He told me that he had to buy a full fare seat for his cello when they flew on commercial airlines.
Usually, there is limited demand for those high-fare seats.
Still, there are ways to save, according to experts: book early (airlines release lower-fare seats about 90 days out for domestic flights, and five months out for international); be flexible (the earliest flights, and late-night flights tend to be least expensive); and finally, "be persistent and keep on looking," Mr. Hobica said.
C1 Cheap Fares, Seat Optional Airlines are becoming increasingly creative as they try to squeeze more passengers into economy class.
The categories, which users can rate on a scale of 1 to 5, include baggage handling, the check-in experience, in-flight amenities, in-flight service, punctuality, reasonableness of fares, seat comfort and general value.
Some carriers now offer free upgrades at the time of ticketing to customers who buy certain full-fare coach seats.
Depending on the season, individual one-way fares for seats are $58 to $90, at 1.17 euros to the dollar.
But when JetBlue arrived on the scene in February 2000, word of mouth spread quickly about its cheap fares, leather seats and live satellite television.
Under Free Flight, the same kinds of advanced computers that already let airlines list 30 different fares for seats on the same plane or let a pilot fly thousands of miles with a few keystrokes are coming to the air traffic control business.
There was a 28.4% increase in revenue from long haul passengers' fares, with the average fare per seat up 7.2%.
