Apex tickets:
(Advance Purchase Excursion fare)
Usually these tickets are 30 to 40% cheaper than the full economy fare.
Restrictions:
The tickets must be purchased 21 days in advance.
The minimum period away is normally 14 days.
The maximum period away is 90 or 180 days.
Stopovers are not allowed.
Alterations in your destination/dates of travel will incur charges.
If you cancel your trip the refund is often considerably less than what
you paid for the ticket. (Take out travel insurance to cover yourself
in case you have to cancel unexpectedly)
Baggage Allowance:
This will be written on your ticket, you are
usually allowed 20kgs to go in the hold and one piece of hand luggage
(dimensions and weight are limited).
Bucket Shops:
At certain times of year and/or on certain routes
many airlines fly with empty seats.
As it is more cost effective for
them to fly full, even if it means having to sell a certain number of
seats at drastically reduced prices the airlines off load tickets onto
Bucket shops (UK) or Consolidators (USA), travel agents
who specialize in discounted fares.
These tickets are generally the cheapest you will find.
You can't purchase them directly from the airlines.
Availability varies widely so you will have to be flexible in your
travel plans.
Bucket shop agents advertise in newspapers and in magazines and there's
lots of competition, especially in places like Amsterdam and London.
Bumped: Just because you have confirmed a seat doesn't mean
you're going to get on the plane.
If you are late turning up you are likely to be refused your
seat if the plane is full - see [overbooking] .
Cancellation Penalties:
If you have to cancel or change an Apex or other discount ticket,
there may be heavy penalties (insurance can be taken).
Some airlines impose penalties on regular tickets as well,
particularly against 'no show' passengers.
Check in:
Airlines ask you to check in a certain time before the
flight departure (usually 2 hours on international flights).
If you fail to check in on time and the flight is overbooked,
the airline can cancel your booking and give your seat to somebody
else.
Confirmation:
The Travel agent has to confirm with the airline that
your status is fine before your ticket is valid.
Prior to this confirmation your status is on request.
Courier Fares:
Businesses often need to send urgent documents or freight securely
and quickly.
Courier companies hire people to accompany the package through
customs and in return offer a (sometimes hugely) discounted ticket.
This is perfectly legal, but the drawbacks are:
Short ticket return time of the ticket - usually not longer than a
month.
May have to give all your baggage allowance for the use of the courier
company and be only allowed to take carry-on luggage.
Departure Tax:
There is a $27 departure tax when leaving Australia,
this is incorporated into your ticket so is not paid separately.
Discounted Tickets:
Officially discounted fares - see Apex
fares.
Unofficially discounted fares (see Bucket shops) enable you to pay
Apex prices without the associated advance bookings and other
requirements.
The lowest prices often impose drawbacks such as flying with unpopular
airlines, inconvenient schedules or unpleasant routes and connections
Economy-Class Tickets:
These tickets give you maximum flexibility and are
valid for 12 months they are usually not the cheapest way to go.
Most unused tickets are refundable.
Lost Tickets:
If you lose your ticket, after an inquiry an airline will usually
issue a replacement. However, legally an airline can refuse reissuing
a replacement - so if you lose a ticket it could be forever.
No Shows:
Passengers who fail to show up for their flight for
whatever reason.
Full-fare no shows are sometimes entitled to
travel on a later flight.
Discount ticket holders are penalized
see cancellation penalties.
Open Jaw Tickets:
These are return tickets that allow you to fly into one place and
return out of another (traveling between by any means of transport at
your own expense).
Overbooking:
Airlines often book more passengers than they have seats
available (invariably each flight has some passengers who fail to show up they). Usually the excess passengers balance those who fail to show up.
Occasionally some body gets bumped (see bumped) late arrivals.
Reconfirmation:
You must contact the airline at least 72 hours before
departure to reconfirm that you intend to be on the flight.
Otherwise the airline can delete your name from the passenger list
and you could lose your seat.
Restrictions:
On discounted tickets;
Advance purchase
Limitations on the minimum period you must be away.
Limitations on the maximum period you must be away.
Breaking the journey.
Changing the booking route.
etc.
Standby:
A discounted ticket where you only fly if there is a seat free at the last moment. Available directly from the airport and (sometimes) handled by the airlines city office.
Arrive early and have your name placed on the waiting list - first come first serve.
Student Discounts:
Some airlines offer ticket discounts of 15% to 25% to student-card holders and any one under the age of 26 only generally available on ordinary economy-class full price fares.
Transferred Tickets:
Airline tickets cannot be transferred from one person to another.
Travellers sometimes try to sell the return half of their ticket, but officials can ask you to prove that you are the person named on the ticket - international flights tickets are usually compared to passports. Domestic tickets might not be checked.
Travel Periods:
Some officially discounted fares vary with the time of year.
There is a low (off-peak) season and a high (peak) season sometimes there's an intermediate or shoulder season as well.
At peak times both officially and unofficially discounted fares will be higher (or simply not discounted).
Usually if you depart in high season and return in low season, you pay the high season fare.
