Fare Game: How to Fly for Free

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Learn how to fly for free using these helpful travel tips.

Discover how to fly for free using this traveler’s tried and true tips.

Fare Game: How to Fly for Free

It was Friday night, six days before Christmas, when my wife and I suddenly realized we could leave Oregon for the midwest four days sooner than we had planned if we could get our flight reservations changed. We called the airline. The only opening they had between then and Christmas was Saturday morning at eight. We started packing.

After a restful three hours of sleep we headed for the bus depot to catch the 4:30 a.m. service from Eugene to Portland. The bus was late and we reached downtown Portland an hour behind schedule with only thirty minutes to catch our plane. We grabbed a cab, arrived at the airport five minutes before takeoff . . . and ran right into another delay because of a mix-up with our reservations! We got that squared away and dashed down the corridor to our gate. The last few passengers were being checked in. We had made it.

We handed the agent our tickets . . . and he told us there was no more room on the plane! Of all the . . . “But”, he went on, “you will receive confirmed reservations on the next scheduled flight plus a pair of free meals while you are waiting plus a FULL REFUND of your fares to Kansas City.” Now you’re talking. We got paid over one hundred and fifty dollars for waiting six hours in the Portland airport . . . and that’s how we stumbled onto one of the little-known facts of traveling. It is possible to fly across the country free. How? I’ll get to that — but first I have to explain a little about airline reservations and how they work.

  • Published on Mar 1, 1971
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