which offer air fare deals such as Expedia and Kayak, have been doing booming business. In reality, however, these sites are not enough alone to get you the best air fare deals. Many of them mark up their prices, actually. They will get you a cheaper rate, it is true, but it will still be 10, 20, sometimes as much as 50 dollars more than if you would buy from the actual airline. Of course, this is not always true, but if you are interested in getting the best air fare deals, you must remember to not only check the main commercial sites which compare airline prices, but the airlines directly.

This is not quite as much of a pain in the neck as it might sound. Usually, you do not have to check all of the airlines for air fare deals. For example, I live in Oakland, California, and frequently travel to Portland, Oregon, to visit my girlfriend. After checking the web for air fare deals, I discovered that there are only two airlines which really give competitive rates on this particular route: Southwest Airlines, and Alaska Airlines. This means that I do not have to routinely check, say, United Air, or Northwest to make sure that I am getting the best air fare deals on flights to Portland. I simply check one or two of the comparison engines, and then go to those two airlines themselves. Really, I have to go to as few as three or four sites to get the best air fare deals.

Anyone who’s a dab hand at getting the cheapest air fare deals will tell you that it’s all about the timing. Usually the earlier you book, the cheaper the air fare deals, and sometimes, if you are flexible with your flying schedule, the last minute air fares from travel agencies can cut you some sweet deals from cancellations and no shows. We all we all want the best fare deals, and with a little digging, they are out there.