frugal travel

10 Tightwad Ways to Fly Free (Or Almost Free)
By Debra Fortosis

1. If you or a family member begins working for an airline, in most cases, your family can fly free 0n that airline, owing only for taxes. This is an almost priceless perk if you and your family like to travel and have the time to do so.

2. You can win airline tickets in sweepstakes but, I admit, the odds aren’t great for that. However, it’s becoming quite common for companies to offer free airline tickets when you buy some service or big ticket item. Keep a lookout for such offers. Two airline tickets anywhere in the continental U.S. can be worth up to $300-500. There are also occasional Buy one/Get one deals.

3. If you’re not flying on a tight deadline, overbooking/thank you vouchers can be very nice. Most are familiar with the overbooking of flights in which the airline asks if anyone would agree to take a later flight. For this favor, the airline gives you a voucher, sometimes for the amount of a full airline flight in the future. Be prepared for such cases, because when the offer comes, you usually are on the jet and you don’t have 15 minutes to discuss with your spouse whether or not to take the voucher. Last minute/standby deals aren’t as common as they used to be, but occasionally it still happens. This means you just show up at the airport and request that if someone misses the flight in question, you’d like their seat at a discounted price. Of course, check in advance and confirm whether the airline accepts this practice and if there’s any discount.

4. Most everyone seems to know about frequent flyer miles. If you fly often, you can earn bonus points toward a free airline ticket every time you fly with a particular airline. There are also many credit cards that issue you miles/points for every purchase you make using the card. Gold and Platinum cards, especially, offer lots of bonus miles in exchange for use of the card.

5. Making yourself a savvy travel booker can save big money for you. New airlines often reduce fares drastically, or an airline reduces fares when adding a new route/destination. Also be aware that you can sometimes reap large discounts by flying during the slowest days of the week or the slowest days of the year, flying to popular destinations at unpopular times, purchasing during the cheapest times of the day, or buying a super cheap travel package, though you can’t use it at that moment.

6. Consolidaters buy up blocks of tickets in bulk at near-wholesale prices. This means that they can offer you highly discounted airline tickets. Some consolidation prices are better than others. We’re not talking dirt cheap here, maybe $100-150 off a $500-$600 ticket. But savings are savings, right?

7. If you hire on as a courier, you can fly cheap, sometimes free. A courier escorts a package to its destination. Companies do this to avoid delays getting packages through customs. If you’re at least 18 years of age, would like to travel the world, are willing to go with two small carry-on bags, can travel alone, and you have an adventurous spirit, this could be your dream come true. You can usually work it out so you spend a week or more at the destination before traveling home. One of the best deals I ever came across was Los Angeles to Tokyo for $100 in taxes. The ticket would have cost about $1800.

8. If you are a writer and like writing about new places, you can fly free if you’re hired to write about it for some sort of travel periodical. A few people, such as Bill Bryce, have turned their love for travel into a very lucrative writing career. This is rare because even good writers can rarely entertain so well that readers will buy book- length copies of their travel experiences and perspectives. If you’re interested, though, you can find out more about this by googling “become a travel writer.” I would also suggest that you begin gradually building a reputation as a travel writer by getting published by magazines or, even easier, by ezines. You may eventually have enough notoriety to merit an offer here or there as a paid travel writer.

9. Some U.S. carriers offer discounts for individuals over 50 years of age, others offer them for those 62 or older. You can also buy senior-discount coupons in books of four. These coupons can sometime enable senior travelers to save almost half off a full-priced airline ticket.

10. Flying charter flights can save money but this is not one of my favorite options. Charter flights are scheduled less often than domestic flights and they book to complete capacity. This is definitely no frills—you’re packed in so tight, there is little room to move. If there’s any food on a longer flight, it will be a very simple brown bag. The only exception is if you’re lucky enough to book first class on a charter flight. Then you’re basically getting first class service at a coach fare price.

About the author:
Debra Fortosis is a professional travel agent. You can book travel on her user friendly website. She can even help you easily launch your own turnkey e-travel business.

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