Many a times, we come up with a situation where we have to leave for an unplanned trip which was not supposed to happen until the previous hour. Booking flight tickets at such instances can be a costly affair if you don’t know exactly where to look. Last minute airfare deals can save you good dollars if you know the right place.
One of the most primitive way to get last minute airfare deals is opting for a courier flight. Several courier companies in the past would hire people to courier their deliveries to particular destinations. Many travelers travelling to the same destinations would get in touch with courier agencies and after a screening process they would be given the delivery product, which would be checked in with the personal baggage (of the traveler). Once reaching the destination, the delivery product could be handed over to the local representative of that courier company. The best part of Courier ticketing was that the traveler would get a round trip ticket with a week or two stay facility, which would totally fit their itinerary. As the world trading advanced and the courier companies grew in business, it led them to have their own fleet of cargo flights and sophisticated logistics that would deliver products at a much efficient way. There are still online courier agencies that offer courier ticketing, but the downlow here is they have very limited routes.
last minute bookings can be costly for obvious reasons that they are being booked at the last minute and also if the seats are getting booked fast. Last minute airfare deals can get you last minute booked tickets at a comparatively cheaper rate.
There are ways to get best minute airfare deals, the first thing you need to do is keep your flight itinerary flexible. Booking a last-minute flight may not give you options in flight timings, routes and departure locations. These flights will generally come with a layover of a longer duration. It might prove to be a tiring journey but will certainly save you dollars.
Visit the airlines official website to get a good last minute airfare deal. Apart from websites which generally sell flight tickets that are sold quickly, some of the off-demand flights are left off the radar. That’s where your purpose comes in. The flights that are not in demand or whose seats are not getting filled up fast are available on the airlines official websites.
Vacation packages can be considered as a good alternative. Vacation packages allow you to pick unsold flights and hotel bundles. One of the uncommon ways is to look for a travel consolidators. Travel consolidators buy air tickets in bulk at volume prices to book seats in advance to maintain the capacity of the flight. If these consolidators are not able to pre-sell the tickets at those prices, they try to unload them at huge discounts.
If you are young enough and have planned a travel at last minute, then the student and youth fares can get you cheap last minute airfare deals. If you are travelling internationally, that is outside mainland United States (to Europe maybe), student fares can get you good last minute airfare deals. You can get even better deals if you have a valid student ID.
To conclude it is better to keep your eyes and ears open and subscribe to newsletters to stay updated on any deals that the airlines or the travel booking websites might have to offer.
