Lowest Fares | Confirmations | Fare Quotes | Holiday Fares | Prepaid Tickets | Airline Choices | Travel Request Tips
Getting the lowest fares and hotel prices
- Advance purchases
- International travel is seasonal (i.e. Summer & Christmas)
- Make reservations and purchase tickets months in advance to
avoid paying
peak season prices. - Make an allowance of 2-3 days each way in case your desired date of travel is unavailable.
- Make reservations and purchase tickets months in advance to
avoid paying
- For Domestic holidays, Festivals and cruises
- Book and purchase months in advance
- For conferences and conventions
- Book months in advance
- All other travel discounts
- Advance booking of 21 days, 7 days, or 3 days is usually required
- Time of travel
- Midweek, Saturday, and Saturday night stay over
- Friday and Sunday travel is considered weekend and include additional charges of $30 to $35 per weekend day of travel.
- Redeye (9.00p.m. - 1.30a.m) flights and early morning (5.30a.m - 6.30a.m) flights
- on certain weekdays these are easily grabbed by business travellers
- Minimum/Maximum Stay
- Domestic - Saturday night stay over and maximum 30 days
- International - Saturday night stay over. Maximum 1 month, 3 months or 4 months.
- Stopovers
- At least one, usually in the airline's main hub (e.g. Delta in Atlanta)
- Sometimes these are no frills (e.g. providing snacks instead of full meals)
- National carriers
- Africa - Virgin Nigeria, Egypt Air, Ethopian Airlines, Ghana Airlines, South African Airlines,
- Mexico - Aero Mexico, Mexicana
- Asia - China Airlines, Korean Airlines, Air India, Japan Airlines
- Group travel
- Groups booked in advance to guarantee space for all passengers
- Group rates for airfare and hotels
- Packages
- When you book flights and hotels together discounts are usually possible.
Please realize that once a seat has been confirmed it can only be held for a period of time. 24 hours to 3 days for domestic, and 2 days (48 hours) to 4 days, 1 week max for international. Some airlines are instant purchases only.
If you have a confirmed seat and don't ticket immediately, you may end up:
- with a higher fare
- on a waiting list (international flights)
- unable to travel on your desired date
- no space available during that period/holiday or a combination of the above.
Remember no fares are guaranteed until tickets are purchased and no seat can be guaranteed until the ticket is paid for. A confirmed seat that is not paid for timely can be lost to another customer willing to pay immediately.
When purchasing, please make sure to provide:
- Name(s) of all travellers (as on passport or travel documents).
- Departure and destination cities (or closest known airport)
- Stopover city and number of days (if applicable).
- Departure and return dates (please note if your dates are flexible).
- If any children are traveling, their ages in order to qualify for children's fare.
- If applicable, your frequent flier number in order to accumulate miles.
Also, when booking by e-mail, please check your e-mail frequently and respond in a timely manner so that you don't miss your deadlines and/or fare updates. Please also send your phone numbers for ease of communication.
When you decide to make your travel plans please decide whether you're fare shopping or if you're ready to purchase if the price is right.
"Fare shopping" is when you want to inquire as to what a trip may cost should you decide to travel to a particular destination at any desired time. (E.g. I'd like to know how much it'll cost to travel to Aspen in Dec. 2009)
A "ready to purchase" customer is ready to purchase a ticket(s) immediately (within a week) for any particular period.
Specifying your preferences makes it easier to satisfy the your needs, and it allows your agent to maximize the time necessary to make and confirm the reservations that need to be ticketed immediately.
If you're comparison shopping, please feel free to state so, that way we'll try to match your current price. When requesting fares please realize that airlines have the right to, and do indeed change their prices as many times as they desire, thus the statement "no fares are guaranteed until tickets are purchased".
With international flights, fares are based on availability in a particular class of service.
