Of all the factors affecting airfares — ranging from global oil prices to opportunistic price gouging by the airlines — the biggest one is the simple law of supply and demand.
Prices, generally, are higher when the most people want to fly.
But even that simple equation isn’t cut and dried. You can still find a bargain, even at traditionally busy times, if you are flexible.
The reason for this is that all airlines are not necessarily busy at the same time. For example, Thanksgiving may have an impact on flight availability among American carriers, but it’s not really a factor elsewhere in the world.
Whatever the time of year, you can often get a discount if you are prepared to look beyond your usual way of doing things.
I recently scored relatively cheap business-class flights from the Middle East to Australia because I was willing to take an unconventional route. Rather than fly direct from Abu Dhabi to Brisbane, I went via Muscat and Bangkok, then I changed airlines in Thailand for the trip to Brisbane, via Sydney.
The downside is that instead of a 14-hour direct flight, my total flying and transiting time was about 24 hours — but it was spread over several days, and I had the chance to catch up with friends in Bangkok. And I saved more than A$2500 (nearly US$2000).
The problem with booking these fares is that many airline websites and even the travel aggregator sites will only find flights on the same carrier, or carriers within the same alliance. For example, the Qantas website may be able place you on a codeshared American Airlines or Emirates flight, but won’t book you a ticket with Delta or Etihad flight even if that flight is cheaper or more convenient.
One tool that you may find helpful is Matrix Airline Search, which shows you flights from different airlines going in the general direction you want to go, whether or not those airlines are aligned or their timetables are synched. But you can do the same things yourself if you have the patience to go from one website to another until you find the connections you want.
The downsides are that you almost certainly won’t be able to check your luggage right through; you may spend a long time waiting in transit; and you may find yourself flying in the wrong direction, and then backtracking, for part of the journey.
But you may be able to save enough money that its doesn’t matter.
