Backpackers are the typical kind of travelers who are always on the hunt of economical/ cheap/ budget airfare. I remember looking at the movie "TITANIC", in this movie Leonardo DiCaprio wins ticket to board Titanic in a gamble. It is very difficult but not impossible to bag a discounted cheap flight ticket. It is only a strategy game. If you play the game with a strategy, you may rarely loose and often win. The rule to this strategy game are as follows-- 1.First and foremost it is always a good idea to book your tickets in advance at least 21 days in advance. Airlines generally give out cheap tickets if you book your ticket in advance.

2.Before you book your tickets you should always try searching for fares in different travel portals, you should at least search in 5 portals. Compare the prices of different carriers.

3.When you search for flights, try searching for smaller airports near you destinations. The less the demand for the flight, the cheaper they tend to be.

4. Be flexible about your travel dates, some times a day before or day after of your chosen date may be cheaper.

5.Mondays are the most preferred day of travel, try avoiding it, the lesser the demand the cheaper the fares are.

6.If you are a student, senior Citizen, a sports person or you fall under other special categories, ask the airline if they can provide special discounts for you.

7.No one wants to travel in the middle of the night and so there is less demand for flights at odd times. If you don't mind traveling at odd times, you may save a lot on flight tickets.

8.There is not much cost difference between Round trips and one way; so you may as well chose to book your round trip, and save on flight tickets.

9.When travelling inside US, try choosing nonstop flights, the more stops you will have the more tax you would be paying, so your ticket will get costlier. The case is just opposite if you are travelling abroad, two are three stop flights tend to be cheaper when travelling abroad.

10.If you are travelling abroad, try choosing national airlines of the destination country, there are generally less taxes involved on national airlines. However this may not be always true.

11.On international flights if you choose 1 or 2 stop flights and if the layover time is more than 4 hours the flight tickets tend to be cheaper.

I hope you have greatly benefited with above tips, and hope you have saved few hundred dollars.