Continental airline discount coupon

Get the lowest airline fares

For travelers - especially those age 62 and over - there are many kinds of bargains to investigate before buying tickets.

Airfare Breaks for Seniors

* Coupon booklets. Most airlines offer seniors booklets with four coupons that can save a lot of money. Only one coupon is needed for a one-way trip between any two cities in the continental U.S. So you pay the same rate to fly 300 or 3,000 miles. There are no minimum or maximum stays required. The typical cost for four coupons is $675.

Advantages of coupon booklets include:

- You lock in the current senior ticket price for one year.

- America West and USAirways allow up to two grandchildren (ages 2 to 11) to travel with a senior using the same coupon booklet.

- Coupons arc refundable if not used.

- Senior coupon flights can even earn frequent-flier miles.

- Coupons let you fly one way or round-trip - there are no minimum/maximum stay limits.

Disadvantages of coupon booklets include:

- During special airfare promotions, tickets could cost less than coupon prices.

- Shorter flights could be cheaper with an individual ticket.

- Some Internet fares may be cheaper.

* Flat discounts. Except for most deeply discounted promotional fares, seniors and a companion can routinely get 10% off many domestic and international airfares. A companion of any age traveling with a senior can also routinely get the 10% discount.

* Other senior fares. Southwest Airlines has attractive senior fares. They are unrestricted and fully refundable, but you must be 65-- plus to get them.

Bargain Fare for All Travelers

Here are some bargains for travelers egardless of age:

* Consolidators may have lower unpublished contract fares or discounts. You can find domestic airfares at www.itasoftware.com, www.expedia.com, www.sidestep.com, and www.travelocity.com. However, these sites search other airlines' web sites and may miss fare bargains that are not available on the Internet. For example, www.expedia.com does not include Southwest Airlines fares in its searches.

* Buy all air tickets by credit card. Airlines and travel agents do go out of business, but if you pay by credit card, you won't lose your money.

* Do not buy tickets from classified ads - they are not transferable to another person.

* The lowest fare is not always the best choice. If you need flexibility, don't want to fly at an odd time or don't want to make an inconvenient connection, perhaps paying a few more dollars is not a bad choice.