Standby Flights | How to get insanely cheap flights. All you need to know about standby flights and tricks to get even better deals by getting computer glitches. http://www.standby-flights.net/ en-us air travel,flights,travel neville@nevillepettersson.com 2011 Standby Flights Here's the truth, standby flights are NOT a cheap option anymore. It used to be the case 10 years ago, but not now. If you want to know how to get cheap flights, you've come to the right place. The guides below are full of the latest tricks and tips to help you get some insanely cheap flights. The rest of this article is going to focus on the airlines which still offer standby flights and talk aboout how you can go about getting them. The old standby flight when you just used to turn up at the airport without a ticket and try to get the empty seats for a cheap deal are NO longer around. Standby flights these days are for people who already have a ticket but want to transfer onto an earlier flight. Most airlines (with the exception of AirTran and US Airways) also charge a fee for standby flights which makes it not viable if you have airline tickets under 100 dollars. Alphabetical List of Airlines And Their Standby Flight Policies Air Asia Air Asia does not operate with a standby policy. Air Berlin Air Berlin does not operate with a standby policy. Silver, Gold and Platinum Card holders can take advantage of this privilege only. Continued below.... Air Canada Air Canada allows eligible passengers and eligible frequent flyer cardholders to switch to a flight earlier that day. The fare is not specified. Air China Air China allows you to switch to another flight provided that you pay a fee of  $75. If a flight is early and has ample vacant seats, the standby is free of cost. Air France There is no stand by policy with Air France if you do not have a fully flexible ticket. The only reason AF could move you to an earlier flight is if your initial flight is very heavily overbook and they need to free up some space. Air New Zealand Air New Zealand allows you to switch to another flight provided that there are vacant seats on that plane 30 minutes prior to departures. Fares start at $69 per person one way. The fares may vary from destination to destination. Grab-a-seat standby fares are only available for Airpoint members. Airtran Air Tran allows you to fly standby. If you must make a connection, your standby flight will consist of two segments and your ticket price for two segments will be $138. A standby flight using Airtran’s standby tickets are $49-$69 one way to or from most cities (varies from destination to destination). Alaska Airlines Standby for an alternate flight on the same day is available for free. Seat availability confirmation would not be known 30 minutes prior to departure. This privilege is given to specific people travelling between certain shuttle market cities. MVP® Gold Mileage Plan members and those travelling in the same reservation are allowed to travel in any circumstances. All Nippon Airways All star alliance card holder can switch to an earlier flight free of cost. The information is not specified for other customers. Please contact ANA for more info. Allegiant Airlines The fares and conditions of flying standby are not specified, contact Allegiant Air for more info. American Airlines AA allows you to fly standby within 12 hours of your desired flight time. A fee of USD $75 has to be paid. All elite class passengers are excluded from this fee restriction. Austrian Airlines Austrian Airlines allows you to fly stand-by to ensure more customers. The cost is not specified and the offer is open for all. BMIbaby Standby fares can only be sold at the airport and if the flight is fully booked. Booking cannot be made online and this is for one way travel only. If you are unable to fly on a standby fare then payments will be directly refunded at the airport. British Airways BA doesn't allow standby if you don't have a flexible ticket. If you’ve purchased the ticket for £700 to £800, you can enjoy the privileges of a standby policy. The fare is not specified. Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific allows you to switch to another flight on the same day. But there are limiting factors such as customers using frequent flier miles may have more limits; customers who bought their tickets through a discount agency or consolidator may also have more limited options. China Eastern Airlines If you have flexible ticket and you want to take a diff flight, but the flight is full, so you wait at check in supervisor counter for 1 seat in order to exchange the ticket and get boarding pass. If you have a gold card you can enjoy the services cost and hassle free. A particular cost has to be paid otherwise. If the earlier flight that you wish to board is full, nothing can be done. China Southern Airlines China Southern airlines do not operate with a standby policy; contact their head office for more information. Continental For Premier Executive standby are free even confirmed same-day changes. Whereas Mileage plus Premiers and One Pass Silver members have to pay a fee of $50 to $75. Continental allows changes +/- 24 hours prior to departure. Delta Air Lines Delta allows you to change to another flight on the same day (same destination-origin), and charges a confirmation fee of $50 for this service. Delta Diamond, Platinum and Gold frequent flyer members don't have to pay the $50 fee. Delta also offers upgrades to upper classes on the same flight if you're willing to pay. Easyjet EasyJet does not operate a standby policy for its Passengers. Emirates Emirates standby is for staff, and industry