Tip #1: Remember to Be Flexible:
The biggest thing that you should keep in mind when searching for cheap plane tickets is to try many combinations of dates. Playing with the departure date and return date of a ticket can change its price dramatically. Also, traveling during off-seasons can really help out. For instance, a flight to Spain in the summer can easily cost $1,000.00 or more; however, that same flight in the winter can cost as little as $500.00 (I once found a flight to Spain in December for less than $500.00).

In general, days in the middle of the week are usually cheaper for flying than weekends. When you’re looking for a ticket, making your departure and return dates on a Tuesday or Wednesday as opposed to a Saturday or Sunday could lower the price of an international flight a couple hundred bucks (this is a general rule – it doesn’t always hold true).

Tip #2: Round Trip is Often Cheaper:
Many students who are going to Spain for a year or longer have the misconception that they should buy a one-way ticket to Spain and then buy a return ticket later when their year is up and it is finally time for them to go back to the USA. This usually turns out to be an expensive way to do things. For some reason, I have found that round-trip tickets are almost always a lot cheaper than one-way tickets to Spain. Even if you aren’t going to use the return ticket, buy a round-trip ticket anyway and toss the return part of the ticket… it will probably cost you less in the long run.

Tip #3: Buy Early:
This one is simple: the sooner you buy your ticket before departing, the cheaper the price will be. I recommend buying at least a month early; however, that’s even pushing it if you want to find a really good deal.

Tip #4: Shop Around:
I like to use the internet to shop for cheap airfare. Generally, I start with Priceline.com and play with the dates on that site until I find a really cheap ticket. I then write down the dates that I found and go to other competing sites to see if they can offer me travel on those same dates for a lesser price. Below, I’ll list a few of the sites that I usually check out. So far, I’ve never found a site that has beaten Priceline’s price; still, it’s nice to shop around to be sure. Remember, this is just a small list of sites – there are lots out there. If you want to find more sites, do a quick Google search.

• Priceline.com – This is my favorite site to shop for cheap tickets to Spain. I should mention here, however, that I’ve never used the “name your own price” feature of the site because I don’t like the idea of not knowing my travel itinerary before buying my ticket. Still, their “fixed prices” are always good and I’ve never had any problems with them as far as booking and ticket availability are concerned.
• Cheaptickets.com - After Priceline, this site probably has the second-best prices on tickets.
• Hotwire.com – Another option… I haven’t used this site much.
• Live Farecast – This is an interesting site owned by Microsoft that allows you to search for tickets all over the internet and then displays the cheapest ones in a list. It’s a new site and I haven’t had much time to use it for myself, but the concept looks interesting.
• Aer Lingus – This is an interesting one that has flights from select airports in the USA for a pretty good price… the only drawback is that most of the flights to Spain connect in Ireland. I’ve never used the site, but the prices do look inexpensive.

All of the above-mentioned “discount travel” sites are great, but don’t forget to check with the actual airlines as well. Sometimes you can find a ticket directly from an airline for the same price or a few dollars less than what it is being sold for at the “discount” sites. Calling companies like American Air and US Air before looking at “bargain” sites can’t hurt.

Other Miscellaneous Thoughts:
You may be wondering how much a flight to Spain should cost in today’s market. I can tell you that I recently booked my flight for when I go to Burgos in September and the ticket from the east coast of the USA to Madrid cost me around $900.00. Of course, ticket prices are relative – had I booked the ticket earlier before gas prices started to rise like mad the same trip probably would have cost me around $700.00.

When you’re buying your plane tickets try to look at the airline’s baggage policies and cancellation fees. Many airlines have strict rules for canceling tickets and a lot are starting to charge fees for checked bags to help offset the rising costs of fuel. Before you buy your ticket, make sure you’re well informed. A more expensive ticket from a competing airline may be less expensive in the long run when you factor in baggage restrictions and hidden fees on the “bargain” ticket.

I make so many trips to Spain that I have a frequent flyer credit card that I use for most of my purchases in order to earn points toward a free flight. There are lots of frequent flyer cards on the market and if you fly internationally often, I recommend that you look into the different options for one that suits you. I love my frequent flyer card… I recently used it to save $100.00 on the ticket that I bought to go to Spain in September (thus, instead of costing me $900.00 the ticket really only cost me $800.00).

I hope that this post has been helpful to someone. Please, if you have any other tips for cheap tickets that I forgot to mention, don’t hesitate to add a comment here to share your experience and expertise with others. Or, if you have any strange airline stories or anything else to say, feel free to comment here as well.

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com