Back in the Middle Ages of air travel, airlines used to publish their rates in telephone-book-sized compendiums updated every few weeks, and your trusty travel agent would actually get on the phone to reserve your seat. Nowadays, fares change as often as the weather in New England. The good news? Ever-evolving technology now lets airlines sell unused seats at the last minute at a variety of venues, producing some of the cheapest prices ever. The bad news? With a glut of information out there, finding these fares can be a bewildering, confusing, and downright frustrating experience.

“There is no magic formula for always finding the cheapest fares,” says Terrance Zepke, author of the Encyclopedia of Cheap Travel. “Comparison shopping is the name of the game.” But don’t take that to mean you should spend more time hunting for your vacation airfare than you’ll actually spend on vacation. We won’t lie to you; the world of inexpensive airfares is dog-eat-dog. But follow these efficient steps, learn some simple tricks, and with a little bit of luck, you will excel in sniffing out the best online airfare deals.

SIX STEPS TO CHEAP TICKETS
#1: FIGURE OUT THE BEST TIME TO BUY
Your first step to airfare success is to determine the best time to buy your tickets. If you absolutely must get home to Mom for Thanksgiving—or to Courchevel before Lance passes through—the age-old advice still holds true: Buy your tickets at least three weeks in advance.

“I think most airline sources would agree that anything outside 21 days before takeoff is considered an advance-purchase ticket,” says Brian Ek of Priceline.com. “Airlines are different, but generally, once you hit 15 days before the flight, the price begins to go up, then it goes up again at the seven-day mark. So if you want a retail ticket, buy it at least 21 days out for the best price.” Consider buying retail and buying early for vacation destinations during popular seasons or during high-traffic holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and spring break in March.

However, if your trip to Whistler can wait a weekend or Mom doesn’t mind you arriving on Thanksgiving day rather than the day before, consider changing your strategy. Timing when you fly is just as important as when you buy. Though airfares can be fickle and inconsistent, cheaper flights are typically available on weekdays, as opposed to weekends, and during non-rush hours. If you can’t avoid major holidays, like Christmas, New Year’s, Thanksgiving, national long-weekend holidays, and spring break periods in March, a good rule of thumb is to try to travel when everyone else doesn’t want to. Think Christmas Eve or day, Thanksgiving day or a week ahead of time. Besides, flying on a holiday is typically more relaxed—the airports and planes are usually less crowded, and the “we’re all in this together” atmosphere can lend to an easy-going travel experience.

#2: UNLEASH THE SEARCH ENGINES
You know where you want to go and when. Mouse in hand, you approach the glaring, daunting screen of your computer. Task number one: Do a drive-by of the big search engines like Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia, and Cheaptickets. Consider this as a fact-finding mission: a survey of these sites will give you a good idea on the average going rate for a retail ticket.

These search engines also offer a variety of search flexibility. Orbitz and Travelocity both allow you to search multiple dates—or even whole months—so you can compare rates and plan on traveling on the least expensive day.

Also keep in mind that ticket prices can vary drastically by airport. If you’re flying out of Boston, try Providence. San Francisco? Think Oakland. How about Charlotte? Consider Greensboro. Cheaptickets and Travelocity both have tools for searching multiple airports to come up with the best rate based on proximity, while Orbitz will automatically search all airports associated with a particular destination (for example, searches for Washington, D.C., yields results on Reagan, Dulles, and Baltimore-Washington airports).

#3: ON TO THE AGGREGATORS
A new breed of search engine has cropped up in the past few years: the aggregator site. Sites like Qixo, Kayak, and SideStep search a whole flock of search engines as well as airline sites themselves. Why go the extra step? Many of the budget airlines that have great inexpensive fares, like Southwest, don’t do business with consolidators like Travelocity, so by searching only those sites, you’re missing half the market. Our favorite is Mobissimo, which on multiple comparisons brought up the lowest fares most quickly.

#4: GO DIRECTLY TO AIRLINE WEBSITES
You’ve found the cheapest dates and the best airport, and now you think you’ve found the cheapest fare. Not so fast—you’ve got one more step. If you’ve found a great deal on an America West flight, check out America West’s website. Why? You’ll often find a better deal directly from the airline. And even if price is the same, buying directly from the airline will save you the search engine’s booking fee—usually around $5—and you’ll have a better chance at changing tickets or refunding your money if something goes wrong. Finally, some airlines guarantee the lowest rates from their own websites, backed up with special offers for those who find cheaper fares elsewhere.

