8 Ways to Save Money on Airfare

By Barbara Pronin, RISMedia Columnist If summer travel is in your plans, there are a few tips to consider that may help you save a bundle on airfare, according to Joe Brancatelli, publisher of the website, Joesentme.com.

“On a single flight, there can be more than a dozen pricing categories,” Brancatelli says. He offers these tips to help you snag the best deals in the air: • Book six weeks in advance – Data collected over four years shows that while some of the best deals may be found at other times, booking 42 days in advance of your flight will generally save you money. • Check for morning deals – Although some airlines offer discounted tickets all day, the early morning is the best time to find discounted fares. • Check on Tuesday afternoons – According to farecompare.com, many discount deals are offered online on Tuesdays at 3 p.m. Eastern time. • Fly on Wednesdays – Flying on a Wednesday can net you airfare discounts, with Tuesdays and Saturdays not far behind. Those are the days when the most empty seats often require discounting to fill the plane. • Fly early – While it may mean getting up well before sunrise, you will find the first flights of any morning are always the cheapest, studies show. • Check low-cost airlines individually - Comparison sites like kayak.com don't necessarily do all the work. Some low-cost airlines, like Southwest in the United States and Ryanair in Europe, don't allow their tickets to be quoted on popular comparison websites. So check them separately. • Sign up for free alerts - Almost every major online booking site offers airfare alerts that ping you when fare prices fall. AirfareWatchdog.com stands out from the pack. • Build a relationship - Elite members of an airline's frequent-flyer program, or those who have a credit card tied to the airline, automatically have a leg-up on being offered lower fares. Also, credit cards tied to the airlines offer perks that were once standard, such as free checked bags, priority boarding, and seat selection, so they may be worth signing up for if you fly frequently on one airline.