I decided to do some research today on how to get the cheapest airfare since a lot of us might find this useful. I'm just going to summarize the best tips that I saw that aren't the most obvious (like picking a weekday instead of a weekend to fly out):
1. Apparently, Priceline or Expedia's Price Matcher can offer you 5-15% discount of the lowest airfare you find from other sites. This is from the fool.
2. Downside to getting an agent: since they only get somewhere from $25-50 commission from flights that they book, they probably make their money from getting as many clients as they can so the soonest they can get a deal for you (which may not be the best), the soonest they can move on to the next one. From soyouwanna.
3. Cheapoair.com has been giving me the lowest airfare ($918-980 minus tax for flying out at the 25 and comming back on the 30th). I've been checking orbitz, expedia, travelocity, hotwire, cheapseats and cheaptickets.
4. There's this website called cfare.com that lets you name a price and they will find a ticket for you and hold the seat for 24 hours. They have really low prices too even after tax.
5. Group rates are available starting from 7 people so if you are planning to leave on the 25th and returning on the 30th, I know three guests that are doing these dates. If you are too, reply to this message! (now)
From what I've read, nobody really knows how airlines calculate the price or when they give discounts so it seems like instead of waiting for the price to get as low as it can, its probably better to have a target price in mind and to book right when the sale price shows up (if you don't like to gamble). If airlines really do preempt the price at this point, it doesn't necessarily mean its better to purchase at a later date because prices generally go up as the target day gets closer. If anyone knows any better, please post!
Kat
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