You’re thinking of going on vacation and you see an amazing airline fare on-line. Obviously, a low price is the number one priority for budget travelers – but hold on before clicking that buy button because all airline tickets are not created equal.  So, what do you need to look for?

• What’s included? There are so many different fare types out there that it becomes confusing to gauge what you’re really getting without a little research.  Many airlines have now introduced the concept of “Basic Economy Fares” which do not include a carryon, a checked bag or even seat assignments.  Using United as an example their basic economy fares currently include one personal item (17x10x8 that will fit underneath the seat in front of you) Carryon bags will cost you $25 each way, and a checked bag will cost between $25 and $60 each way depending on the length of your flight.  You will board last, and you will be charged a fee to choose your seats (if you do not pay to choose a seat you will be assigned one and you are not guaranteed to sit with others in your party).  All airlines are different however, so you need to check the website of the airline you are contemplating using to get the correct information.  The main carriers typically give you the same amenities as people who purchased regular economy tickets such as drinks, meals or in-flight entertainment.  On the budget carriers such as Spirit (See tips on booking Spirit here) and Frontier even these items have special charges though.  If you’re willing to fly bare bones with one small personal bag, then these fares can be a great deal for you.  If you have to purchase several of the add-ons a la carte, your cheap ticket may not be so cheap anymore. 
• Where are you buying the ticket from?: There are many sites out there like Orbitz and Expedia which do the searching for you and show you some pretty good deals.  Before booking however, check for the same flight on the airline’s website.  If it’s the same price or close, consider purchasing directly from the airline.  If there are any problems with the flight (delays or cancellations) where you need something rebooked you may have to deal with Expedia who might only be able to offer you a refund which doesn’t do you much good if you’re stranded somewhere and then have to buy a new flight at last minute prices.  The airline will have more latitude to re-book you another flight, sometimes even with another airline. 
• Length of the flight: Make sure you pay attention to the flight time when purchasing your tickets. Obviously the quicker you get somewhere the better.  A flight from Florida to France could be a non-stop flight from Miami to Paris taking 8 hours, or (as cheaper flights usually are) it could be a flight from West Palm Beach, FL with a layover in Newark, NJ, then finally on to Paris, France.  The actual travel time including layovers might be 13 hours.  What is more important to you?  A cheaper flight or less travel time?  If it’s just me and my girlfriend we might choose a cheaper flight, but if we have my daughter with us who is prone to ear pain on ascent or descent, we would choose the non-stop flight, so she only has to go on one plane. 
• Confirm the Airport: Many Search Engines have a nearby airports feature, and you may enter West Palm Beach as your starting location, but the flight that returns is actually departing from Miami.  You don’t want to show up at the wrong airport.  This feature can be a great one for you to use though, as many times you can get a cheaper fare just by using another nearby airport.  You will have to factor in any transportation costs, but it might still be worth it.  As an example, we live in West Palm Beach, and a flight from PBI to CDG (Paris) might be $700, but a flight from MIA (Miami) to CDG might be $500 AND a non-stop flight.  Even factoring in gas, the hour drive to Miami and parking at $7 a night, the Miami flight was a much better deal for our group of 3.  You should also confirm the airports for your layovers.  In some instances, the flights are actually from two different airports, and you would have to get yourself to the second airport to take the second flight. 
• Confirm the Carrier: Sometimes flights are booked with one airline but are flown on a partner airline.  This happens quite frequently with international flights.  Do yourself a favor and Google reviews on the carrier in question.  We are booking a flight to Bali on Business class, and United has two different flights where the international leg is flown by Turkish Airlines in one case and EVA air in another.  A simple google search shows the Business Class for EVA is much better than the one for Turkish Air so if everything else is equal, that’s the flight we’ll choose.  In some instances, you may be required to pay a separate bag fee for the other carrier (this should be noted when you book).  For example, we flew on a ticket purchased through United Airlines from Florida to Oahu, Hawaii, on a United plane, then Oahu to Maui on a Hawaiian Airlines plane, and finally Maui back to Florida on United again.  Our bag charges were covered on the United flights with our United Plus card, but we had to pay the baggage fees on our Hawaiian Air flight.  Knowing this we made each kid take a backpack instead of a few big suitcases, so we only had to check one bag.   A family of 6 that was traveling on the same flight we were did not notice the baggage disclaimer and ended up having to pay $25 for each of their suitcases.  Another tip is that smaller airlines such as Spirit or Frontier may have less flights than their larger counterparts such as Delta or United.  If your flight is delayed or cancelled, they may not be able to re-book you until the following day, whereas the bigger airlines might have something else that same night. 
