The time of day, company you are flying with, the destination city, and so many more factors need to be considered in getting low cost airfare. Here are some factors that affect the price on an airline ticket.

1. Comparison shopping is the first tip for finding low cost airfare. Purchasing tickets online, through airfare consolidators, and through travel agents are the most common sources for purchasing tickets. If you have time, shopping through all of three of these is the easiest way to get a lower priced ticket.

2. Purchase tickets in advance. Usually, you can get low cost airfare fourteen days or more before the date of the flight. Typically, you will pay higher prices if you book them within fourteen days and the prices progressively get more expensive the longer you wait to purchase the airline tickets.

3. Another method for finding low cost airfare is by choosing an airline that will fly you close to your destination city by not directly into it. Airlines that fly to smaller cities have no choice but to offer cheaper price. Otherwise, the smaller cities would have no use for airports, which is where a lot of imports and exports take place for local businesses. So, you can take a plane to a smaller city and rent a car to take 30 or 100 miles to your destination. You will still be saving money, as most people rent cars when they reach their destination. You may even get a cheaper rate on the rental car for the same reason. Smaller cities, cheaper prices.

4. Flying during the evening and early morning hours will help acquire low cost airfare. Most late night and early morning flights have a few available seats and offer them at discounted rates for these hours. Not very many like to travel during these hours, so it makes perfect sense.

5. Try not to fly on important dates, such as holidays, and don't fly on the weekends. Holidays and weekends mean money for the airline industry, so they have a tendency to mark up the prices. It is difficult to receive low cost airfare on any holiday or on any weekend day. So, try to go to your destination well before the holiday or well after and try to fly in the middle of the week, Tuesday or Wednesday.

6. Flying to destinations, when the destinations spots are not in demand is another way to find cheap airline tickets. For example, you would probably want to look at tickets to Florida destinations in the middle of summer for Northern states because the tickets to Florida are not in demand. In order to keep the airplanes flying there, the airlines have to offer discounts to the customers.

7. Frequent Flyer miles are a wonderful way to save money on airfare. If you know that you will be traveling by airplane frequently or even once a year, you may want to pay a higher price for the tickets that offer frequent flyer miles. You can purchase the airlines tickets to your destinations until you have acquired enough miles to get a ticket or pair of tickets free. This costs more upfront, but if you add up the costs over time, you will see that overall you receive lower prices by doing this. Low cost airfare is much easier when you travel frequently and frequent flyer miles offer another advantage to travelers.

8. If you allow your flight to have a layover, you will find low cost airfare. Layovers, while mostly inconvenient to the traveler, offer a much cheaper price to that same traveler. Major problems with layovers include loss of baggage, too short of a layover could mean missed plane, and separation from family member that could result in one person or two being left behind. This can also be a problem if you are traveling with small children. You have to make sure you allot extra time to get your family from the arrival gate to the departure gate to make sure you do not miss your flight.

All of these tips will help you save money on airline tickets. The main thing to do is to weigh out your options and chose the right tickets and flight for you. The tips above should help guide you if you are looking to make a great trip without paying a lot out. Hotels are expensive enough, take as much as you can from low cost airfare.