In the aviation sector, there are many businesses that are thriving in different areas. Among them are wholesalers of cheap air tickets and discount airfares. The bulk buyers or wholesales are also known as airline consolidators. They are very good sources of cheap airfares and discount airline tickets, for travelers looking for fair deals.

Airline consolidators make their profits when they buy airline tickets in several lots directly from the airlines themselves and stock them for retail to travel agents, passengers, etc. Due to the huge discounts they get for these wholesale purchases from the airline companies, airline consolidators are able to transfer the cheap airfare offer to their customers. Airlines have found consolidators a cost-effective and viable way of having a full local or international flight without empty seats since passengers are always more than willing to buy cheap air tickets anywhere they can find them.

Airline consolidators are not necessarily the same as travel agents because the former purchase airline tickets in bulk of up to hundred per lot or in their thousands if the destination is a busy route. Sometimes, if a passenger makes a reservation with an airline through a travel agent, the agent still has to buy the air ticket from an airline consolidator to get it really cheap. This is because some airline consolidators do not sell their cheap air tickets directly to passengers.

Travelocity and Expedia are two good examples of airline consolidators offering cheap airfares for flights to major international destinations. There are many more credible airline consolidators on the internet but one has to beware of fraudulent airline consolidators. Some international airlines do however run their own consolidators. These airlines with their own consolidators may be preferable because of legal issues that may arise between the passenger and the airline. There is another type of airline consolidators called Destination Specialists. Theirs is to provide cheap air tickets and discounts on air travel packages to passengers on vacation.

Before buying any cheap airfare or paying for those discounts on air tickets, you will help yourself to check the total price of the package to see if it includes taxes, surcharges and hidden charges. Some airline consolidators use the common strategy of advertising only the main price as a ‘catcher’ before displaying the added charges at the end of the payment process or at checkout if payment is online.

Airline consolidators usually give out cheap airfare offers for discounts of as high as 50% of the regular price of the air ticket. A few of the airlines may afford to give out the cheap offers for as much as 60% but such offers are very rare to come by. You can boost your cheap airfare deal with the advantage of being an airline’s frequent flier, in which case you will be considered for additional discount on the one already given to you. You can also make your departure and arrival dates very flexible for non-emergency flights to see if there is some form of discount on the price of your air ticket. The flexibility option is good for air travel periods of low activity.

Drawbacks of airline consolidators are manageable. First, airline consolidators don’t sell their cheap air tickets to all destinations especially to low traffic destinations because they do not make quick turnovers on such routes. With this, passengers have to explore other means of getting deals for their cheap air tickets.

Second, for passengers looking to get packages which include hotels and other forms of accommodation or information about their destinations, airline consolidators do not provide this type of service. Therefore passengers are expected to do their research for where to get accommodation and arrange one before reservation and departure.

For airline consolidators, making profits by selling cheap air tickets directly to customers is not as encouraging as selling them in large quantities to travel agents. This is because of advertising costs incurred in trying to reach out to customers. The margin profit they are supposed to make on each air ticket gets swallowed by these publicity costs.

Airline consolidators only take advantage of the wide reach the internet provides to serve as a seemingly cost-benefit option to advertise since the world meets online. Only then can discounts be made by airline consolidators and payment made for cheap airfares by eager passengers.