Whatever You Do, Don't Buy an Airline Ticket On …

Some good info here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 30800.html

OT buys all his travel online. I can't be fussed with going to a travel agents. The way I've done it has always worked out. I've not read the link the OP suggested, because I'm not interested. I've got a good idea what it's saying without looking at it.

OT..............

jackspratt wrote:..... I wonder if suggestions are equally applicable to international flights - particularly those not into/out of the US.

I can only speak for the UK where I have found similar trends on the long haul international flights between the UK and Thailand – I would think that something similar is probably in other countries.

The downsides (to name a few) are that it takes a bit of time; it helps to have some understanding of how airlines, their marketing policies and their booking systems work; knowledge of how various local factors (e.g. national and religious holidays) impact on aircraft load factors; the varying impact of business travel on seat availability according to the day of the week (these days there are far more business travellers to be found in sardine class reducing the cheap seat availability for tourists).

Many people aren’t sufficiently interested or don’t have the time or patience to do the research and analyse the data.

There are some booking sites, such as amadeus.net that can help as they provide charts giving some basic trend information on pricing; currently they have two charts, the most useful of which shows the “Best Fare Trend Departing Any Day” of month selected,

Ya definitely have to be careful how ya buy.I talk to people when I fly to see when they buy their ticket and how much they pay.Half the time I buy mine at A lower price.Half the time I pay A higher price.Ya might be able to win some of the time,but sometimes your going to pay more than the other guy.

I can remember a time when certain travel agents, could get one the best fares, both domestic and international, bar none. It was so easy.
Times have changed. Bottom line is, today, one needs to do their own homework, and then perhaps, take their results to a travel agent. There are still fares and special codes the airlines have, available only to travel agents, but the travel agents aren't even aware of .
For example: the last time I went to the States, I did some research with the airline I wanted to fly, took that research to my travel, and saved about $500 USD. Same class, same schedule, everything the same. Since there was only a limited amount of these special code fares/seats available on each flight...I gave the travel agent a three week window of the dates I wanted to go and come back in.
Also, I did my research over both the internet and telephone.

jackspratt wrote:jj the article focuses very much on US domestic flights.
I wonder if suggestions are equally applicable to international flights - particularly those not into/out of the US.

I think the same suggestions/strategies will work on international flights, and domestic flights in countries other than the US.

jackspratt wrote:Jimbo I look at 3 booking engines (Amadeus, Skyscanner and ITA Matrix 2) when I am researching fares. Each is useful in some way, but often they will all miss a lower fare than you can find on the airline website.

I use Skyscanner but I haven't used ITA Matrix 2; I have now taken a quick look at "ITA" it looks like a very useful additional tool for me; the time bar visual presentation along with its various filters are particularly useful because they allow me to eliminate some options for some of the constraints that apply with my trips

One thing that none of the search engines appear to show are the surcharges that get applied on some sites for items such as credit card fees and the host of other surcharges that some airlines and booking agencies add on when you are half way through the booking process.

I get particularly irked with some of the sharp practices that are becoming increasingly prevalent such as when a booking / administration fee is applied (when I have done all the work) and when the only card that carries no fee is one that virtually no one owns or uses