When you're requesting quotes most agents quote you the lowest price for the lowest class of service, but that does not account for the fact that the particular fare class may have been long sold out, and usually such quotes do not include taxes and charges. Hence a previous international fare quote of $1200 may become $1500 on the date of purchase. (e.g. Southwest has a special for $99, then you call from Washington D.C. and it only flies from Baltimore plus those seats were sold out last Tuesday, the lowest fare is now $308).
Please note when we quote fares, it usually includes all taxes and charges for the period of travel as of the date of quotation only. If you want to lock in a fare then you have to purchase within the period of time the ticket can be held for. When you ask for estimates they include estimates for the most reasonable fares on the carriers that have those particular range of prices. We also quote fares for airlines that have the available seats to match those prices as of the time of quotes, and if rapidly changing, we'll let you know that it's subject to availability (especially holiday period fares).
Holiday Fares- Spring Break
- Book your Spring Break vacation early to avoid the student rush and be guaranteed lower fares while there's still availability.
- Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Concerts & Festivals
- Make your plans early to secure cheap flights and good seats.
- Christmas Break Fares
The price of gas is affecting the travel business in extraordinary ways. Flights normally available before Christmas now become fully booked well in advance and certain routes now fill up very early, especially for international flights. The below continents, countries and islands are most especially affected. - Nigeria (#1 followed by other African Countries)
- The convergence of flights to Europe limits space availability and cheap fares are almost impossible even with a 3 month advance booking, and not all airlines keep a waiting list. The weather is great and foreign exchange is very favorable, hence the high volume of travel.
- Carribean (especially the Virgin Islands)
- Some flights go for almost twice the regular prices, once seating is limited.
- Australia
- Most flights are usually fully booked.
You can purchase tickets both international and domestic on behalf of anyone. Family (parents, children, spouses), friends or employees. Travel can also be arranged for minors and seniors traveling unaccompanied also. In addition, wheelchair assistance can be prearranged for seniors.
Depending on which city or country their travel is originating from, we may be able to get them E-tickets, even with only 24 hour notice, provided payment is received. Once payment is received we'll give you the confirmation number with which they can collect their boarding passes upon showing their passports and/or photo IDs.
For foreign countries where E-Tickets are not yet available, travelers can usually pick up their tickets within 1-3 days of payment being received.
For domestic travel, all you need is their travel dates and names as they appear on their photo ID.
For international travel first make sure that they have obtained their visas. If they have a stopover enroute most likely they'll need a transit visa also. Then please make sure the names you're providing for them matches those on their passports.
Some customers request for the lowest fares but what they really want are the lowest fares on particular airlines. Please be sure to specify any airlines that you don't want to travel on to help limit my search to suit your needs.
International flights- If you prefer not to fly on national carriers e.g. African carriers to Africa, Asian to Asia, Latin to Latin America, etc. please state this clearly. Please note that national carriers usually offer the least expensive fares.
Domestic flights -Please state clearly if you don't want to travel on an airline which does mostly red-eye flights with stopovers, or have long stopovers.
One bad experience on any airline should not deter you from traveling with them again; most airlines are entitled to at least one bad day (unless of course, the airline truly has a bad reputation). The more airlines you are open to traveling on, the greater your chance of getting the lowest fare available.
Are you ready to purchase or just fare shopping for now? Either way, we need add'l info. in order to give you the most accurate fares for your intended trip.
Please forward the below info. (and if ready to purchase) we can use their names to hold their seats once they're confirmed. Also, please note that once your seat(s) are confirmed you usually have a limited period to purchase.
- 1) Name(s) of all travellers (as on passport or Travel documents).
- 2) Departure & destination cities. (or closest known airport )
- 3) Stopover city & no. of days (if any).
- 4) Departure & return dates (pls. note if your dates are flexible).
- 5) If any children - their ages to qualify for children's fare (if applicable).
- 6) If applicable - Your Frequent flier no. once you've purchased to accumulate your miles.
Also, pls. forward your contact Tel. no(s). for ease of communication.
