If you've been shopping for cheap flights online, you have encountered hundreds if not thousands of sites selling airfares. These sites are made of Mega Online agencies, Airlines, Online Airfares Specialists, Traditional Brick and Mortar (B&M) Travel agencies. Not only does this present a huge pool of resource to wad through it is compounded by the fact that there are international versions of each of these sources to find cheap international flights.

What is the best way to find a cheap international flight? First it is helpful to understand how the market for international fares works. Official "published" international airfares are largely governed by IATA (www.iata.org), a body of all major international air carriers belong to. IATA regulations forbid the direct discounting of tickets directly to passengers. IATA prices are set at high levels and results in all airlines selling at this exact same high price for international flights.

IATA prices are the most common and readily available airfare prices to all online and B&M Travel Agencies. This is the reason why you sometimes see many online travel agencies that have not only the same price for an airline, but also different airlines all having the same price for the selected flight itinerary.

If every company has the same price for flights because of IATA, how do I find a cheap international flight? International airlines have a way to get around the IATA rule against discounting airfares. IATA allows its members to offer companies known as Consolidators, airfares at a significant discount and then it looks the other way when the resellers pass some of the savings on to passengers. By selling excess capacity at reduced prices to consolidators, an airline can sell tickets that otherwise might not be sold. Consolidators then resell these tickets to some online and B&M Travel Agencies. This results in savings that can be passed on to you for cheap international flights.

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