There are mostly two sources for getting cheap air tickets and it
seems that it's hard to think of anything new. Here it goes for shopping
around extensively using various aggregator services or buying your
tickets months in advance with the most inconvenient connections and
flight time. In most cases getting cheap air tickets implies using both
methods if you're really eager to save a lot of money. Still in the
recent couple of years a new phenomenon has appeared in the air ticket
sales chain, making a lot of people curious and somewhat cautious. This
absolutely new phenomenon are consolidators, as they are colloquially
named by experts, a new type of travel agents that specialize on
ridiculously cheap air tickets
and thus are rather sought after by budget travellers. Anyways, don't
rush finding one, since working with them implies a great deal of risk.
Consolidator. What does it mean?
In fact they are sales intermediaries who search for unsold seats at
all the flights they can get, buy them in bulk benefiting from
substantial bulk discounts and sell them to individual travellers at
ridiculously low prices. As they get those tickets even cheaper they can
afford to sell them at really low prices and still earn some revenue.
This practice is absolutely legal, the concept itself is rather logic
and advantageous for all the parties involved, on paper at least. Still,
you will probably find it hard to locate such a person by searching the
word "consolidator", since they rarely operate under such titles and
are usually acting as individuals, rather than legal entities. It may
become a tough task to find one.
Finding consolidators on the web and in the real world
Should we think about it for a minute, the mere fact that
consolidators are rather hard to find should indicate that it's a rather
high risk practice buying from them. Perhaps you will find someone like
this online, but don't expect running into adequate and flashy
websites. Turn to the travel forums and message boards first. If not on
the web, consolidators will usually place their ads in local newspapers
in the cheapest section, since they usually serve particular areas and
don't have a wide coverage with their services. Moreover, such a person
won't refer to themselves as a "consolidator", since this term was
brought up by ticket sales experts and analysts. Anyway you will
understand you've found one if the prices he or she offers are way below
the current average for the flight that you're trying to attend.