members approved by managers only. Frontier Airlines Those traveling on a Classic or Classic Plus ticket, as well as Ascent and Summit level members have the ability to standby for an earlier or later flight without any fee. The fares are as follows: Economy: $50 Classic: $25 Classic Plus: Free EarlyReturns® Summit level members: Free on all Fare Options Hawaiian Airlines Hawaiian Airlines do not allow stand by passengers. A fee of $40 will be charged if any one wishes to switch to an earlier flight. Japan Airlines JAL allows its passengers to switch to an earlier flight. This option is subjected to a payment of fees which remains unspecified. It depends on the restrictions associated with the ticket you bought and the number of vacant seats on the new flight. Jetblue Standby travel is based on seat availability and is not guaranteed. You may travel one flight prior to your scheduled departure, regardless if it is non-stop or connecting flight. You have to arrive before your original plane departs on the same day. This option is free of cost. Standby travel reservation cannot be done over the phone. Jetstar Jetstar allows you to switch to an earlier flight only if booking has been made 24 hours prior to the departure of your original flight. Low prices are charged but switching flights depends solely on availability of seats. KLM KLM does not operate with a standby policy. Korean Air Information not specified. Contact Korean Air for more details. Lufthansa People with low-fare tickets will not be able to rebook it. If you are holding a full-fare, non-restricted ticked a fee of 50€ will be charged. This depends on the density of vacant seats on the earlier aircraft. Norwegian Air Shuttle Norwegian Air Shuttle allows its customers to change their flight. All changes must be made 30 minutes prior to departure. Customers with fully flexible tickets only can take advantage of his offer for free, others are subjected to payment. Payment is made immediately after the change is confirmed Qantas Qantas allows you to switch to an earlier flight at a high rate of $100. This depends on the density of vacant seats on the new flight. The offer is available for all customers. Qatar Airways The information on standby flights is not specified. Please contact Qatar Airways for more information. Republic Airways Content not found. Ryanair Ryan Air does not operate with a stand by policy. Once you’ve missed a flight you have to start from the beginning and pay the difference. SAS SAS allows you to switch to another flight only if you own a flexible ticket. Payment has to be done otherwise. Shifting to an earlier flight depends on the density of vacant seats on that flight. Singapore Airlines Elite Silver members can shift to an earlier flight free of cost. This depends on the number of vacant seats on that flight. For other passengers the cost and conditions are not specified hence contact Singapore Airlines for more info. Skywest The information on flying standby on Sky west is not specified. Contact Skywest for more info. Southwest For business class, standby travel between the same destination and on the original date of travel is permitted with no change in fare; however, you may lose the privilege of boarding in the first portion of the "A" group. Others must pay the difference between the original fare and the "Anytime" fare. With Southwest if you already have a ticket you can ask for an earlier standby flight but you will be asked to pay the difference in price if the flight you want is more expensive. Southwest are the only airline that does this for standby flights. This policy can really sting you if you've booked on the cheapest days to fly or at the best time to book flights, sometimes making it not worth your while at all. Spirit Airlines Spirit Airlines permit you to switch to an earlier flight. This depends solely on the number of vacant seats on the new aircraft. Thai Airways The information on standby flights is not specified. Contact Thai Airways directly for more info. Turkish Airlines Star Alliance Gold and Star Alliance Silver Card members receive priority standby listing if they arrive at the airport without any reservations for a specific flight. For more information contact Turkish Airlines. United Airlines United Airlines allows you to switch to another flight on the same day, provided that the destination is the same. A fee of USD 75 is charged. 1K passengers, Global Services passengers and premium cabin passengers are excluded to pay this fee. US Airways US airways allow you to switch to another airline on the same day. Usually a fee of $50 has to be paid. Policies within other airlines in the US differ in this regard. Virgin Atlantic Virgin Atlantic does not operate with a standby policy. Vueling Vueling allows you to switch to an earlier flight free of cost. The change can be made via the sales deck only 2 hours before the new flight departs. This offer is available on some airports. All customers are open to this service. West jet West jet operates by a standby policy and charges only $10 to customers who wish to switch to an earlier flight. This offer serves all people and the low cost is to ensure more customers. Standby Flights Tips Here's a few tips for maximising your chances of getting on the free standby flights offered by AirTran and US Airways. Go for flights on quiet times such as red eye flights, you can check the seat avilability through the airlines website. They are more likely to have spare seats at quiter times. Also, passengers without checked baggage get priority so don't check any luggage until the last minute. Get to the airport early to get your