Martha's Handy Tips for Buying AIRLINE Tickets

Yes, we travel agents have to charge for tickets.  The airlines cut us off from commissions and actually charge us to do a ticket.  They even call us their "partners."  If I had a partner that treated me like that, I'd cut off their whatchie which is exactly what they did to us.  Here are some handy tips in getting the best price for a ticket:

I do recommend that you use a travel agent if you're flying on business, fly frequently, or need an international ticket.  Other than that, I recommend that you buy online.  Do not use Orbitz, Travelocity, or any of those type of online travel agencies.  They charge a fee too.  However, you can use their search engines and find what you want or use my favorite, Kayak.com.  Once you do a search by date, price, or however you want to do it, go directly to the airline's own site and book it.  Not only will you usually get bonus miles, but some are even letting you hold the ticket and giving you a price guarantee for 24 hours, plus there is no fee.  If you have to change your ticket, it's easier for them to deal with also.

For international tickets, you should check with a travel agent first or even after you've checked the prices online.  Travel agents have access to consolidators that often sell the tickets at net (the agent adds a fee) which is lower than published rates.  If the agent's ticket is less, buy it.  If not, book it online directly with an airline of your choice.  If you are going on a vacation, that's a totally different ballgame and in most cases, you can get the air with the hotel and transfers or car for less in a combo.  That should be taken care of by a travel agent.

Last minute travel:  Oh no, my uncle's dog died and I have to go to the memorial tomorrow! Yikes! We're talking huge amounts of dollars here.  So what do you do if you have to go some where at the very last minute and you can't find a fare for under your mortgage payment?  Go directly to your newspaper and look in the classifieds, pick up a Reader if it's published in your city, and look under travel or tickets.  You will often find Southwest Airlines reward vouchers from private parties for about $300 to $350 on any round trip.  These are not assigned to a certain passenger and are transferable.  Make sure SWA has the seats available before you buy the voucher.  Coach is coach to them and you can use them for last minute travel, saving yourself hundreds of dollars.  You owe me for this one!

You have enough frequent flyer miles for a free ticket but need it for last minute?  Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't.  Try out the airline's site first and see if a seat is available for FFs. You would be surprised at the amount of seats that magically appear 2 days before departure.  If it doesn't show one but a regular paying seat is available, call the airline and ask them for help on this problem.  Don't count on anything, but I've seen it happen.  Don't call a reservations agent, call the FF dedicated number.