A Beginner’s Guide for Air Ticket Booking

Booking flights can be a cumbersome task at times. Now bid adieu to all the flight ticket booking woes with this simple guide. This A to Z guide will give you valuable insight into how one can book air tickets faster and easier and get the best deal.

Booking domestic or even international flights today is no longer what it used to be decades ago. Online platforms and websites have made it much easier for you to book your air tickets. However, booking a ticket can still be tricky, especially if you wish to have the best experience at the lowest price. If you’re new to booking an air ticket, mentioned below are some points that can help you get the best ticket.

1. Be an Early Bird

It is always prudent to start searching for the tourist attractions in Chicago a few days in advance of your travel. This perhaps allows excellent deals, discount offers, and cash backs besides easy availability. Advance travel booking, at least two weeks before, helps one compare prices of different airlines and choose the best one.

If your trip plan is flexible, you can decide on the cheapest date and, thus, save many bucks. And be an early bird while not just booking flights but for web check-in as well. Some premium seats are available free of cost, and you get to choose them if you check-in early. Most airlines allow web check-ins 24-48 hours before the departure.

1. Booking Time Matters

It is mostly recommended to book air tickets on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Avoid booking on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays as the fare is relatively high during these days. Besides, there might be a hike in fares during the festivals as well.

A pro tip- if you are booking via a website, clear the cookies first. This is because the prices might shoot up after the last time you visited the page. Better yet, look for flights in incognito mode.

1. Choose the Options Carefully

After you have chosen your travel date, next is to fill the departure and arrival airport and the number of passengers. Based on this, you will get a list of options to choose from. You can further sort the list by price or popularity. You should be able to see the lowest-priced ticket first. However, don’t jump in yet. The lowest-priced ticket might come with some disadvantages. Hence, before you select your option, check for the following:

1. Number of Stops: Flights with multiple stops might increase your travel time and inconvenience as you might have to change flights or even terminals.
2. Baggage Limit: Cheaper flights might only allow you to take cabin baggage of up to 7Kgs. Moreover, if the flight includes check-in baggage also, check the weight limit. For domestic flights, the weight limit is up to 15 Kgs.
3. Cancellation or Refund Policy: Some of the options you see might be non-refundable tickets. This means you will get no refund for cancelling the ticket.
4. Departure or Arrival time: Late night flights are usually cheaper than the day flights but add to the inconvenience.

If you don’t mind some or all of these limitations, go ahead and book the cheapest fare ticket. Or else choose an option after evaluating all the options carefully.

4. Earning Miles by Being a Member of a Mile Program

Mile programs offer various benefits to the traveller. Every time you make air ticket booking through them, you stand a chance to earn some miles. Not just that, but some programs allow you to earn miles on a host of activities such as booking a hotel, shopping online, etc. Irrespective of your flying frequency, you must join this program. Few things to look for when joining a program are;

1. Look at the number of airlines you can fly with and still earn miles
2. Ease of earning and redeeming miles
3. Other benefits and privileges offered, such as lounge access, priority check-in, etc.

Follow the points mentioned here, and you should be able to get your hands on the best tickets. Ensure you read all the rules and guidelines issued by your airline and the airport authorities before you embark on your journey.