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.”