name on the standby list. It's always a first come first serve basis on standby. If you're on the list make sure you're at the departure gate when they call out for the standby passengers or else they'll move onto the next person on the list. http://www.standby-flights.net/ http://www.standby-flights.net/ 05 Aug 2011 08:04:48 GMT air travel,flights,travel neville@nevillepettersson.com Flight Cancellations Today If you're looking for information on flight cancellations then the two best sites to check are; The Federal Aviation Authority and Flightaware.com. Check the FAA site first because this is the official government site and is going to be the most up to date and reliable. When you go to the FAA site you'll see a map indicating which airports are experiencing delays and cancellations. The status updates are shown as colored dots on the map. There are five grades. Green represents an OK status. Yellow signifies delays of up to 45 minutes. Orange is a bit different and indicates that there is a delay originating from the departure airport to this particular airport. Red signifies long delays longer than 45 minutes and a black status indicates that the airport is closed. If you want more information on a specific you can hover over it with your mouse or do a search using the navigation menus. You can get usually get information on the cause of the delay and also how long it is expected to last. http://www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/usmap.jsp International Flight Cancellations The best place to get information on international flight cancellations is from flightaware.com. Flightaware is a commercial site. It has links to book flights and has a few advertisements here and there. You can do a free search for cancellations on any airline in any country. The site does encourage you to sign up offering you better results and more services. It's not a bad idea to do this since it's free, you can even use your Facebook account to log in which makes things easier too. http://flightaware.com/ What To Do With Flight Cancellations U.S. On any flight cancellations in the U.S. you are entitled to a full cash refund. Additionally, if the flight cancellation is a result of a breakdown or something else that the airline is responsible for then they also are responsible to pay for your accommodation until the problem is resolved. However, be aware that if the cancellation or delay is not due to external conditions such as bad weather or acts of god, then you're on your own and have to fend for yourself. In terms of compensation, most airlines will try and offer you a voucher because it saves them money. You don't have to accept it, but if you really need to get somewhere it is probably a good idea to try and work with the airline to get you where you want to go. If the airline gives you a hard time or is being less than reasonable make sure to tell them you will be taking the matter to the Federal Aviation Authority. If they still don't comply, make sure you follow through. Flight Cancellations In Europe In Europe the rules are similar to the U.S. Except for the fact that if your flight is cancelled for any reason beyond the airline's control they are not legally obliged to give you a refund. However, it is very rare for an airline to completely cancel a flight. The EU has legislation in place that gives travelers compensation anywhere from €250 - €600 for any delays or cancellations where they are at fault. There is also detailed legislation requiring the airline to provide you with free meals, drinks and communication any time your delay is longer than 2 hours. These laws are administered by the Civil Aviation Authority. http://www.standby-flights.net/flight-cancellations.html 29 Aug 2011 15:23:16 GMT air travel,flights,travel neville@nevillepettersson.com Southwest Airtran Merger Southwest is already the largest airline in America and now with the new Southwest Airtran merger going through, Southwest is in the process of becoming 25% bigger thereby creating a dominant stake hold in the low cost flights market. The new combined airline is now the world's 4th largest airline carrying over 120 million passengers per year. Airtran Southwest Merger Timeline The announcement of the Airtran Southwest merger came on the 27th of September 2010. Southwest put an offer of $1.4 billion which was accepted by Airtran. The operations of the now singular company will be finalized over the next two years with a draft blanket operating plan to be released early in 2012. Airtran Southwest Points / Southwest Airtran Frequent Flyer One of the main questions travelers have with the Southwest Airtran merger is what happens to the frequent flyer miles? Well, according to SWAirlines all of Airtran's Boeing fleet will be painted and rebranded to operate under Southwest's branding. However, both airlines will still operate as separate carriers until at least the beginning of 2013. So, it looks like you'll still be able to use your frequent flyer miles as you did before, at least until further notice. When the Southwest Airtran merger is finally completed, if you still have miles with either airline, look out for something special in the form of cross crediting miles. That's my bet anyway! Airtran Southwest Careers There is considerable uncertainty over staffing issues surrounding the Southwest Airtran merger, more specifically the decision by Southwest to retain all Airtran staff without any screening or interviewing process at all. It's practically a fact that Airtran service is amongst the worst ever. A lot of people are wondering whether the strong customer service at Southwest will