If you are willing to spend a little time and have access to an Internet connection, it is surprisingly easy to find discount airfare. There are a few things that need to be kept in mind when searching for a good price. That is, there are many variables involved that affect the price of airline tickets. Here are the main factors to consider that affect the price of airfare.

One of the biggest influencing factors of airline tickets is the time of year. If it is near a holiday season the price will be more costly compared to the off-season airline tickets. For example airline ticket prices right before Christmas will be more expensive compared to a month or two before Christmas.

Size of the airport will usually affect the price of the airline tickets as well. If you want a cheap airline ticket it is always advisable to make your departure from a large international airport if possible. One reason for this is because most airlines will have their main hub at a large airport.

If your destination airport is in another country, then the flight will be considered as an international flight. Taxes that come with international flights are almost always higher than domestic flights. Try to purchase an airline ticket that has minimum layover. The more layovers means higher ticket prices. On the other hand there are exceptions to this. Some airlines, although rare, will charge less for flights that have several stopovers. Another thing to keep in mind is that the later in the night the flight departs, the cheaper the flight will be. These are called red eye flights. It is not unusual to find red eye flights with huge discounts.

As mentioned before if you have Internet access it is not difficult to find a good price. If possible, avoid purchasing airline tickets over the phone, most airlines will charge a big fee for purchasing over the telephone. There is even software that will help you find the cheapest tickets. Sometimes just going directly to the airlines web site is a good idea. There are several airlines that will give you a great deal if you purchase directly from them and some of them will even match another airlines price. If possible never purchase an airline ticket from a travel agent. Travel agencies need to make a profit, which means they will tack on additional fees on top of the ticket price, in order to make a profit.

If possible purchase your airline ticket ahead of time. The rule is 2 to 6 weeks before your planned departure date. This will help immensely to find cheap airline tickets. Generally the cheapest tickets can be found from Monday to Thursday. If you are a student then many airlines offer discounted airfare on student travel. Some airlines do not necessarily advertise this, but if you ask around and do a little research it shouldn’t be difficult to find a student discount ticket. Most student discount fares come with only one-way travel this is because most students may not know when they plan on returning. If it is a 2-way ticket then there may be restrictions on how long you can stay at your travel destination. In other words you may be required to use the plane ticket to return after a few days.

If possible try and book a plane ticket with an airline that offers frequent flyer miles. This way whenever you fly with them you will be accumulating miles and will at some point qualify for discounted or even free traveling. Nowadays there are many no frill low fare airlines, so if you look around on their websites, it shouldn’t be difficult to find a cheap flights. Most of these no frills airlines will have a stipulation such as you need to purchase the plane tickets at least 1 week in advance and not more than 2 months in advance.

A great source for cheap airline tickets that often gets overlooked is the online auction site. These sites will be full of auctioneers selling their unwanted tickets. In conclusion the most important thing to remember is that if you buy tickets well in advance you will have a much better chance of getting cheap flights. If you purchase in advance you may even get a good price on a plane ticket with an airline that normally would cost a lot more than a low cost or no frills carrier. It is not unusual to see good prices even for business class tickets either.