When booking flights, most of us look to save as much money as we can. But if you're looking to book cheap air tickets, you need to understand the various factors that influence the cost of fares.
Flight Distance
The logical rule of thumb is that the greater the distance, the higher the ticket prices. Thus we conclude airplane ticket prices are directly proportional to the distance covered. But though distance is an essential factor, it's not the only one - the relative popularity and number of planes serving various routes also come into play. So it's not uncommon to find cheaper fares on popular long-haul flights with a lot of competition than on less popular destinations that are closer in.
Time of Year
For any given destination, there are basically three flying seasons throughout the year. Peak season (sees the highest number of arrivals, off peak the lowest, and shoulder season falls in between the two. Since demand is highest during peak season, fares will be at their highest For example, if you're booking tickets to Poland from the USA, fares will be highest during Poland's peak travel season, from March to May and September to November.
Time of Day/Week
The day and time of day can also make a difference in fares, with more popular/convenient flight times more expensive and off-hours less so. When you search for flights, try different days of the week if you can, and check different times of day for the best fares.
Which Class You're Booking
A no-brainer here, but bears repeating. Tickets in economy class - with narrower seats, lower seat pitch, less legroom, and more bare-bones service - will be cheaper than in the front of the cabin for business and first class, with self-contained pods whose seats turn into lie-flat beds and whose food and drink options are far superior to economy (a few high-end airlines even have completely private suites). Some airlines also offer an intermediate "premium economy" category whose main advantage is better legroom.
Flight Itineraries
There are three basic types of itineraries. Nonstop flights are the fastest, and thus tend to be the most expensive. Connecting flights - which require you to fly to at least one intermediate airport and change to another flight to reach your final destion - take the most time and thus are the cheapest option. And in between are direct flights, which may involve a stop but not necessarily a change of planes; they still tend to take longer than nonstops, and their fares fall somewhere between nonstops and connecting.
Fare Restrictions
In order to get the cheapest available fares, you may have to accept restrictions such as no-cancellation policy; no accrual of frequent-flyer points; and baggage fees.
Competition Among Airlines
As a general rule, airlines have to consider their competitors' fares to stay in the market. Thus you're unlikely to see great disparities on different airlines for tickets to the same destination.
Historical Data
Every airline maintains historical data on each of its destinations. If in say the past three years one is receiving huge ticket bookings and another is hardly getting any, the airline will keep the prices higher for the more visited destination and decrease fares to encourage bookings to the less popular one.
Sales & Promotional Fares
Especially when launching a new route or trying to promote a particular destination, carriers periodically hold sales, and oftentimes their competitors will adjust their own fares in response.
Single-Airline Flights vs Codeshares
Codeshares are an arrangement in which two or more carriers publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number as part of their published schedules. But oftentimes, if you buy your fare from the codesharing airline that doesn't operate the flight, you'll end up paying more, because that airline has to pay the operating airline in order to share its code. So check flight details carefully before booking.
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