bring the Airtran service standards up? The most likely scenario is that without retraining and a strong motivation the Airtran staff are bound to have a negative impact on the Southwest image, but only time will tell. Airtran Southwest Merger and Cheap Flights One of the major concerns for consumers regarding the Southwest Airtran merger is the loss of competitiveness, especially at the low end of the market for airline tickets under 100 dollars. With speculation of US Airways and AA also now on the lookout for merger partners, you will probably start to see a decrease in the amount of insanely cheap flights being offered. So the question is how to get cheap flights now that there will be fewer deals? The answer is, and always has been, to not rely on airline deals but to use your own strategies to learn how to get cheap airline tickets. The most obvious techniques include booking your travel on the cheapest days to fly and trying to actually purchase your tickets on the best day to book airline tickets. On any given day the best time to book a flight can change. Be sure to visit our home page for all of this information and more. We aim to give consumers the best information on everything to do with how to get cheap flights from how to get cheap red eye flights deals to which airlines still offer standby flights and how to avoid jet lag. http://www.standby-flights.net/southwest-airtran.html 26 Sep 2011 14:56:29 GMT air travel,flights,travel neville@nevillepettersson.com Volare Airlines Phone Number Also known as Volare S.p.A., Volare Airlines is a low cost subsidiary of the Alitalia. Currently headquartered in Milan International Airport, Volare is now operating under the Alitalia-CAI flights. Volare Group in the past serviced various destinations in Europe including Poland, Estonia, Romania, Czech Republic, Germany, Spain and Italy. Volare first filed bankruptcy in 2004 and since then, ceased its international operations. But by the year 2008, Volare flew to 20 destinations across Europe and Italy. At the time of its closure, this Italian consumer airline offered flights to four destinations in France and Italy namely Lamezia, Milan, Paris and Brindisi. Volare Airlines Spa Volare Airlines Spa is a popular low cost airline which flies from the Milan Malpensa Airport to several European destinations. In the year 2006, Volare Spa became a subsidiary company of Alitalia. And in the year 2007, Caporaletti was appointed CEO of the organization, leading a series of network expansion. After the restructuring of Alitalia Group in 2009 and the acquisition of Compagnia Aerea Italian, Volare Spa then merged with a new Italian carrier. In Italy, the controversial sale of Volare is viewed as a soap opera because of the multiple obstacles and issues placed on the sale of the company to Alitalia. Volare Airlines Wiki Volare Airlines Spa features fun and innovative on board services to customers. Volare provides three types of accommodations to customers namely economy class, business class and first class. The company's air buses also feature on board entertainment such as broadcasted movies, individual screens, magazines, WiFi, and in flight shopping. Each of their air fleet features an automatic seat configuration. The configuration depends on the kind of aircraft, whether it is short haul, medium haul and long haul. Volare's low cost base fare may not include on board refreshments so make sure to take some food and water with you to save up some money on board. Continue to watch out for standby flights for reduced air fares. Volare also offers student travel deals that offer valuable discounts and savings. Enroll in Volare's MileMiglia or Frequent Flyer program to enjoy discounts and mileage points. Overall, Volare is an affordable consumer airline that gives value for your money. Volare Airlines Flight Status As a proprietor of the Volareweb brand, Volare Airlines is a popular low cost domestic carrier that operates domestic flights in Italy namely Palermo, Bari, Naples, Brindisi, Lamezia Terme, Catania and Linate. Before even reserving your Volaware flight, make sure you know how to get cheap airline tickets and enjoy great savings on your trips. Keep yourself update with Volare's promotions and seat sales by subscribing to their newsletter. Red eye flights are also among the most affordable choices that consumers have today. The Volaware flight status alert is a special feature that notifies customers of their flight status 24 hours before departure time. The Volare flight status alert lets you know exactly when to get to the airport and avoid wasting time. Volare Airlines Phone Number For your concerns, flight rebookings and reservations, Volare Airlines can be reached through their hotline number in the United States: 800-223-5730 or email them at info@volareweb.com. The Volareweb site also offers a web check in feature which enables customers to check in to their flight 24 to 48 hours before their scheduled flight. Check in online so that you can avoid the long line. For lost and delayed luggage, you can call this hotline number: 800-905-9992. Volare's custom relation office in the United State is currently located in Madison Avenue, NY and can be reached through this telephone number: 212-903-3575. http://www.standby-flights.net/volare-airlines.html 26 Oct 2011 02:51:11 GMT air travel,flights,travel neville@nevillepettersson.com Bereavement Airfare Most American airlines offer special reduced fares for trips to attend the funeral of a recently-deceased relative or to visit a relative who is ailing. The discount is usually fifty percent. Sounds like a great deal, doesn't it? But