For the frequent flyer I have found a website that is a must, ExpertFlyer.com.
The website was created with the intention of helping flyers find award seats, upgrades, cheap tickets and to overall facilitate the process of finding the correct flight for your needs. Much of the information found on the website used to only be available to travel agents but now is available to prying eyes.
A perfect example of a once hidden flight search feature is “fare buckets.” Perhaps you have come across the situation where you find out the guy next to you paid twice as much as you did for the same flight…or the opposite scenario if you are unlucky! How this works is that airlines can sometimes offer up to 20 different fares for the same flight. ExpertFlyer shows you how many different fare buckets a flight has available and approximately how many seats each bucket has. This feature helps you decide on if you really have a good deal or if you should hold out for a lower fare.
Other great features found on ExpertFlyer include: the ability to search for a flight based on the availability of reward tickets or upgrades, airplane seat maps and flight alerts to let you know when the fare you are looking for becomes available.
ExpertFlyer does not sell flights. In order to buy a ticket you need to call the airlines directly and book based on the information found through the site…but it is fun stumping the sales agents and getting questions like “how did you know about that fare?”
I found that using ExpertFlyer I was able to find much cheaper fares for upcoming trips, without having to go to ten different travel search engines. Of course a fabulous service like this does not come free, the monthly subscription ranges from $4.99 to $9.99 per month depending on what features you want access to…but if you do fly often I say it is worth the expense.
Airline fare secrets revealed
Posted by Staff in Wed. Travel Web
For the frequent flyer I have found a website that is a must, ExpertFlyer.com.
The website was created with the intention of helping flyers find award seats, upgrades, cheap tickets and to overall facilitate the process of finding the correct flight for your needs. Much of the information found on the website used to only be available to travel agents but now is available to prying eyes.
A perfect example of a once hidden flight search feature is “fare buckets.” Perhaps you have come across the situation where you find out the guy next to you paid twice as much as you did for the same flight…or the opposite scenario if you are unlucky! How this works is that airlines can sometimes offer up to 20 different fares for the same flight. ExpertFlyer shows you how many different fare buckets a flight has available and approximately how many seats each bucket has. This feature helps you decide on if you really have a good deal or if you should hold out for a lower fare.
Other great features found on ExpertFlyer include: the ability to search for a flight based on the availability of reward tickets or upgrades, airplane seat maps and flight alerts to let you know when the fare you are looking for becomes available.
ExpertFlyer does not sell flights. In order to buy a ticket you need to call the airlines directly and book based on the information found through the site…but it is fun stumping the sales agents and getting questions like “how did you know about that fare?”
I found that using ExpertFlyer I was able to find much cheaper fares for upcoming trips, without having to go to ten different travel search engines. Of course a fabulous service like this does not come free, the monthly subscription ranges from $4.99 to $9.99 per month depending on what features you want access to…but if you do fly often I say it is worth the expense.