Air travel, the fastest means of travel, has remained out of reach for the common man because it is also the most expensive means of travel.
Fortunately, this situation has changed in recent years as the aviation industry has launched low-cost carriers, which are now plying destinations across the globe.
Prior to that, consumers could economize their air travel through a few options, such as traveling off-season and booking late night flights.
Frequent flyers had a chance to redeem their mileage for free travel, but still had to pay premium charges to earn their mileage points.
Though the concept of budget carriers is new in the aviation industry, the low-cost carriers are operated by the existing airlines, meaning that quality of their services remain superior.
Many domestic and international airlines have collaborated with travel agencies to reach customers directly without the need for advertisements.
Travel agents give individual attention to customers, meaning that consumers can easily plan the best itinerary and also avail the best transit benefits from a trip package.
Their services are particularly useful for budget-oriented plans for vacations.
In fact, these agents are well-aware of the demand for cheap and discounted air tickets and hence, play the best middle-role between the airlines and the passengers.
Travel packages offered by airlines and agencies include appealing offers ranging from complimentary lodging upgrades to car rentals and gourmet offers.
They strive to offer the best value for consumers.
Online booking is the norm today, as evident from the increasing number of online travel agencies.
At the same time the services of online travel portals have improved a great deal to meet consumers' needs.
Browsing their websites for a couple of weeks can help consumers get a realistic idea of the air ticket costs and the technicalities of finding the right deal.
First-timers can use these websites to learn about economical air travel ideas.
For instance, they can learn about advance-reservation, late-night or 'red eye' flights, etc.
that allow maximum savings on ticket costs.
Many travel agent websites allow visitors to compare ticket prices so as to settle on the best deal.
Several others allow consumers to make a bid, so that their ticket is automatically purchased if the price reaches or rather falls to the bid level.
This is an interesting approach as the website handles the task of searching for the ticket of the desired price.
Many a time special deals are available for those who make their purchase directly from the airline.
These deals may turn out to be better than discounts from travel sites.
Online services not only allow consumers to pay for and print their tickets, but also facilitate a web check-in service to print out their boarding passes.
Through this service, they can send their pass to an internet-enabled mobile.
Thus, they can avoid the queues at the airport and choose seats for themselves and their travel companions without any hassle.