Airline tickets boils right down to the whole argument I’ve been making about cheap travel; with some airlines you get a fair shake, they give you a straight answer to your price questions and you move on. There’s no mumbo jumbo and waving your stick through the air in some lame attempt at pulling a fast one over innocent eyes. But then, in a total turn of events, some air carriers will think that we’re all idiots and that no one stays informed and that we don’t mind being fleeced of not only our money but also our dignity and our last hope of salvation for the crumbling industry so many of us banked our hopes on.

Directly from the air carrier, airline tickets are either make or break. That is, to say, no one really is sure what the truth is. If you go to John Q. Public air carrier and they say they’re running a limited time special on “Cheap international airline tickets (select flights only)” you can be pretty sure that plane is going down. There are really no other explanations for air carriers to offer boffo discounts if it’s not in their past history to do so.

Cheap airline tickets are de rigueur with some carriers and those carriers deserve special attention. I have no reason to believe that this recent rise in discount carriers is anything but the next wave of airplanes that are able to transport people from A to B without too great a risk that you’ll be blown off course by a strong wind. Though I was on a little 80 seater the other day that got tossed around on landing at LaGuardia and I felt like Val Kilmer in Top Gun when he turned in his wings. I got off that plane and all I could think was “I lost the edge!”

Airline tickets can be gotten online pretty cheap if you’re looking in the right spot. All those same lame rules of engagement apply to buying your tixx online. If you’re historically a late bloomer when you travel you could have to pay the piper. Late travelers are frowned upon by most online retailers and they’ll try to stick it to you unless you give them a minimum three weeks or so of warning.

Buying cheap airline tickets can be part of the problem. If you’re not careful you could end up on the short end of the stick so just be vigilant and remember that you’re the consumer, you have the right and the responsibility if at any time where you feel like you’re being taken advantage of, to just walk away.