unless you have a particular need to travel to that funeral or to visit that sick relative on a flight with the least restrictive travel rules and are willing to pay the high fare that goes with that, you may not actually save money by taking advantage of bereavement fares. On the other hand, if you're flying for a reason like that, chances are you're making the arrangements at the last minute, and that means your options are going to be limited. You may not be able to obtain an airline's good fares in any case on such short notice, and are likely to pay a premium no matter how you choose to fly. Even so, the cheapest last-second flights are hardly ever the airlines' bereavement rates. If you are willing to accept some travel restrictions that could be inconvenient, you can usually save money by NOT using a bereavement fare but instead going for the cheapest fare you can find that gets you where you want to go when you need to be there. The advantage of bereavement fare isn't so much price, though, as flexibility. Most bereavement airfare packages have refundable fares, and allow open returns with date changes. That can be more important than money when it comes to such a wrenching personal circumstance as bereavement fares are invented to address. Rules Governing Bereavement Airfare While bereavement airfare offers more flexibility than most last-minute bookings in terms of flight times and return trips, there is a trade-off, as they are more restricted on the front end. Different airlines have different policies concerning bereavement fare just as they do most other things. As a general rule, though, bereavement fare is offered only for the death or sickness of an immediate relative -- parent, child, brother, sister -- not for friends or members of your extended family. You are likely to be asked to prove the legitimacy of your claim by providing the name of your relative and of the funeral home or attending physician. Some airlines also require that you provide a copy of the death certificate. Other rules and restrictions may also apply, depending on the airline, so you will want to check with the airline first to see what hoops you have to jump through. Bereavement fare cannot be found through on-line travel-booking sites such as Orbitz or Expedia. In order to book a bereavement-airfare flight, you must go directly to the airline. (The reason for this, obviously, has to do with the restrictions on getting this discount and the airline's desire to ensure the claim is legitimate.) You can find out the airline's bereavement rate on the phone, but will usually need to book the flight in person. Bottom Line On Bereavement Airfare Studies have found that rates that can be found last-minute by shopping around, either through on-line travel bookers or by calling various airlines, can be quite a lot lower than the lowest bereavement package. In most cases, bereavement fares are actually more expensive than the cheapest last-minute flight on the same airline, even without shopping around. They are, of course, cheaper than last-minute flights booked with the exact same flexibility in terms of refund, return trip, etc. but that may not be something you need. Using a bereavement discount is probably worth it only if you really do need that flexibility, and are willing to undergo the inconvenience necessary to book the flight in the first place using the discount.http://www.standby-flights.net/bereavement-airfare.html http://www.standby-flights.net/bereavement-airfare.html 03 May 2012 23:56:22 GMT air travel,flights,travel neville@nevillepettersson.com Best Days To Fly If you're going on a trip, is there a particular day, or date, or time that you should book your flight? Well, yes. However, that question can't be answered simply. It's a function of what you are looking for in terms of your flight, whether you want the absolutely cheapest or whether some other consideration is more important. If you're just looking for how to get cheap flights, and it doesn't matter when you go or come back, the best days to fly are in the so-called "dead zone": the time of year when people are less inclined to travel generally or to the place you want to go specifically. That has other advantages, too, besides the airline cost. You'll find it easier to get lodging, there won't be the same crowds, tickets to performances you want to see will be easier to find, and so on. Overall, the cheapest times to fly are in the first two weeks of December, most of January, and the spring and fall except for academic spring break, but specific destinations also have their own particular dead zones so it's best to look this up ahead of time. The price difference from highest to lowest demand can be as much as fifty percent, so if you're flexible about your dates of travel you can save hundreds of dollars just by flying at an unpopular time of the year. Statistically, the cheapest flights are on Wednesdays, but this should not be trusted blindly. Airlines tend to offer better deals on Wednesdays than other days of the week (and worse ones Thursday - Saturday) because of the patterns of flight that make it harder for them to book full flights and arrange their demand and supply to keep all seats filled on that day than on others. This is, however, a statistical rule not a hard and fast one. You may be able to find cheaper fares on another day of the week. There's no substitute for doing your research before you book your flight. Safest Days To Fly What about safety in the air? Are there days that, statistically, make for safer flying than others? Start with the fact that flying is actually quite safe as travel modes