Wholesale airfare is a term that you've probably heard or seen when looking for cheap airfare on the Internet. Wholesale airfare is airfare purchased in bulk at a discounted rate. However, to get wholesale airfare deals you need to purchase more than just 4 tickets. Travel consolidators and online travel services purchase airfare in bulk from the airlines in order to receive a significant discount. The exact number of tickets a travel consolidator needs to purchase to receive a wholesale airfare discount varies and often depends on the terms negotiated in the contract between the two parties. But regardless of how many tickets need to be purchase for a travel company to get a wholesale airfare discount, they end up getting tickets at a much lower rate than purchasing a single ticket directly from the airline, giving travelers a solution to flying for less.

Wholesale Airfare and You - How You Get the Deals

When a travel company/website purchases airfare in bulk, they pass the savings on to you, the traveler. It's just not possible for a single traveler to purchase enough airline tickets to receive the wholesale airfare deals and discount flights travel consolidators and companies get. You'd have to practically purchase half of the seats in the entire plane to receive the discounts travel companies get. Travel consolidators and online travel sites can leverage their business to get the best discounts and deals on airfare and turn around and offer them directly to you. Without wholesale airfare discounts, everyone, including travel consolidators and companies, would end up paying much for more airfare.

What to Look Out for with Wholesale Airfare

Before you search the web for wholesale travel deals, you need to be aware that not all travel websites are the same. Some have you bid on fares while others don't provide you with all details about the flight (i.e. airline, flight times, seat location, etc) prior to purchasing (like Priceline). Some can't even offer an online, real-time option to finding ticket availability. Rather, they end up manually searching for available airfare and calling you multiple times just to situate a flight that fits your itinerary. So before you hit the web in search of cheap airfare, remember that not all travel sites are set up the same. Be sure to read the details involved in purchasing tickets. You'll find that sometimes getting discounted airfare from certain travel sites is more difficult than others.

For more travel information and savings, visit http://www.cfares.com.