Cheap Flights to Las Vegas

Among those arriving to town by plane, who wouldn't like to save a little on his/her Las Vegas airfare, and feed the savings to the slot machines? But grabbing some cheap Las Vegas flights and keeping those slots happy does require some planning ahead.

The U.S. airline industry invented some clever rules designed to take the most money from people who are willing to pay it, and less money from those who would otherwise not fly. These rules are mostly designed to identify business travelers who use corporate money to fly. Business travel requires a lot of last minute flying, and business travelers usually like to go back home for the weekend. Therefore, if you buy a ticket at the last minute or a ticket for a round trip that doesn't include a Saturday night stay, you could be paying the big bucks, sometimes over a $1000 more.

The high fee is called full fare, and you'll be paying it if you violate these rules, or if you want a fully refundable ticket.

For maximum flexibility in finding cheap flights to Las Vegas be sure to do the following:

• Buy the ticket at least three weeks in advance. Three weeks is a long enough time for prices not to start creeping up due to proximity to the departure date. If you don't have three weeks of time, don't panic. You might still find reasonable Las Vegas airfare up to about one week in advance.
• This is usually not a problem for vacation travelers, so be sure your trip spans a weekend, and specifically a Saturday night stay.

If you have much flexibility in your travel schedule, you can also look for deals valid for only specific dates. Sometimes airlines have last minute deals, as they are scrambling to fill seats during low volume travel times. In this case, last minute plans can work in your favor, but you'll need to be lucky and find a deal at the right time.

The travel site Orbitz has a feature, accessible though the deal tab, that lets you search for just special deal flights. Another site with good search facilities for cheap flights to Las Vegas is Priceline.

If you're willing to sacrifice some convenience in favor of finding even better Las Vegas flight deals, you might consider using Priceline's name you own price service. This service lets you name the price you want to pay for your flight, and then attempts to find airlines willing to carry you for that amount. The downside of using this service is that you don't know what time and which airline you'll fly, and you are obligated to pay for the flight if Priceline find one for you. Priceline lets you choose the maximum number of stops you're willing to have on your trip. Choosing a larger number of stops does increase the chance of having your Las Vegas airfare bid accepted. But, you must be careful with the stops, as you have no control over where they may take you. For example, if you're flying from New York City, you may end up flying way out of the way to Miami, Florida, first, and then connecting to Las Vegas.

If a little inconvenience does not deter you from finding super cheap flights to Las Vegas, Priceline's name your own price service may be for you. Before using this service always see what a plain ticket costs, and then bid low. If your offer is not accepted you can always try again.