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Acquiring Cheap Airfares

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Q: cheap airfare to greece from philippines?
hi,im planning to visit crete,greece next year and early on im already looking for cheap airfares/airlines. can anybody help me? also, any info on what kind of visa to acquire and how to get it? thank you.

A: hi, you should get a schengen visa… i dont know if we have a greece embassy in the philippines, just ask your travel agent. the nearest greek embassy is in indonesia. greece is still part of the schengen countries. A schengen visa cost appoximately 5,000 to 7500php depending on whar country you are apllying for. As for the tickets, go to emirates.com, they might not be the cheapest but they have the best schedule comparing to klm, qatar and cathay. For a roundtrip ticket to europe, you should spend approximately 1100 – 1300us dollars.
if i were you, make use of your visa, go to two schengen countries like italy and greece or france and greece.
if you ask me why i know these things, im planning for my trip also this december (winter) to italy spain france and greece and a stopover at dubai! ciao!

Q: Researching airfares?
I need to know how to find the cheapest airfare departing from Sacramento, Reno or San Fransisco to Belfast, Ireland. From Belfast to the Reggio Emilia region of Italy and then back (to any of the departure cities). Traveling in June.

Is it beneficial to use a travel agent?
Also, any advice on acquiring upgrades to first class?

A: This is a popular question and the truth is that NOBODY who answers will have a “right” answer for everybody all the time. There is NO one website that consistently delivers “the cheapest airfare” and no one strategy that always works.

The key to finding the cheapest airfare is to keep your mind just as open as your eyes. Here are my TEN TIPS TO CHEAP AIRFARE:

1. Use MANY web sites…never rely on just one or two, no matter how highly they come recommended.

2. Use tools like kayak.com that compare fares across multiple sites.

3. Use sites like airfarewatchdog.com to find out about low fares you might have overlooked.

4. Use sites like travelzoo.com to find out about sales and online promos — especially for airlines you don’t regularly think of.

5. Keep your options open. Be flexible about your travel dates or which airport you use when flying into a city with multiple airports. There are options for searching alternative airports and searching with flexible dates on sites like travelocity.com: use those.

6. Don’t count out the travel agents!!! Yes, some young people distrust them or don’t know how to deal with them. *BUT* they’ve become specialists in regions and can often find you deals that you would NEVER have found on your own relying on online search engines. Some of them know about foreign airlines you’ve never heard of (and neither has kayak.com!) Good travel agents also have resources like bulk block set asides that they can sell to you at prices BELOW the airline’s listed airfare. They know about charters and packages. It’s always possible that a travel agent might very well NOT be able to save you anything, but Hey! if they can’t beat or meet a low price, you can always go back to buying online…what’s it hurt to keep your mind and eyes open and just ask??

7. Always double-check the airline web site before booking a ticket. Sometimes the “cheap deals” you find on other sites don’t include booking fees that might skew the comparison.

8. Only use opague travel sites like priceline.com or hotwire.com *AFTER* you have researched extensively. Too many people overbid on Priceline because they didn’t do their homework and find out about airfare sales or current options.

9. Don’t forget that comparison sites or general travel web sites don’t always include every airline in the sky. Southwest has been notoriously absent from many of them, as has JetBlue, AirTran, Spirit, and some of the “flash airlines” (here today, gone tomorrow, like ExpressJet, Independence, and SkyJet).

10. Good luck on the 1st class upgrades! They usually go only to an airlines’ MOST frequent fliers. There are exceptions. American often gives passengers checking in early the option to pay an extra fee (like $125) to be upgraded on the spot to 1st class. AeroMexico does this too (but the fee is a steal of a deal at $50). Choking up a little extra cash for the upgrade on an airline that does it this way is probably your best bet for an upgrade. (If you’re asking about ‘em, there’s no way you fly often enough to get in on the frequent flier upgrade path).

Q: Tips, advice for Ireland / Italy trip?
I have an opportunity to attend an international conference for work in June. I need to know how to find the cheapest airfare departing from Sacramento, Reno or San Fransisco to Belfast, Ireland. From Belfast to the Reggio Emilia region of Italy and then back (to any of the departure cities).
Also, any advice on acquiring upgrades to first class?

A: from belfast to italy, try to find a free ticket when they give them out at RyanAir.com They usually give away free tickets every 2 months.

For the US to Europe, your cheap tickets would be from www.LuckyAirfare.com

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