go. Driving a car is roughly nineteen times more dangerous, for example. You are both more likely to have an accident in a car and more likely to die while driving a car than you are to die while flying. The one thing you are more likely to do in the air is to be killed by an accident IF one occurs. That is, the majority of auto accidents are non-fatal, while if your plane crashes, you are more likely to die in that event. However, an airplane crash is so much less likely to happen than an auto collision that you are still much, much safer flying than driving anyway. There seems to be no consensus among travel experts about some days being safer for flying than others. Considering how unlikely an airplane accident is, there probably aren't enough hard data to develop any certain answers to this question. Best Days To Fly To Europe Traveling to Europe brings up some different rules in terms of air fare than govern travel in North America. Flights to Europe are cheapest in the winter, most expensive in the summer, and in between in spring and fall. Now, for some destinations in Europe that just makes sense; if you want to visit England, northern France, or Germany, going when there's snow everywhere and the weather is just awful doesn't really seem worth it. But suppose you want to visit southern Italy, or Corsica, or Spain? Or hit Switzerland or the French Alps for some kick-ass skiing experience? Winter might be the best time to go in that case, and the cheapest time, too. As for other parts of Europe where the winter weather sucks, there are still plenty of indoor attractions and the crowds won't be nearly so bad, except of course on Christmas and New Years. http://www.standby-flights.net/best-days-to-fly.html http://www.standby-flights.net/best-days-to-fly.html 04 May 2012 01:38:26 GMT air travel,flights,travel neville@nevillepettersson.com Cheapest Day To Book Flights In all the discussions about how to get cheap airline tickets, an idea keeps resurfacing that certain days of the week are cheaper for booking flights than others. The most common candidate for cheapest day of the week is Wednesday. Turns out that's true -- and not true. Statistically, it's true; on the average, flights in North America on Wednesday are cheaper than other days of the week. Why that happens involves the demand for airline tickets each day of the week, and also how easy or hard it is for the airline to book flights so that they manage to fill up all of the available seats, or as close to it as possible. This is more complicated than it sounds, though, because most airline tickets purchased are round-trip rather than one-way. If you want to travel to New York or Los Angeles or Miami or Seattle (or wherever) to visit your aging parents on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary, you don't just book one flight to that destination, you also book one coming back home on a different day. So each ticket purchased for travel on any particular day of the week implies another ticket purchased for travel some days later. On a per-day basis, the lowest demand is for travel on Saturday. Although Saturday is a pretty common flying-out day (or so one would assume), it's not as desirable for the return trip. Flying back on a Sunday gives one more day to spend with Mom and Dad, or your long-distance lover, or the beaches of Acapulco, or the sights of Paris. The days with the highest demand for airline tickets are Thursday and Friday, and those are also the days with the highest prices, on average. Despite Saturday being the day with the lowest demand, it isn't the cheapest day to book a flight. The cheapest day, statistically, is Wednesday, just as popular wisdom suggests. On average, then, the way to get the cheapest air fare would be to fly out on a Wednesday, spend a full week, and fly back the following Wednesday. The trouble with this idea is that you don't fly on the average, you fly on particular days, and while this rule of thumb is statistically valid it isn't going to hold true in every specific instance. Sometimes you'll be able to find a discounted fare for a flight some other day of the week that beats the available fare on Wednesday. There's no substitute for doing your homework. While the day of the week does have an impact on the price of an airline ticket, it's not as great an effect as when you want to fly during the year. The calendar year has several "dead zones," times when not as many people are traveling and rates are accordingly low. These include the first two weeks of December (after Thanksgiving, before Christmas), the month of January (after the holidays), and the spring and fall, except for the academic spring break when lots of college students are clogging the airways. For flights to Europe, a slightly different calculus applies as far as seasons are concerned. Winter is the cheapest time to fly to Europe, while summer is the most expensive time. Spring and fall are in between. Winter can also be one of the best times to travel to Europe, especially if you're looking for a skiing experience or are visiting a sunny and hot place like Italy, Spain, or the south of France. The general rule of thumb for finding the cheapest times to fly, whether you're considering the week, the year, or the time of day, is to do it when most people don't. Follow the beat of a different drummer, and not only will you assert your independence of spirit, but you can also save money.http://www.standby-flights.net/cheapest-day-to-book-flights.html http://www.standby-flights.net/cheapest-day-to-book-flights.html 04 May 2012 03:52:50 GMT air travel,flights,travel neville@nevillepettersson.com