Look around.  That is how you find the best deals on airfare.  There are several places to check, including travel agents, travel websites, and even an airline office.  Of course, you will find the most information on the web.

Through the Internet you will discover airlines you have never heard of as well as all the major airline fares.   It is the simplest way for the airlines to display their best deals and also to get more customers.  The special deals are posted when the flight is announced or at the end when the flight is still practically empty.

Another way to take advantage of online airfare retailers is by purchasing from travel sites that buy tickets in large quantities.  When this is the case, they want to get rid of all the tickets as soon as possible.  Therefore, they will be willing to lose a bit of profit to dump all the tickets before they become obsolete.  Also, a lot of this is based on chance.  The chance involves the date and time, since there is no regular schedule.  So, if you do not find cheap airfares within a couple weeks check back again and you may notice the prices have been reduced dramatically due to the scheduling.

The most important action for these websites is to sell as many tickets as they can so they make more profits.  With the online competition these days you will see lots of advertisements for several different online retailers.  It certainly does not hurt you to check more than one retailer.  Because of this, you are sure to see cheaper tickets and varied pricing depending on the dates you choose. 

One more tip to offer is trying to find connecting flights.  These usually end up being much cheaper than direct flights.  This allows the websites to use the cheapest airline throughout each step of the trip, instead of using the cheapest airline at only one airport.  This is nice especially if you are taking an extended flight as you will want to take a break anyway!