|
 How
do I find my personal tickets?
Finding
low Air fares int the 21st Century has become both
easier and more difficult! There are so many more
options to choose from as it is easy for anyone
to put up a web site and sell tickets. Next you
have the giants, who are automated(Travelocity,
Expedia etc....) and more of those keep popping
up. On top of that we have the post 911 drive to
maintain security(or at least to collect security
fees), and on top of that fuel surcharges as oil
prices hit a record high!
When
you're searching keep in mind that there are fares
and taxes. A low Fare only on British Air can be
higher than a higher fare on Air France as British
Air taxes are cloeser to $300 while Air France taxes
are closer to $150. On top of that there is a fuel
surcharge which some airlines add to their fares
and other airlines, like Olympic, add to their taxes.
So.... remember, don't just look at the fares....make
sure you know what the taxes are!
I have
a fairly easy system when I look for myself. I have
direct access to the Sabre Reservation system so
I can do a search for the best flights. When searching
for tickets to Greece(any other country in the world
I would use a similar process) I usually check Olympic
and Delta first as they have the best itinerary
from most places(I love the direct flights from
JFK to Athens that leave at 540pm and arrive in
Athens at 10am). Once I get that fare, I have a
basic price to work with. Next I do what is called
a "WPNCB", which brings up the lowest
fare in that airline. After that I do a WPNI, which
is the lowest published fare of all airlines for
that route and those dates I've selected("published"
fares are the fares that are available to all passengers.).
The final step I take in Sabre is to do a WPNI*PJCB
which brings up the lowest net fare.(Net fares are
an agents "wholesale" fares which is the
base fare which they can add their commission to).
Once
I have a general idea of the fares I then run four
more searches... One on Expedia and LowestFare.com(which
probably have lower fares most often), one on
Travelocity and one on Res99. I wish I could say
that one is going to have the best fares, but the
truth is that sometimes my fares are better sometimes
Expedia or LowestFares or Travelocity is better
and sometimes Res99 is better... It's a toss up
although the first two seem to be best most often...
I've put them all together here for you to search
so you don't have to run all over the web. As I
find new sites that are competitive I will post
them....
So...
your best bet is to try all five and then choose
the lowest fare!(if you do find a good fare, reserve
it for 24 hours since I may not be able to get back
to you immediately- but most of time within 1-12
hours). If you don't reserve it, you run the risk
of it being sold out or not being available any
longer. When that happens you'll find that you kick
yourself and ask why you didn't reserve it!(there
is no cost to reserving it and then cancelling if
you decide not to purchase)
Happy
Hunting! and let me know if you do find flights
so I can pass them on to other people!
Thanks.......
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Expedia
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Travelocity
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Lowest
Fares
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Globe
Merchant
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Res99
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