Mag Park

Finding the cheap flights that airlines sometimes advertise can be an almost impossible challenge at times. There are so many rules placed on these types of fares that many people wonder if the reason for it is to discourage people from booking them. It can become even more frustrating if you go out of your way to meet the requirements, only to be told that the seats are sold out. What is going on? Could it be that the airlines are playing games with you? What do you have to do in order to actually get one of these fares?

The answer to the first question is that the airlines are not intentionally playing any games. When they advertise seat sales and other special fares, they are trying to sell off excess inventory, in much the same way as a store tries to sell off excess goods. Often they are trying to fill up flights that are not all that popular, such as night flights and connecting ones.

In offering promotional fares and seasonal seat-sales that require a certain amount of advance purchase, they hope to encourage travelers to make their travel plans early. By doing so, the traveler helps the airline to determine what it’s flight loads will be like, and to ensure that it’s flights will be filled to at least minimum capacity.

The third reason for offering seat sales is, of course, to encourage people to fly with them and not with their competition.

With the exception of those flights that they are trying to fill rather than let operate below capacity, most airlines simply cannot afford to offer a large amount of seats at highly discounted prices on every flight. Even on the flights where they do offer them, it does not make good economic sense to allow more than a few seats to be sold per flight. Once those seats are gone, the airlines do not normally add any more. Obviously, the most desirable flights are the ones that will sell out first.

By being very flexible in your travel plans, you put yourself in the best possible position to take advantage of sell-offs and seat sales. Flexibility regarding your dates of travel and a willingness to take flights that have multiple connections is often required. If you are planning on traveling with a discount carrier or charter airline offering last minute sell-offs, having nerves of steel and good timing are also essential ingredients in getting the best rate. If you wait too long to book in the hopes of a further drop in fare, you might end up not flying at all. Then again, the fare may suddenly drop right after you grabbed what you thought was the last seat at the lowest price.

The best way to find cheap fares is to search for them frequently. Seats that have been put on hold are often canceled. When this happens, the seat becomes available again, and if you are lucky you might be the one to get it. The trick is in keeping a close eye on those flights where very low fares are still available. The lower the fare, the more availability that there is on that flight. If the flight is heavily booked, the fares that are available will be very high. When someone releases a seat on a heavily booked flight, it will become available again only at a higher rate, even if it was previously booked on a seat sale fare. Your best chances are with flights that are not so heavily reserved already. It is flexibility and persistence that often make all the difference in getting the fare that you want.

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