That said, if you found an eye-popping deal on a search engine that utilizes multiple carriers, take it—the hassle of pricing individual flights in a multiple-leg, multiple-carrier itinerary will drive you batty, to say nothing of accidentally landing in New York’s JFK Airport when you fly out of La Guardia in 15 minutes.

#5: PERUSE THE BUDGET AIRLINES’ WEBSITES
To go the extra mile, quickly eyeball the budget airlines’ websites that fly out of the airports nearest you. Often, their rates manage to fly, so to speak, under the radar of the major search engines, so it can pay to target them directly. On a recent check, Airtran posted $76 fares between Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale, Southwest had fares for $99 or less from more than 30 cities, and JetBlue had fares from numerous cities starting at $39. Frontier, Independence Air, Spirit, and ATA also post web deals. Many of these low-cost airlines also have weekly or monthly newsletters that announce web-only deals, which is a great way to keep abreast of new deals.

#6: TRY BIDDING ON A PRICE
If you still haven’t found an airfare that fits within your budget, try bidding. Yes, Priceline.com is still alive and kicking. In fact, the site now offers retail tickets in addition to the name-your-price game. But there are a few other players out there, like SkyAuction.com, which also posts deals and takes bids eBay-style.

Determining a bid that’s low but not impossible is a fine art elucidated only by date and destination. Aim too low and you’re wasting your time, aim too high and…well, you know. To start, take the lowest price from the industry-standard search engines (step #2) and the aggregators (#3), knock off 15 to 20 percent, and, using the same search criteria, go from there. Keep in mind, each bidding site likely has its own quirks and tricks. To put more than luck on your side, check out Biddingfortravel.com for additional tips on playing the auction game.

Hotwire.com offers a slight twist on the typical bidding game. Rather than asking you to bid, you enter in your trip info and they generate a deeply discounted clearance price, which is often the best deal going. The catch? All you get is the price of the flight—you don’t see the flight schedule or what airline (or airlines) you’re flying until after purchasing the ticket. For people with flexible schedules, this is a manageable hassle, but if you need to put in a half-day before flying off to the Caribbean, Hotwire.com can be gamble.

LET THE EXPERTS DO THE WORK FOR YOU
Along with the other billion (or so it seems) travel-deal websites out there, there is a unique species that monitors the search engines and airline sites and highlights the best deals. SmarterTravel.com continually updates postings on the most outrageous plane ticket, hotel, car, and cruise sales, and has a team of editors that post travel-tip articles for these ever-changing times. Bestfares.com has a search engine and keeps excellent tabs on fare wars between airlines, such as when a particular city might be the center of downward-spiraling fares for a limited period of time.

Some sites, like adventure-centric GORPtravel.com, also specialize in a particular niche of travel, offering package trips that take care of all the details. Costs vary widely, and in some cases airfare isn’t included in the quoted price, but the expertise afforded by working with industry leaders could offer the assurance you need to make your vacation stress free.

THE LOWDOWN ON COURIER FLIGHTS
So many budget travelers have discovered the air courier trick that flights to Sydney for a quarter and a smile are more fiction than fact. However, there is still a nice load of mind-bogglingly cheap ones—provided you’re willing to make a few trade-offs. Here’s the deal: By law, all baggage on commercial flights must be accompanied by a passenger. For many companies, sending goods on commercial flights with a passenger is far faster than shipping, so they look for passengers willing to fly on short notice, with great flexibility, and with no personal baggage other than carry-ons. The upshot as a courier is that all you really have to do is pack frugally, sit on a plane, carry the customs papers, and hook up with the appropriate contacts at the airport, and you’ll get great fares: Think Amsterdam for $125 or Bangkok for $275. Membership to the Air Courier Association or the International Association of Air Travel Couriers costs about $50 and gets you access to detailed information on the courier life and daily flight options. But keep in mind: flexibility is key—if you’re aching for a two-week break from a grueling nine-to-five gig that can’t be left at a moment’s notice, courier flights probably won’t work. But if you’ve got some flex in your schedule, it’s a great way to save cash and see the world.

LAST-MINUTE SEATS FOR SALE
Airtech targets a similarly flexible demographic as courier agencies, but puts passengers on empty or standby seats at the last minute. If you’re flexible with your dates and destinations, you can get pretty sweet deals, like a flight to Europe for about $200. First, buy a FlightPass for travel between certain regions, say the U.S. and Europe, with a departure window of two to four days. When a flight comes up to your preferred destination, you’ll get a call. If it fits you desires and interests, you head to the airport and redeem your pass for the tickets. Think of it as the budget traveler’s way of flying on standby. One intrepid traveler used Airtech to get home to Greece for the 2004 Olympics. She got the call—a flight to Amsterdam from Washington, D.C., for around $200—and headed out that afternoon. After a leisurely day in the Netherlands, she hopped a train south to Athens and reached her destination for half of what it would’ve cost had she flown direct. Plus she got to go to Amsterdam. But if you need to be in a certain city at a certain time, Airtech ain’t for you.

