Airfares best bought early
Students flying out of the state for the holidays should start
looking for plane tickets as early as possible to save money.
“You know months in advance the chances of you going home. You
know when your Christmas break is,” said Tom Parsons, the CEO of
Bestfares.com. “You can plan ahead and probably end up finding
those cheap flights. The chances of something popping up are
good.”
Katie Grand, a sophomore studying wildlife biology, is going out
of the state for Thanksgiving and has already purchased her
tickets.
“My aunt ordered it online,” Grand said. “It’s usually the
easiest.”
Amy Kovacs, a senior travel advisor at STA Travel in the Lory
Student
Center, said tickets are not really more expensive this year
than in years past.
“I would really say it’s about the same,” Kovacs said.
Parsons said being close to Denver is great for students going
home for the holidays because of the number of flights going out of
the state.
“Denver is a destination in demand,” Parsons said. “One thing we
see out of Denver is snooze-you-lose airfares.”
Holiday fares are increased, but it is still possible to find
good deals,
Parsons said.
“I’ve seen fares out of (Denver) in the low $100’s,” he
said.
Parsons found a deal with Delta that offers a $143 round-trip
flight out of Denver to most major cities in the United States, a
deal that is good through June 2004.
International security fees do change the cost a little if a
trip to
Europe is in the plans.
The security for European trips is about $16 and South American
flights are about $20, Kovacs said.
Although Denver does offer a lot of flights , looking at
alternate airports may also improve the chances of finding cheap
fares.
“You’ve got to be careful if you live close to another airport.
You should check them all,” Parsons said.
Tuesday and Wednesday are the cheapest days to travel.
One tip Parsons had is checking airline fares frequently because
airlines change their fares three times a day Monday through Friday
and once on the weekend. A cheap fare listed at 9 a.m. might be
listed at more at 2 p.m. that same day.
“That’s why we call it snooze or lose,” Parsons said. “You
better move at
Concorde speed. That’s why you should plan ahead.”
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