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Airline ticket purchases are not cheap

By Carol Lee

Transportation is imperative in the world we inhabit. In fact, most of us need to commute somewhere each and every day. It may be 20 minutes down the road or a whopping 90 minutes into the city. It all depends on where you live and where you're employed. And let's not forget the countless other reasons we have to leave the house. In short, we rely on our vehicles quite regularly. But let's not forget about air travel. Some folks rely on flying everyday for their careers. The rest of us resort to this method of travel for vacations and yearly trips. While the speed of air travel is ideal, airline ticket purchases now days are not so cheap. And sadly they continue to rise.

Do you recall your last flight? I certainly remember mine because it was only last month. I took a four day trip to Myrtle Beach from Cincinnati and it wasn't cheap. My round-trip ticket cost me a whopping 780 dollars. YUCK! That's way too much for a trip such as this. However, clearly with airline ticket purchases it depends on when you buy them. Timing is everything. Now, if you're like most of us these days, then you probably rely on the Internet for deals and specials. Let's face it; it's easy and convenient to book a flight via the web. You just hop online and BAM, it's all taken care of.

Then there's the dark side of online airline ticket purchases. First of all you have a number of vying websites. There's travelocity.com, cheaptickets.com, travelation.com, expedia.com and several more. So what you basically need to do is compare them all. Search for the flight you need on each of these travel websites, and pinpoint the best current deal. It's a bit of a pain, but doesn't take too long. Then there's the time issue. When you research airline ticket purchases is always crucial. One day can make a huge difference. I was shocked to see a 400 dollar plane ticket skyrocket to 670 overnight. As ridiculous as this sounds, it's still our reality.

Any time you choose to fly, remember to arrive a couple hours early. Chances are you'll be the one that gets heavily searched at the security check, and then be held up for a good amount of time. You don't want to miss your flight! And be prepared for delays. They come standard now! You might as well expect them. Planes wait in long lines to take off these days. Air travel just isn't what it used to be.