SMALL-SCALE AND CHARTER AIRLINES
Small-scale airlines and some charter services often offer specially scheduled or seasonal flights to high-traffic destinations for low rates. USA 3000 Airlines flies from Midwest and Northeast cities to vacation destinations in Florida, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico for fares 20 to 60 percent cheaper than major carriers’ fares, depending on the city. Sun Country Airlines is another small carrier based in Minnesota with flights to more than 40 domestic, Caribbean, and Mexican destinations. Especially at the last minute, rates can be significantly cheaper than those of Northwest, Sun Country’s biggest competitor. When purchasing tickets, be aware of restrictions on refunds and rescheduling after missed connections with other carriers. To find small carriers, look up a full list of airlines that service your local airport.

ROUND-THE-WORLD TICKETS
Long to follow in Magellan’s footsteps? Do not buy a slew of disparate tickets around the world. You can save thousands of dollars for your on-the-ground travels by purchasing a round-the-world ticket. Several companies, like Airtreks and Air Brokers International can help arrange complicated global itineraries, sometimes for discounted prices. Also try the airlines directly for their latest fares. The One World Alliance, a group of eight airlines, including American, British Airways, and Qantas, offers around-the-world tickets with up to 20 segments (geo-specific regions of travel). SkyTeam, an alliance of nine airlines, including Continental, Delta, Air France, and KLM, offers round-the-world fares with over 650 stops to choose from.

AIR PASSES
Okay, so you’re not planning on circumnavigating the earth anytime soon, but how about a little continental perambulation? There are plenty of smaller-scale deals with specific airlines and alliances that can save you tons on intra-continental travel. For example, the Star Alliance, a group of 16 airlines, including United, Lufthansa, Thai Airways, and Air Canada, offers discounted air passes for Europe, North America, Asia, and the South Pacific, among others. Passengers buy between three and ten coupons starting at $65 each, which are then redeemable for single-segment flights between any of the alliance’s destinations in the given region. Similar deals are also available within certain countries, with deals on international airfare and a set number of intra-country flights. For example, Qantas, in association with Tourism Australia, currently offers international airfare and three domestic flights for prices starting at $999, far cheaper than any other DIY pricing available. The best way to track down packages like this is to check the websites of the national airlines or the country’s tourism website, easily accessible via Google.

2. For international flights between major cities, it’s hard to beat the price of flying courier – often half or less than regular fare. Of course, some restrictions apply. Click here to learn more details about flying as an air courier.
Imagine flying to exotic destinations all over the world, but paying 50% or less regular airfare costs. Once in a while you might even get an overseas flight completely free. It sounds too good to be true, but air couriers get these kinds of deals all the time, and the best news is, you too can easily join their happy numbers.

3. When one airline announces a sale to a particular destination, chances are the others will soon follow suit, so be on the lookout and call or click around.

4. Seniors should ask about domestic airfare coupon books. Several airlines offer this option of discounted fares that are bought as a block of 4 coupons. Some airlines also offer this option to students.

5. Use the internet to search out last minute bargain weekend fares. Most airlines’ websites have a place where drastically reduced weekend fares are available. Start checking on Wednesday for the weekend ahead.

6. When flying in the US, some of the least expensive flights are available on the smaller airlines which are subsidiaries the major airlines, for instance Delta Express and Metro-Jet.

7. If you can’t find an inexpensive flight to the city you want to go, it’s often cheaper to fly to a nearby city and then catch a low cost connecting flight to where you really want to be. Depending on the distance, you might also be able to hop on a quick train or bus.

8. Smart travelers know how to take advantage of overbooking. By volunteering your seat when a flight is overbooked you can earn free flights and often even cash from the airline. If you don’t absolutely have to be there on time, volunteer to give up your seat, if it becomes needed, when you check in for your flight. Monday morning and Friday afternoon flights are the most likely to be overbooked.

9. When traveling to Washington DC, always compare prices for flying into nearby Baltimore instead, it’s almost always much less expensive.

10. When flying into New York City, be sure to compare prices for flying into nearby Newark, New Jersey instead.

11. When flying to Los Angeles, be sure to compare prices for flying into nearby Orange County, Burbank or Ontario (California) airports.

12. When flying to London, be sure to compare prices for flying into nearby Birmingham instead.