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Purchase round trip airline tickets for you and those traveling with you one at a time to take advantage of reduced fares. Most airlines only offer the cheapest coach fares on a limited number of seats which round trip book systems may ignore.

When you shop for multiple tickets, and there aren??t enough seats available at the lowest ticket price, the reservation system automatically kicks bookings up to the next price level.

On a recent search for flights from Dallas to Frankfurt for a July trip, Mr. Seaney turned up a round-trip ticket at www.americanairlines.com for $1,431. When he searched for multiple tickets, the lowest ticket price jumped to $1,536.

To make sure that you are in fact getting the best deal follow this search routine based from the least to most amount of planning time available. Start by opening 3 Internet browser windows.

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Increasing travel costs, busy lives, and fewer vacation hours are not stopping trips altogether, but making them shorter. It’s not only people here in the US taking “American vacations” but the practice is becoming more common in Europe as well.

More than half of the 5,000 Brits who answered a Holiday Inn poll said the 2-week vacation is out.

No matter where you’re going don’t dismiss the idea of taking a 4-day international holiday. You’ll be able to see more places in the long run if you take the opportunity and go, even if it’s for weekend.

Save Money

Add some adventure travel to your short trips by saving on hotel costs by sleeping at airports on road trips or try your luck with home exchange.

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Next time you’re looking for a deal on a flight, make sure to check out the ‘deals’ page of airlines flying to your destination. Airlines are increasingly keeping their deals off of popular online travel agents such as Kayak and FareCompare.

It??s pretty clear why this is happening: airlines are forced to pay OTAs and other third party sites a commission when a consumer buys an airfare, just as they used to pay travel agents, who once got a standard 10 percent commission on every airline ticket they sold. If the airlines can skip the middleman, not only do they save the commission expenses, but they build consumer loyalty and drive traffic to their sites.

When you are set on getting a deal, install Yapta to get automatic alerts when tickets fall below your desired price and check Airfarewatchdog. Agents from the site check all of the airlines’ sites manually and post the prices and details of each deal.

[photo by: alpine]

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Most of us avoid flying anything other than coach unless the company is paying. The New York Times reports that the holiday season may be the time to upgrade.

With most business travelers on hiatus for the holidays, those cushy seats at the front of the plane can be relatively empty. Rather than give those seats away as upgrades, airlines have increasingly been trying to fill them with sales.

Frequent flyer miles are almost impossible to redeem for anything other than upgrades. Take advantage of sign-up bonuses, or if you already have a bunch of miles, redeem them before they expire.

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The Washington Post has rated some of the most popular fare notification services. These sites send you emails when the price of a particular flight drops below the limit you set. Farecast received the highest rating (B+) and Kayak got a respectable C+ rating.

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Mike writes those of you who track airfares for prices changes on Yapta should also check out AirfareWatchDog.

These guys search thousands of airfares by hand every day to come up with the best possible deals. They cover all of the discount carriers as well as specials listed only on airline websites. Plus you can sign up for a daily newsletter which let??s you know about the best fares from your city.

The holiday season is approaching, so buy your tickets soon and avoid sneaky airline fees. Finally, think about longer flight times and searching TravelZoo deals.

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View the best flight offers, search for low fares, and sign up for email notifications on the latest specials for European travel on Flycheapo.com.

The site doesn’t have the prettiest interface although it’s a powerful search engine if you’re willing to take a moment to work your way around it. I find that using niche travel search engines (like EuRail for trains) can produce better results than generic ones such as AirFare.com.

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We’ve recommended some of the best places to travel on a weak dollar and many of you pointed out the comments that you don’t have to leave the country to do so. There are plenty of places around the US you can visit to make the most of the falling currency. Here is a list of 8 great places to visit and make your short dollar go a long way.

• Chicago - Although O’Hare is a United Airline hub, travel to and from this city is inexpensive. TravelZoo is loaded with holiday airfares you can take advantage of - and if you go in the winter you’ll find discount on hotel prices as well. Visit the Sears Tower, the (free) City Art Gallery, or go ice skating in Millennium Park.
• New Orleans - The city is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina and tourism dollars are welcome here. Aside from Mardis Gras, there are plenty of music and theater festivals to attend during the mild winters. Keep in mind that some of the places you used to be able to visit are still inaccessible due to Katrina, check out the city’s Web page before you plan you trip.
• Detroit - Let’s face it, this lively city doesn’t get any love from potential tourists. Visit Henry Ford’s home and museum in nearby Dearborn and get some good Middle Eastern food while you’re there. Easily accessible via train and MegaBus, you can even split the trip with a vacation to Chicago. Stop by Detroit’s Riverfront before you leave though.

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Perhaps the best known unknown travel agents search engine (phew), SideStep.com picks up deals hidden in air carrier websites. SideStep works just like FareCompare and Kayak, sifting through itineraries and deals so you can pick out the best price.

SideStep makes it a bit easier to refine your results based on flight times and layovers, and is consistently ranked as one of the best ticket search engines on the Web.

What are some of the ways you find the best deals on the Web?

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Create flight itineraries and be notified if the price changes with the Yapta Tagger. The program is tied to most of the major online travel agents and keeps track of your specific travel plans as you visit, let’s say, Orbitz or Travelocity. Enter your travel plans in Yapta’s My Trips and get notified if the price goes down.

You can configure Yapta to give you a heads up if the price falls below a certain price. The site claims that many price changes occur within hours of a ticket purchase, and you can often get a refund on them. If you’re off on travel often, check in with RefundPlease to get email notification on price drops within 30 days of purchase.

[via Lifehacker]

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