| Being a contrarian traveler, that is, doing the opposite | | | | vacation at the end of the year. You will not be able |
| of what the majority of people are doing is a smart | | | | to depart until December 22nd, peak travel season. |
| way to save money on airfares. The theory in this | | | | Unfortunately leaving between mid-December and |
| being that while everybody is traveling one way, for | | | | mid-January will cost you pretty close to double the |
| example heading back home at the end of their | | | | regular fare. Forward planning being one of the |
| winter vacations to Thailand, the planes going back | | | | fundamentals of saving money on travel, knowing |
| to Thailand would be relatively empty. This creates | | | | your end-of-year travel dates will enable you to save |
| an opportunity for the savvy traveler to take | | | | a lot of money. |
| advantage of reduced airfares as airlines scramble to | | | | What you do is instead of buying a 5 day return |
| fill as many seats as possible. | | | | ticket for your May trip, you buy a one year open |
| Unfortunately we are not all able to travel when we | | | | with the return date of the ticket sometime in |
| want and work commitments may dictate that we | | | | January when you want to come home from your |
| must take our holidays at the same time as | | | | end of year vacation. Upon arriving in Bangkok you |
| everybody else. This is where the laws of supply and | | | | put this ticket away in your suitcase and purchase a |
| demand kick in and the airlines and hotels crank up | | | | second ticket from Bangkok to your original point of |
| their prices. But what if you really wanted or needed | | | | departure, or home city. The return portion of this |
| to travel at a time that was a peak travel time in | | | | ticket (and this is the crucial part of the plan) is set |
| your country? Do you just have to bite the bullet | | | | to December 22nd. |
| and pay the inflated prices? | | | | This works because each airline in each country |
| Fortunately there is a strategy which allows you to | | | | determines their fares from the point of departure. |
| both travel to and return from popular destinations at | | | | What this means is that the return date does not |
| the same peak times as everyone else, without | | | | have as big an influence on the fare as the departure |
| having to pay pumped-up holiday fares. | | | | date. Basically they don't care if the return section of |
| Let's take Bangkok as an example because it is an | | | | your ticket is in a peak period in the country you are |
| extremely popular holiday destination and it is also | | | | coming back from. |
| one of the cheapest places in the world right now to | | | | One year open tickets are a little more expensive |
| purchase airfare tickets- a fact whose relevance will | | | | than your regular 7- 30 day open tickets, however |
| become clear in just a moment. | | | | you should look into this option and you may find |
| Let's say it's May and you are going to take a short | | | | substantial savings doing it this way than paying the |
| 5 day trip to Bangkok, on a business trip or to visit | | | | inflated peak time airfares that the airlines charge. |
| friends. You've also decided that you want to take a | | | | |