When airlines set their fares, they divide their seating into "classes", which are based on an analysis of past passenger purchases. Suppose you have a 100 seat airliner going from DC to SF. The rates might break down on a particular day as follows:
30 seats at $315 round trip, 30 days in advance
20 seats at $350 RT, 21 days in advance
20 seats at $375 RT, 14 days in advance
20 seats at $400 RT, 7 days in advance
10 seats at $450 RT, full fare, available until the last minute.
Now if the time has elapsed within a given price group, then the fare will go up to the rate of the next price group. If they sell the quota of tickets for a price group, even if the time has not elapsed, then they can only sell you tickets at the next rate group price (which is naturally higher). So it can pay to make your reservations way in advance. (The number of seats available at each fare varies from day to day, depending on the airline's yield management algorithm.)
Actually, it would be more accurate to say that airlines distinguish between classes of service and types of fares. A discount ticket (fare) for first class travel (service) could, in theory, be cheaper than an advance purchase ticket (fare) for thrift travel in the first class compartment (service). The best way to describe it is as a series of overlapping tiers of fares.
There are five regular classes of service: First, Business, Standard, Coach and Thrift. Standard is practically nonexistent these days. Fares usually drop with lower class service. For each class except Standard there are six main types of reduced-fare tickets: discounted, night, offpeak, weekend, advance purchase, and excursion fare.
If you want the cheapest fares, look at the Thrift and Coach Economy classes.
airlines have started eliminating First Class, because many companies now have policies that won't let their employees claim a first class ticket on their travel expenses. Instead, the airlines have started upgrading their Business Class as a marketing ploy (and, of course, company policies are now requiring employees to travel coach).
Amsterdam
Atlanta
Atlantic City
Barcelona
Boston
California
Cancun
Chicago
Dallas
Daytona Beach
Disneyland - Anaheim
Disneyworld - Orlando
Dominican Republic
Dublin
Florence
Florida
Hawaii
Italy
Key West
Las Vegas
London
Los Angeles
Maui
Miami
Montreal
Myrtle Beach
New Orleans
New York City
Palm Springs
Paris
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Puerto Rico
Puerto Vallarta
Punta Cana
Reno
Rome
San Antonio
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle
Sydney
Toronto
Vancouver
Venice
Virginia Beach
Washington DC
We can provide best airfares for major destinations from Chisinau, Moldova worldwide - only cheap flights and discounted airline tickets at airguide.eu
