How to Get Absolutely Cheapest Airfare

Geographic Differential Fares

This is a very little know open secret, many airlines especially in developing countries price their fares in accordance to countries where you are booking the tickets. In almost every cases, if you are booking let’s say a domestic fare with Egyptair, the price are much higher if you were to choose “United States” version than “Egypt” version of their homepage. One reason for this geographic differential or discrimination is that fact we all know all airlines want to maximum their profit, and given U.S. has much higher income, the airlines can set a higher price point while it still offer lower fares to capture local Egypt residences with lower price points. This is my favorite method of scoring lower fares, typical you are expected to save 50% to 70% off the published price on U.S. or European version of the airline website. I also like this method since I can purchase the ticket directly from the airline’s own website. So, let’s get started!

Step 1: Search the Available Routing

Use your favorite booking site such as Expedia, Skyscanner, Vayama or Flighthub to check the published price and the list of the carrier for the desired route. For example: we wanted to fly from Luxor (LUX) to Cairo (CAI) for September 8 and discover Egyptair offers this route.

Step 2: Go to Airlines' Own Homepage

We’ll check the airlines’ homepage directly and for comparison chosen the “United States” as location. In this case, we’ll be searching the Luxor to Cairo route on September 8 to get a price in U.S. Dollars.

Step 3: Search the Route As Local Residence

Go back to the homepage and select another location on the airlines’ website and search for the same flight. In this case, I’ll selected “Egypt” version on the Egyptair homepage and search for the same route. It quoted me the total price in Egyptian Pound (EGP) of 343.00

Step 4: Check the Cost of Locally Priced Ticket in Your Own Currency.

Use website like xe.com or simply use Google to see the price in your own currency. In this case, we use Google to convert the 343 Egyptian Pound (EGP) to U.S. Dollars, which gives us $44.00 as of September 2, 2015. A saving of 58%!!!