| To begin with, the best place to buy really | | | | There is the problem of whether you'll get a |
| cheap plane tickets is online. Travel | | | | refund if your timing is off on the |
| agencies can't compete with discount ticket | | | | connections (you probably won't). |
| sites. Search Google ("cheap airfare south | | | | |
| america", for example), or try the | | | | Check for package deals, where you pay for |
| well-known sites, like Expedia, Travelocity, | | | | plane tickets and your hotel room. I haven't |
| Cheap Tickets, Hotwire or Priceline. | | | | had much luck with these deals, but it can't |
| | | | hurt to look at them. |
| Just now I checked fares from Tucson, Arizona | | | | |
| to Traverse City, Michigan on the five sites | | | | Buying ahead of time gets you cheaper plane |
| mentioned above. The cheapest quotes ranged | | | | tickets. Any thing less than a week away |
| from $704 to $432. Nevermind which was | | | | tends to be expensive, although you never can |
| cheapest (oh, okay, it was Expedia), because | | | | tell in the mysterious realm of airfare |
| you never know from day to day which sites | | | | pricing. Sometimes the "last minute specials" |
| will find the cheapest flights. | | | | are the best thing going. |
| | | | |
| Check at least three places. In this case, it | | | | Priceline still has their "Name Your Own |
| would mean a savings of $272. The flight | | | | Price" feature. Make your bid, and the |
| durations are within minutes of each other, | | | | airlines say yes or no, depending on whether |
| by the way, and the food is probably equally | | | | they have empty seats to fill. First search |
| bad on all the flights. | | | | for the cheapest tickets you can find, then |
| | | | bid lower than that. If your bid is rejected, |
| Flexibility For Even Cheaper Airfare | | | | you can return to the website where you found |
| | | | the best deal and book it. |
| The more flexible you are, the better your | | | | |
| chance of getting a really cheap plane | | | | If You're Really Cheap |
| tickets. Try different departure and return | | | | |
| dates if you can. Check the box "2 or more | | | | My wife and I once took a bus from Michigan |
| connecting flights". Mark the "anytime" | | | | to Miami, and flew from there to Ecuador. For |
| departure, even if you don't want to leave at | | | | us at that time, saving a couple hundred |
| midnight - the savings might change your | | | | dollars was worth 38 hours on a bus. This |
| mind. Try all the options. If the savings | | | | won't save you much on domestic flights. |
| aren't enough, you can always book first | | | | Right now, for example, taking a bus from |
| class, direct flights, or whatever you | | | | Traverse City to Detroit, then flying to Los |
| prefer. | | | | Angeles, would only save about $70 (allowing |
| | | | for cab fare to the airport) over flying |
| Really Cheap Plane Tickets - More Ways | | | | directly. |
| | | | |
| You can buy two tickets. The cheapest airfare | | | | There are other options beyond the scope of |
| from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Tucson, | | | | this article. Courier flights, for example, |
| Arizona costs $451 roundtrip right now. Las | | | | can be a great deal if you don't mind letting |
| Vegas to Tucson is only $161, however, and | | | | a company use your baggage allowance (you get |
| there are regular $199 specials to Vegas from | | | | carry-on only). There are also stand-by deals |
| Grand Rapids. It's up to you whether saving | | | | and last minute deals and other ways to get |
| $91 is worth booking two flights. (It saved | | | | really cheap plane tickets. Good luck! |
| us over $1000 when we went to South America.) | | | | |