Airline Tickets

10 Ways to Get Free (or Almost Free) Airline Tickets I love to travel. It sounds cliche, but it's true. At one point, I had been out of the country every summer for six years, including a six-month stay in Europe that included the ubiquitous backpack. (See also: The Cheapest Way to Fly to Europe) Now that I have a family, traveling is a lot more expensive, and airfare is a huge chunk of that. I haven't given up on future trips, though, because there are so many ways to get free tickets these days. Below are some of the ideas that have worked for me or for people I know. 1. Volunteer to Get Bumped If you've flown at all, you probably know this drill. A flight gets overbooked, and so the gate agent asks for people to give up their seats in exchange for some sort of incentive. Often, that incentive is a voucher for a free or discounted ticket in the future. When you volunteer, they will usually book you through on another flight, so you still have a guaranteed w