How to BOOK CHEAP FLIGHTS & Get the BEST AIRFARE DEALS · Hey Nadine
分享如何预订便宜机票和获取最佳票价的实用技巧，适合练习旅行和购物相关英语表达。
I've been traveling for over 13 years
我已经旅行了13年多了。
and I know that the cost of airfare is often one of the most expensive parts of planning a trip,
我知道机票费用通常是旅行计划中最昂贵的部分之一。
but it doesn't have to be if you utilize the strategies I'm going to share with you today.
不过，如果你运用我今天要分享的这些策略，情况就不一定非得如此了。
Now, some of the tips aren't going to work for everybody, but if you are willing to put in a bit of time,
现在，有些建议可能并不适用于所有人；不过如果你愿意花些时间去尝试，或许会收到意想不到的效果。
you could save hundreds of dollars on your travels.
你在旅行中可以节省数百美元。
If you're traveling as a couple or as a group,
如果您是作为情侣或团队一起旅行的，
see what the cost of a single seat is compared to when you have multiple seats selected.
看看单个座位的费用与选择多个座位时的费用相比有何差异。
Now, airlines have something called fair buckets, which are groups of seats at different prices depending on whether or not certain perks are included.
现在，航空公司使用了一种被称为“公平定价区段”（fair pricing segments）的机制。这些定价区段包含不同价格的座位，具体价格取决于是否包含某些附加服务或福利。
These perks are things like having refundable tickets or having checked luggage and seat selections included in your ticket price.
这些优惠包括：可以购买可退款的机票；托运的行李费用以及座位选择都包含在机票价格中。
When multiple seats are booked on the same itinerary, they usually try to put everybody in the same fair bucket,
当同一条旅行路线上预订了多个座位时，系统通常会尽量将所有乘客归为同一组（即同一个类别）。
which may bump you into a group of more expensive tickets if there isn't enough room for all of you in the cheaper fair bucket.
如果价格较低的门票类别中没有足够的空间容纳所有人，你可能会被分配到价格较高的门票类别中。
For example, if you are booking as a couple, the search engine might show you two tickets at $800 each,
例如，如果您是以情侣身份进行预订的，搜索引擎可能会向您展示两张票，每张票的价格为800美元。
but there's actually one seat left in the cheaper fair bucket, which is only $700 for the seat.
不过实际上，价格更便宜的选项中还剩一个座位；这个座位的售价仅为 700 美元。
Now, if you purchase your two seats separately, you can buy one of your tickets from that cheaper fair bucket and then save yourself $100.
现在，如果你分别购买这两张机票，就可以从价格更便宜的票源中购买其中一张机票，从而节省 100 美元。
The best time to book!
现在就是预订的最佳时机！
A quick guideline would be to book your domestic flights at least one month before your departure date and two months before an international flight.
一个简单的建议是：国内航班应至少在出发日期前一个月预订，国际航班则应至少在出发日期前两个月预订。
Booking your flights six months to a year in advance can be better, but not always.
提前六个月到一年预订航班通常会更为有利，但并非总是如此。
Now, flights generally get more expensive as seats sell and as the days get closer, especially once you are in that three -week window.
通常情况下，随着机票座位的售罄以及离出发日期的临近（尤其是进入那三周的黄金购票期后），航班票价会逐渐上涨。
Airlines know that last -minute purchases are
航空公司很清楚，人们在最后一刻才决定购买机票（这种情况很常见）。
usually done by business travelers where the tickets are being expensive to the company or spontaneous vacationers who are less concerned about savings.
这种情况通常发生在商务旅行者身上（因为机票费用对公司来说较为昂贵），或者那些不太在意节省开支的临时度假者身上。
So, they can get away with jacking up prices, especially if it's on a popular route.
因此，他们可以肆意提高价格，尤其是在热门路线上。
Now, some common advice that you'll see is it's cheaper to buy your tickets on certain days of the week.
现在，有一种常见的建议是：在一周中的某些特定日子购买门票会更便宜。
A previous study by Google Flight said
谷歌Flight之前的一项研究指出：
that Tuesday and Wednesday were the cheapest while a recent study by Expedia found that Sunday was the cheapest day to purchase your airfare.
根据相关数据，周二和周三确实是购买机票最便宜的时间段；不过 Expedia 最近的一项研究显示，周日实际上是购买机票最划算的日子。
But the reality is that there is no exact science to which day of the week will be cheapest and there's no consistency to it.
但实际情况是：并不存在一种能够准确预测哪一天（一周中的哪一天）出行成本最低的“科学方法”，而且这种规律性也根本不存在。
These days, the cost of airfare is managed by complex algorithms with many different variables and when a good deal pops up,
如今，机票价格是由包含众多不同变量的复杂算法来决定的。当出现一个划算的机票交易机会时……
it will usually only last for a day or so before it's gone or sold out.
通常这种商品只会在市场上存在一天左右的时间，之后就会售罄或被买光。
So, your best bet is to just regularly keep an eye on those deals as they get released.
因此，你最好的办法就是定期关注那些新发布的优惠活动。
Midweek days like Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are often the cheapest days to fly and Fridays and Sundays are going to be generally the most expensive.
像周二、周三和周四这样的工作日通常是乘飞机出行最便宜的时间段，而周五和周日通常则是最昂贵的时段。
It's a simple case of supply and demand.
这只是一个简单的供求关系问题罢了。
Everyone wants to maximize their vacation days
每个人都希望尽可能多地利用假期时间。
by flying out on a Friday after their last day of work and coming home on a Sunday before they have to go back.
具体做法是：在周五（工作的最后一天）乘飞机出发，然后在周日（在需要返回工作之前）回家。
Now, I like to use the calendar view on whichever booking platform I'm using.
现在，无论我在使用哪个预订平台，我都喜欢使用该平台的日历视图功能。
Sometimes you can save a few hundred dollars just by shifting your whole vacation a few days sooner or later.
有时候，只需将整个假期时间提前或推迟几天，就能节省几百美元。
Now, flight comparison websites such as Kayak, Skyscanner, Momondo, and Google Flights are all actually just aggregators.
如今，像 Kayak、Skyscanner、Momondo 和 Google Flights 这样的航班比较网站实际上都只是信息聚合平台罢了（即它们只是收集并展示来自其他来源的航班信息）。
Now, these are sites that don't actually book you tickets but instead search dozens of booking engines,
这些网站实际上并不会直接为你预订门票，而是会在数十个预订平台上进行搜索。
airfare sites, and online travel agencies and compile the results in a single place.
从机票预订网站以及在线旅行社收集相关信息，并将这些结果汇总到一个统一的平台上。
They'll then show you the various different flights and you'll click on it and it will take you to those sites.
然后他们会向你展示各种不同的航班信息，你可以点击相应的航班链接，系统会直接将你带到相关的网站页面。
Now, each flight comparison website is only as good as the sites that they are kind of aggregating.
现在，每个航班比较网站的质量，其实取决于它们所汇总的数据或信息的来源。换句话说，这些网站本身的可信度或可靠性，直接取决于它们所整合的信息的质量。
That's why you can get different results from using different flight comparison websites.
这就是为什么使用不同的航班比较网站会得到不同的搜索结果。