• Length of Layovers: Everyone prefers a non-stop flight, but the reality is more often than not you’ll have one, two or even three connecting flights to get to your destination.  When choosing flights pay attention to the length of time for these layovers.  If the airport is very large, you may want more time to get to your next flight as the terminals could be very far apart.  Airplanes usually stop boarding 20 minutes before the flight departs, so if you have a 1-hour layover, your plane lands 15 minutes late, and you have to travel a long distance between terminals you might be cutting it close.  This is especially important for international flights as you may have to clear customs on your layover.  In that case you will want to make sure you have a few hours between flights to be on the safe side.  An example is this – when flying from an international destination into the US, and you have a layover prior to your final destination (let’s say you travel from Munich Germany, and have a layover in Charlotte, North Carolina prior to arriving in your final destination of West Palm Beach, Florida), the US requires that you clear customs at your first port of entry which in this case is Charlotte.  So, in Charlotte you would need to exit the plane, get your luggage, go through customs, bring your luggage back to the counter to get it back on the plane, and then go to your new terminal/gate for your new flight.  An hour layover would definitely not be long enough.  Each country has its own customs rules so if your layover is in another country check their travel page to see what the rules are.  Finally, if you are traveling from the US to the Europe or Asia, many times there is only one flight an evening to your location.  If your flight is late and you miss the second flight, you may not be able to get another until the same time the following day.  We traveled from West Palm Beach to Newark, and then Newark to Dublin.  There was only one flight on United to Dublin that night, and our PBI to EWR flight was delayed.  We arrived 15 minutes before our flight stopped boarding and hauled ass down to the gate for our Dublin flight.  Turns out it was late too, but had it been on time and we missed it, we would have been stuck in Newark waiting for a flight to Dublin the following day. 
• Booking on the same itinerary/airline: Many times, travel search engines will show what they call, “hacker fares”.   In order to get the cheapest price, you may fly one airline on your outgoing flight and a different one on your return flight, or you may even fly one airline to a connecting destination such as Boston, and then fly another airline from Boston to Iceland.  If the price difference is great enough this might be worth it, but you need to take a few things into consideration.  Because the two flights are not on the same itinerary (booked through one airline) if there is an issue with the first flight the second airline is under no obligation to assist you with the problem.   For example, let’s say you wanted to visit Boston for the weekend and bought a ticket to Boston on Friday with Jet Blue, and then bought a ticket home on Sunday through United.  On the day of your flight to Boston there was a massive storm and all the flights were delayed until the following day.  Your choices would be to cancel your trip and be out the money you paid for the United flight or fly up on Saturday and turn around and return on Sunday.  Had both tickets been on the same itinerary through Jet Blue, they would have allowed you to cancel the whole trip.  The same applies to using different airlines as a “layover”.  Let’s say you wanted to go to Iceland and bought a ticket from PBI to BOS on Jet Blue, then bought a ticket for a few hours later from BOS to ICE on Norwegian.  There is an issue with the Jet Blue plane, and you arrive into Boston one hour after your Norwegian flight has departed.  Since you bought the tickets separately, Norwegian does not have to assist you with the missed flight, and you would need to buy a new ticket to Iceland.  If both tickets had been on the same itinerary and purchased through Norwegian, Norwegian would be responsible for providing you with a new flight and possibly accommodations since their first flight was delayed. 
• Type of aircraft: Not all planes are created equal.  Each plane has different seat types and amenities.  You can visit sites like Seatguru.com where you type in the date of your flight, the airline and the flight number and it will tell you all about the seat you might be choosing.  The site will mention “pitch”, which refers to the space between a point on one seat and the same point on the seat in front of it. For many carriers, the pitch in Economy class is 29 to 32.  More seat pitch can mean more legroom and if you’re on a 10-hour flight every inch counts!  Some planes have inflight entertainment on the seat back in front of you, while some don’t have anything.  Some seats have USB ports or electrical outlets, and some do not.  It sounds like overkill, but If you have little ones, you’ll be glad you did your research, so you don’t show up to a plane with no entertainment and no chargers on a 9-hour flight.