Travel agents and online vendors all use any of three worldwide systems, among them the user friendly Worldspan. This explains why you will find different prices at different times for the same flight. An agent is more likely to know the ins and outs of the trade. But he or she is just as likely to keep
the real goodies to themselves. In the age of the Internet, they do not rule any longer, there’s us. But in order to be effective, we need to know what we are doing. Just logging into sites such as Travelocity or Orbitz is OK but will not get you the best deals possible. You might end up getting your tickets there, but not for the best price available. If you prefer to buy your tickets
online and you want to save, you need to do some homework. Let me rephrase that: you need to do a lot of homework.
At least as much as traditional travel agents used to do, there is no way around it. If you are like me and you like beating the system you will also find this fun. Here is the best MO:
1. Start by researching departure and destination info. on Airport websites.
2. Research dates and prices, first on vendor websites such as Orbitz.com, then directly on the air companies websites.
3. Search the web sites of consolidators (about consolidators see below)
4. Start as soon as you can and repeat the process on, or almost on a daily basis.

If your schedule is even only a bit flexible, play around with your departure and arrival dates when you log into online vendors such as Expedia or Travelocity. You will be amazed at how prices can vary if you move one day earlier or one day later. Staying overnight on a Saturday almost always reduces the price. Try all the travel vendors you know, then each individual air company you now know operates flights to your destination. Also, the air carriers now have sister sites in different countries, for example there is Qantas.fr which is the French site, and Qantas.com.au which is the Australian site. Believe it or not, they have different prices and also different deals. In order to get web-deals you will need to become a member of the company’s frequent flyer program as the best deals require you to be one. Internet only deals change on a daily and weekly basis so it is advised to visit these sites, also on a regular basis. The best deals will be snatched before you know it. Often you will find a deal where you pay the full fare + you can fly with a companion for a deep discount such as 99$ for the second seat. Consider that. As you do your homework you will get a picture of the best fares available.
You could also try to call up the companies and ask an agent about the lowest fare possible for that destination. If the agent says he/she does not know or they do not want to answer a question like that, try calling again to speak to a different agent. Knowing the cheapest possible fare for a given trip is power over the company: it will help you distinguish between real
deals and deals that pose as great deals but are just bait. armed with all this info. don’t hesitate to make a reservation if the web site allows it. For example, USAirways.com sometimes allows frequent fliers to reserve their tickets for up to three days before making the purchase. This way you lock
in the best price you could find 3 days before you pay.
One of the cheapest ways to fly is to buy your ticket from www.Airtech.com

Check out their site. If you are flexible about where and when you want to go you might want to acquaint yourself with their Space Available FlightPass. Many Airlines have seats that remain empty at the time of takeoff (except during peak holiday periods). Air-Tech's FlightPass gains access to unsold seats. On a regular basis, select carriers communicate their anticipated seat availability to Air-Tech which then distributes this information to its clients who redeem the FlightPasses they purchased in advance. When you decide to fly, Airtech creates a flexible travel time window for you and in most cases, you will eventually fly in that time window.
If you are comfortable with Priceline’s style of travel, you need to be familiar with the website biddingfortravel.com. This site lists tactics to find the best fares by city, hotel and car rental companies.

3. Strategies for getting the cheapest fares
Split city ticketing: If you fly from a small or medium destination you will most probably fly over a hub. Many times purchasing two different tickets, the first to the hub and the second from that hub will save you considerably. Example: If you wish to fly from Fresno CA to Chicago O’Hare you may fly over LA, Salt Lake City etc. Often, buying two different tickets through a
hub will cost you much less than buying one ticket. The disadvantage is when delays occur, the air companies may not honor your connecting flight so allow enough time between the two flights. Discount seats are usually "blacked out" by the air carriers during holiday periods. However, you can get a deep-discount fare if you fly on the holiday itself (New Year's day or Xmas day).
Check out www.air-fare.com for a list of the cheapest flights available from city to city in the US. Often it is cheaper to buy a round trip ticket even if you only need to go one way. One way tickets are very expensive, because there are very few restrictions on them, if at all. If you could find the cheapest round trip ticket to your destination you will often be surprised to see it is cheaper than a one way ticket. Use the outgoing coupon and just “miss” your return flight. No harm done.
A trick that breaks the airlines rules, meaning it saves you a lot of money is the one where instead of flying from point athrough point b to point c on an international flight, you actually leave the journey at point b and never show for the connection to point c. This is useful on one way international business fares to a certain number of destinations that vary by companies.

Example: It is much cheaper to fly business class from Cairo to Mexico City with United or Delta on a flight that makes a stop over in NY City, than with a business class ticket from Cairo to NYC. Why? Companies try to promote certain destinations. Get that ticket with a stop over in NYC and then just fail to show up for the continuing flight. Just make sure you only have a carry on bag, otherwise you can get involved in security problems as a flight cannot be dispatched when a bag is on board but the passenger is “no show.”
1. The earlier you start the better. Check out the web sites regularly. You will notice that different companies on a given route post their cheapest web-deals in different times, some 5 months in advance, some 4, some 3 etc. For example, if you want to fly from Frankfurt to Los Angeles you can do it with at least a dozen different companies.
The best fare for a heavily restricted ticket including taxes for this trip, will be roughly between 450$ to 550$. If you start 6 months in advance you will notice that British Airways was offering tickets at these low prices early on then stopped once all these tickets sold out, then KLM followed suite, then United etc. etc. Bear in mind that a good deal for you may appear only once and never return and you will eat your heart out if you don’t get it right there.
2. Check Alternate Airports. If you live close to two or more airports check all possible combinations, you will be surprised at how the prices vary.