In addition to finding a good online air fare ticket consolidator, it is possible to get a cheaper airfare by taking into consideration the yield management system that is used to calculate your airfare. While, it is near impossible to work out the system that each airline works on, it is of interest to have a broader understanding of the pricing structure used to determine your flight ticket price as this is a base upon which your consolidator will take its own commission.

A yield management system is designed to calculate the optimum selling price of an airfare based upon a range of variable factors which will influence the popularity of any given flight route at any time in the year, thus influencing factors include the time of the flight, season, local events at the point of departure and arrival and the pricing patterns of competing airlines.

The demand for any particular flight is based upon such factors which are then applied to a base flight rate, thus certain flights may cost 120% the base rate, whereas other may cost 50% of the base rate depending the time of year etc.
Utilising figures from similar flights, airlines are then able to predict the demand for a particular flight which will determine the rate at which they expect to sell tickets for the flight. If tickets are selling slowly, then they may modify the prices to realign there selling expectations for the flight as it nears the date of departure. Naturally all these metrics are perpetually changing, so calculating the optimum time to buy a ticket is notoriously difficult.

Nevertheless, while it is potentially possible to get great deals at the very last minute, the safest option is to buy your ticket as early as possible. One thing that is for certain is that you are unlikely to have paid the same price for your ticket as the person sitting next to you.