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Discount Travel Saves You A Bundle

By: Susan Chiang Everybody loves to travel, but it is an expensive recreation for most. However, the cost of traveling should not stop anyone from enjoying himself or herself, as long you become adept at discount travel. Airfare is the most costly element of travel, so your ability to find discount flight options becomes handy.

Airline ticket prices fluctuate wildly, depending on the season, the popularity of the route etc. In the US a short international flight from New York City to Montreal, Canada, for example, costs approximately $300, while for about the same price, you can take a much longer domestic flight from, for example, New York all the way to Los Angeles. Regardless of the length of the route, domestic flights are cheaper than international flights as airlines are subject to less taxes and regulations, and these routes often carry more travelers so airlines can afford a discount.

To take advantage of this discount, you can split your international flight into two flights. Despite the small inconvenience, it is definitely cheaper than flying direct internationally. For example, to fly from northern US to South America, it is probably much cheaper to first fly domestic to a southern hub such as Miami, and then taking an international flight to South America. When searching for discount travel tickets, you want to fly as close as possible to your destination domestically, and you also want to fly between major hubs because the cheapest domestic tickets will always be between major hubs such as New York and LA.

Another popular discount travel flight option is charter flights. A standard airline generally has a set route and set schedule between two cites regardless of the amount of passengers. Standard airlines thus charge higher airfares in order to maintain these scheduled routes even if the plane is not half-full. On the other hand, charter companies usually charter an entire plane from an airline for a specific date and time, and therefore receive a good discount, which in turn is passed on to passengers. Airfares for charter flights also tend to get even cheaper as the departure date approaches. However, charter flights are also quite restrictive, in that there is a higher risk of charter companies canceling flights if enough tickets are not sold, and since there aren't that many charter flights to multiple destinations, you may not be put on another flight immediately. You would probably receive a refund or you would probably have to wait one or two days for other charter flights.

The important thing about discount travel is to explore as many options as possible. If you are willing to be more flexible and to buy tickets on short notice, the cheaper your fare will be.