Save On Domestic Airfare In The Wake Of Price Hikes

Delta and the other major airlines announced their first price hikes for the year ahead this last week. While you aren't looking at a huge increase in price, just $20 on long-haul domestic flights, this is in addition to the increases that they put up last year - while you're already feeling the pinch from a stalled job market and economy. Now is as good a time as any to start figuring out how to save on your domestic flights, especially if something comes up and you have to travel on short notice.

First things first, you want to be flexible on your travel arrangements wherever possible. On a flight into Washington DC, or to Chicago, you have more than one major airport that you can arrive at. I found on my move to Chicago that being willing to come into Midway, rather than O'Hare meant a difference of almost $100 on a one-way ticket. That's enough to splurge for lunch without feeling guilty. The other major point to look at right away is your departure time. If you'll leave earlier than decent people want to wake, or later than you want to be up, that's a savings for you. Less popular flights that leave after-hours, or have layovers are almost always going to add up to savings for you over people that insist on a first-class, round-trip, non-stop to the biggest airport in town.

Another tip that I've used to great success is on round-trip tickets. Often I've found there is a savings, particularly on longer trips, in purchasing two one-way tickets in place of a single round-trip. The more you're willing to shop around, the better the deals that you can find. This works particularly well in a situation where you're going to be gone for more than a couple of days, as the return flight will be far enough out to qualify for a lower bracket of fares. Being willing to spend more time looking at different airlines and different websites will net you a better return.

While you're shopping around, make sure that you run some web searches against "last-minute", "promotional" and "special" airfares. Different sites call them different things, but the basic idea is that a lot of flights have some empty seats on them that the airline is willing to get rid of for less at the last minute, rather than losing money on an empty seat that will cross the country whether someone is in it or not. There are sites that do nothing but promote those, but by running searches against those terms, you can even find them on the major airline sites. Often, they'll be combined with things like rental cars or hotel stays, so make sure that you're planning your whole trip at once. Nothing is worse than finding out you could have saved a couple of hundreds of dollars on a flight and car, except that you already booked the car and owe money if you break your reservation.

Finally, if you're working for a larger company - or one that does a lot of travel - you can often find savings by working with your employer. I once saved over $300 on a round-trip ticket and car because I went to the person in my company who booked all of our travel. Not all companies are willing to let their employees piggy-back on their corporate rates, discounts, frequent flyer miles and such, but you'll never lose just for asking the question.

I hope you find these tips helpful, what do YOU do to save money when travelling? Give us your best ideas in the comments!