Q&A for How to Book an Airline Ticket

Book your tickets strategically. International flights are cheapest about two months out, while domestic ones fluctuate a lot until about a month in advance when the cost spikes. Monitor the prices and book when they're lowest!

As a group coordinator, you will get a specific price for the airfare, hotel rooms, or ships on a cabin based on the number of seats, hotel rooms, or ship cabins you will hold. If you do not meet the minimum threshold that you essentially guaranteed that you are going to use, prices could change.

If you book your tickets in advance or stay at the destination on a Saturday night, you can get the best fares and the lowest fares.

That all depends on the airport you are in. International airports like Denver and Sydney may require up to 30 minutes of leeway, up to 90 minutes during the winter (try for a 2 hour layover in major airports if possible). Do not fly into Chicago unless you have 3.5 hours minimum.

Yes, you should receive an email receipt and confirmation of your booking from your airline or travel agent. If you don't receive this a few hours after booking, call your travel agent or airline to confirm and have the receipt resent.

Most domestic flights only require your first and last name on the ticket to match your first and last name on your identification. However, some international flights need all of your names to match. If you are concerned, call your airline or travel agent as soon as possible. Explain that you missed your middle name and see if it will be a problem. Note that some airlines may charge you to change the name on the ticket.

It depends on the airline, but most airlines have a diagram of the plane that is going to be used for that flight, and it shows the open and already booked seats.

If your airline requires any verified medical information, bring the request to your doctor or medical professional who should be able to provide official documentation that you can give to the airline.

Sometimes you can. It depends on whether or not that option is available in the first place, how full the plane is, and where you are going.

If you book online, yes, you will need to pay with a credit card. If you book at a travel agency or (in rare circumstances) at the airport, paying in cash may be possible.

You will have to go to the airline's website during the check-in period to receive your boarding pass.

You should be booking directly from the airline website or from a website that directs you to the airline website (e.g., kayak.com, Expedia).

Only for international flights, unless you want to use your passport as your valid ID, in place of, say, your driver's license.

You can definitely use a debit card. You could maybe pay with cash if you went through a physical travel agency, though those are rare these days.

Probably not, but you can download a PDF version of your receipt and print it.

Usually, after checking in, you will receive a ticket to print within 24 hours. You can also use your phone as ticket because it will have a QR code to scan an the desk.

Yes. That is exactly the definition of a round-trip flight.

You should get an email with confirmation of the booking. If you don't receive a booking confirmation within a half an hour of when you booked it, contact the airline by phone or email.

That depends on the airline/airport design, so it's hard to give a reliable answer. America's main hub, Dallas-Fort Worth International, is designed so 4 terminals are directly beside each other. (Terminal A is across from Terminal B, Terminal C is across from Terminal D, etc.)

On airplanes, there are normally two options of cabin classes. The most expensive are the first-class seats, which are the most expensive and the tourist-class seats ,which are the cheapest.

If you bought your plane tickets online, then your ticket will be an E-ticket, meaning you can show your ticket without printing it. If you bought your tickets using a travel agent, then they will give you your tickets either in paper or as an e-ticket.