The distance of air travel between two destinations is an important consideration for pricing the airfares. This has a direct bearing on the different measures adopted for offering ticket at discounted rates. The single-fare, low-cost carriers, which mainly operate on the short-distance routes, might be able to rationalize their services by curtailing, combining or removing altogether some of the services in order to provide budget flights tickets.
However, for the long-distance carriers, these measures might not be appropriate. For this reason, we find that the airlines operating the long-distance international flights have segmented seating arrangements with each higher category of seating coming with augmented services and features for greater comfort of passengers. For customers looking to travel long distances, the cheap international flights can be had in the following ways:
1. Nature of flight: The flights connecting the destinations could be direct, connecting or via- flights. While looking for the best airfares, you shall also search for the airfares of connecting and via-flights along with the direct flights. If you have the time to travel and do not mind waiting for some hours on the intermediate airport, then the prices of connecting flights shall be explored. At times, it is cheaper to travel in segments on different flights rather than on the direct or via- flights.
2. Fare comparison with different providers: The airline tickets are distributed by travel agents, consolidators and the airlines itself. It is quite a common knowledge that there is a commission based arrangement between the airlines and other booking service providers. So, by comparing the airfares of the different airlines for their various classes of seating, one can find the best deals on flights. The agents might be willing to let go some part of their commission which might result in getting low fare of the ticket. The fare comparison can be done conveniently using the web-based services of the intermediaries which compares rates of international flights for a number of airlines.
3. Special offers: The airlines regularly come up with different offers to attract more customers. So, if you can be flexible in planning your travel as per the conditions laid out in the offer, then there are some real good savings to be made. Special offers are launched at select times and, therefore, these are not available at all the time.
4. Rewards programs: Rewards programs are another way of getting cheap international flights. These programs can be offered by the airlines or intermediaries on a more regular basis than the special offers. These are in the form of redeemable points which keep on accumulating for the miles flown. These can be redeemed in different ways, by getting discounts, free-miles flown and shopping at select outlets at discounted prices. Long distance travel results in more points being added and the same can be redeemed to make overall savings in a shorter span of time.
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