A Smarter Way To Buy Plane Tickets
I’m in Bogota, Colombia right now, about to go back to the USA in a couple days.
But the truth is, I want to be back in the USA now. All my goals are very USA-centric, and staying in international hostels doesn’t make me very productive. I feel like I’m not really doing much here. Being a tourist doesn’t excite me much. I’m South America’d out, for now.
The problem, though, is that I booked my plane ticket a month and a half ago, and it costs $100 to change it. Not worth it. I’d rather spend that money intelligently on H&B (hookers & beer).
When out of curiosity I hopped onto JetBlue’s web site to see how much a plane ticket leaving tomorrow would cost, I discovered it was the exact same price as the plane ticket I bought a month and a half ago. Son of a bitch.
And almost every other search I’ve done in the past has brought up the same results: a lot of airlines charge the same at the last minute that they charge months in advance. Often, the last minute tickets are even cheaper.
This isn’t always the case, but it is often enough to have made me realize: buying a plane ticket even a month in advance is pointless, and I always regret it. I hate limiting my time somewhere, or keeping myself trapped somewhere I don’t want to be.
From now on, I am only buying plane tickets at the last minute, when I know I’m ready to leave.
NOTE: updates on here are a little sparse right now because of my travel schedule. I have a couple big updates planned for this site, and will be putting everything into action in the next week. I recommend subscribing to my RSS feed to be automatically notified of my updates.
May 7th, 2009 at 5:28 am
you’re winning me over.
also don’t know what you use, but when buying tickets online this has (not every time) often helped me, at least for price comparison:
igougo.com/traveldeals/ratefinder
May 8th, 2009 at 7:37 am
I never buy my ticket early. Although sometimes you have to be reasonable and buy a couple weeks in advance. Last minute tickets are usually way more expensive. I think the recession is keeping prices down.
I will say though, sometimes buying a round trip ticket is cheaper than one way. I’ve bought round trips without the intent of ever using the return fare. Just gives you another option if things don’t go the way you plan. I basically travel without much planning detail. I keep my options open as much as possible. I buy most of my stuff at my destination and often leave it behind.
May 12th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Advice – become friends with Clay and he’ll research all your plane tickets for you ensuring the best deal possible.