Cheap /FREE Plane Rides???!

[xBarbie In Bondagex]

Does anyone know how to get cheap plane tix? Ive heard of some deal where you can carry shit for companies on planes and you get a free ticket, or doing stuff where you sit around in the airport and at some point they have extra seats, does anyone know anything else about either of these methods or any other way to get over seas for very little cash?? Thanks!

 

[rocksy]

Wait till the ice between Alaska and Russia freezes and walk.

 

[ryn]

there is a way to do it for significantly less money. some airlines will set up a deal where you let them know approximately where and when you want to go (say september to western europe). on short notice theyll get ahold of you and tell you when and where you are going. (say sep. 15th to berlin). as long as you can roll with going about where and about when, you wont spend anything like a regular price.

 

[iago]

if youre i think 23 and under you can go to the ticket counter for airtran in the airport and ask for a buddy pass to where ever (inside the US) and it costs $69-$89. and ive heard that some times they will give it to you with out charging but i dont know if this is true. You can find the stand by info on their web site somwhere.

 

[xmattx]

xBarbie In Bondagex wrote:

Ive heard of some deal where you can carry shit for companies on planes and you get a free ticket

you're talking about being an air courier. a bunch of companies buy alot of plane tickets so they can use the checked luggage space for whatever they need to send somewhere. and then to offset the cost they sell the seats for cheaper. theres a book about it in the library in charleston, wv. i photocopied it (including a list of all the companies and where they get tickets to) and i can trade copies of it if anyone is really that interested.

 

[Matt Derrick]

airtech.com is awesome. ive used it twice, and it was a great deal. it's 259 bucks one way from the east coast to a few destinations in europe.

the kicker with most air travel is that to have a good deal, you have to come back within a certain amount of time, i.e. one week, month, etc.

the cool thing about airtech is that your tickets are open-ended so you can return anytime you want (within 1 year).

another plus is that while some country's customs require you to have proof that you're going to leave the country before you come in, your return voucher IS that proof, it just doesn't tell them WHEN you're leaving their country

technically, it's a 'standby' air service, which means you might not be able to get on the flight you want to, but so far, i haven't had any problems. i just gave them my voucher, and they gave me a ticket, and i was on my way! it's was ridiculously simple, and i highly recommend it.

i would check other flight comparison sites tho too before buying airtech, as sometimes you'll find an even better deal than this (on sites like priceline, orbits, etc).

just my two cents

Post edited by: MattPist, at: 2007/06/28 06:43

 

[Mouse]

a girl told me once abotu a trick she did that involved "lost" luggage and gettign a refund after your trip due to them fucking up stuff.. but I was drunka nd forget the details.

 

[rideitlikeyoustoleit]

I was once reading a Hostel guide for the U.S. and there were a bunch of ads in it for super cheap air tickets. The thing was, they were only to and from a few select big cities in the U.S. and Europe. I'm not sure about much else, but a Hostel guide might be good reading for cheap flights.

 

[syphilust]

ive gotten quite a few free rides as kickdowns by flyin a sign for em at the airport. but then that's in the reginal airports for the north and mainly for fly-in communities where everyone and their dog charters planes, so often they have lots o space, sometimes they give em for a reason and sometimes just because theyre in a good mood or think youd be funny to have around to talk to. i got the idea from a farley mowat book and my first one was a a chartered flight a bunch of geologists were doing over fort mcmurray (aka oil rig-pig central in the canadian prairies)
i dont think the north is what you meant tho...

 

[RebeccaSoup]

I got here on airtran from TX.

130 just booking online.

Ive heard the same shit about airtran buddy passes i just didnt know till i got home.

DO IT

 

[Johnny Lightspeed]

Check out colleges with pilot training programs. The colleges will lend out Cessna's to students in order for them to fulfill their required amount of flight hours to graduate. Usually the students
get these planes and fly around aimlessly for a few hours and land again but if you can somehow meet one of these students they're usually more than happy to take you where you need to go. I almost got flown home using this method on my last trip but the weather got to intense at the last minute and we couldn't do it. I know Westminster college in SLC has a huge flight training population but I'm not sure about other schools.

 

[veggieguy12]

Nice!
The student-pilot thing seems obvious and simple enough... why didn't I think of that?

 

[wildboy860]

a friend told me that if you order your tix at midnight that it'll be significantly cheaper becuase that's when they change the prices of the tickets or somethin, I
dunno try it out though. I heard it'll save yah a few bucks.

 

[pola negri]

this thread is hella old but i thought i would throw in my .02 cents. most of the above is dubious and i am the fucking queen of getting cheap tickets to wherever...$200 inc. taxes to central america, $600 or less to moscow/china, $60 one way to SF from Seattle...etc. You can try doing what people advise above but that air courier bullshit is a waste of time (i am a member of one of the air courier associations) and you can usually find better legit deals if you just know where to look.

links!!

an old personal fave: ita matrix

ITA Software: Trip Planner

you can search within any 30-day period for any ticket anywhere. kathmandu? lake baikal? burbank? anything. you can't book on their site but you can get an idea of what tickets are ranging.

airfare watchdog & the airfare watchdog blog:

The Airfarewatchdog blog

this site fucking rules. they post weird specials and you can sign up for city alerts to get good deals.

Cheap Flights, Airline Tickets, Cheap Airfare & Discount Travel Deals - Kayak.com

this search engine has a nice flexible trip option. not always the cheapest, but usually. clicking on the 'deals' or 'buzz' section has scored me some cheap flights.


also, join frequent flier programs...they have gotten me upgrades and free tickets and membership is free. depends on how much you travel but if you leave the country at least once a year that shit is not hard to accumulate.

 

[Mouse]

cool tips. thanks! I want to escape over seas some day and I'll def keep this stuff in mind

 

[dänny]

came across this on craigslist, dont know how legit it is but its a clinical study where they send you to guatemala to test a vaccine patch for montezuma's revenge... haha. they pay your airfare and hotel and 200 bucks extra though...
$Expenses Paid To Guatemala...

 

[Loaf]

If you aren't into flying you can always hitch a boat over to Europe it is pretty easy normally and there are a few sites. i am not going to post them because you might know them already but.. if anyone wants 'em just say.

 

[eachandeveryhighway]

Can you send me some info on those boats/barges? Is this truly legit?

Thanks!!

E

 

[RnJ]

I met a guy in the Philippines who had been hitching private freight/cargo planes from one island to the other. He researched the schedules and showed up one or two hours early to talk the pilot into allowing him onto the plane. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't go over so well in a Western country. And maybe he was using his B of A in psychology to work his wonders.

 

[Loaf]

Well if you want to hitch on sailboats and work boats try using 7knots.com or findacrew.net both have crew wanted sections. Also like RnJ said turn up at ports once you get the schedules and ask around. These days it is hard post 9/11 and shit. It is no longer up to the captain of the barges, anything commercial must be cleared by the company and the port master etc..Best luck is definitely the websites though if leaving form the states.