More people than ever are choosing to make their travel plans through online travel agencies. For many of them, it seems a fairly easy, straightforward way to make their arrangements. Just enter the desired travel dates, and the computer system will almost instantly produce a selection of UK flights to choose from. All that is needed on your end is to select the option that suits you best, enter your credit card, and your ticket arrives via email a few hours later. Before you press the 'confirm' button, though, there are a few things that you may want to think about now, in order to avoid surprises later.

One experience that keeps cropping up is the one in which you book your flight, only to discover that the friend or business associate who is traveling with you got a much better deal on their ticket. How can that be? You are sitting right beside one another! Well, airline ticket fares are a somewhat complicated matter, but there are generally some very good reasons why two people traveling together end up paying different fares.

The most common reason for someone paying a higher, or lower, fare for the seat next to yours is the type of ticket that they are holding. Tickets can be non-refundable, partly refundable, or fully refundable. Some tickets permit changes for free, while others demand high penalties. Some types don't permit any changes at all; if you don't use them, you lose them. It largely depends how flexible the ticket is. A fairly safe rule of thumb is that the more you pay for the ticket, the more flexibility it probably has. Of course, in the airline industry nothing is quite as simple as it sounds, and you can expect numerous exceptions to the rule.

Two other things can affect the overall cost of airplane tickets. A very important factor is the airline itself. The fares offered by most major airlines can be substantially higher than those offered by discount carriers. The reason for this is that the larger airlines, often called 'legacy airlines', have a much higher overhead than do discount carriers. This is reflected in higher ticket costs. The lower prices that are offered by discount carriers don't necessarily mean lower quality, though. Some of them offer service as good, or better, than their larger competitors do.

The other major factor that affects what the traveler will eventually pay for the ticket is whether it was purchased directly from the airline, or through a travel agency. In one of the stranger aspects of airline ticket sales, some airlines will offer special contracted fares to travel agencies that they often do not make available to travelers booking directly with them. These types of lower priced fares are usually only offered to agencies and flight wholesalers with a proven track record for generating high volumes of business for the airline.

When searching for the best deal on an airline ticket, there are a few steps that you should go through. The first is to determine what sort of ticket best suits your travel needs. In order to do that, you will need to ask yourself if you anticipate making changes to the ticket, or even canceling it. If that is a possibility, then you should consider a ticket with fewer restrictions. Many online travel agencies have an option where you can select the type of fare that you are looking for. Because there are so many different types of fares available, always check the fare rules before confirming your ticket. There is usually an option that will enable you to do so. If there is not, or if the rules are too confusing, call the agency on its help-line.

The second step that you should be following is to plan at least a few weeks in advance, whenever possible. The best fares often require an advance purchase of two or more weeks. The final step in ensuring that you are not paying more than you should be, is to compare prices. Just remember that seat availability changes frequently, so if you do find a really great deal, but are not yet ready to purchase it, try to put it on hold. If you don't, it may no longer be available when you decide to book it later on. You should also respect any ticketing deadlines that you are given. If you allow it to pass, you can lose both the fare and the seat.

Of course, the actual factors involved in determining the price of airline tickets are probably not all that interesting to the casual traveler. What really counts is how they can get UK flights to suit their needs, at the best possible fare. By following just a few simple steps, they should be able to do that.