How can I find cheap airfare?

This next post is travel-related, yet not so Austral-specific.  Yet maybe you guys will read it and then get the urge to come and visit me!
I quite often get the following question: How can I find cheap airfare?
I hear the answer that question so much, that I've decided to post the answer.  Spread the love around a little bit, if you will.

1.  Start looking at least five months in advance, if possible.  Paying attention to the fares will give you an idea of what an average price should be.  I cannot stress this strategy enough.  I would honestly look at least three times everyday.  It might seem tedious, but I assure you it pays off in the end.

2.  Choose a travel search website that will give you flexible dates to search.  My personal favorite is www.orbitz.com, with www.kayak.com coming in second place.  However, they are not all that different.  My favorite British site is www.ebookers.co.uk.  When I am in Europe and I'm looking for fares to visit different places on the continent I like ebookers.  Sometimes, ebookers can find fares on carriers such as British Airways and Air France for the same price as low-cost, no frills airlines, such as Easy Jet and Ryan Air.  Another great place to look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_low-cost_airlines.  Note:  If you'll be paying for a flight in currency other than your own, notify your bank ahead of time so that the charge will go through.

3.  Check point-to-point fares, versus the intended round-trip.  I'll give you a couple examples from my own experience.
Example 1: Minneapolis to Windhoek-
When I was looking for round-trip flights from MSP (Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport) to Windhoek (Namibia), I noticed that a) it would be hard to make this journey under $2500 USD and b) pretty much every single flight either had a layover in London or Frankfurt (Germany).  I remembered that I maybe had enough frequent flier miles for London.  I had 35,000, but most flights to Europe from Minneapolis were 45,000 miles and up.  I must have pleased St. Christopher, because after a week of watching, I nabbed a round-trip ticket to London for 30,000 miles.  I immediately booked it, as I knew that mileage-redemption would probably not get much lower (and they never did.)  So, I had my round-trip flight to London.  After a couple of weeks of watching London to Windhoek fares, I noticed that the average roundtrip price was $1600 USD.  I still didn't want to pay that, and I still had a couple months before my departure.  One night, I looked and noticed that the price went down to $800 USD.  The price had been cut in half!  I called my bank and explained that there would be a transaction in British pounds to ebookers, got the green light, then bought those cheap tickets!  Amazing how my airfare "started" at $2500 USD and I only paid $800 USD for the exact/near exact flights.
Example 2: Minneapolis to Delhi
On a travel site, I found the price from MSP to Delhi to be $1800 USD.  Again, I didn't want to pay that and risk losing my thrifty backpacker street cred.  I noticed the stopover in Chicago.  Exactly a minute later, I checked the fares from Chicago to Delhi and the price was $1200 USD.  That's a difference of $600 USD, and I knew that there was no way that a round-trip ticket from MSP to CHI cost $600, as I've typically never paid more than $125 for this journey.  I booked the CHI to Delhi flights for $1200 USD and then bought a MSP to CHI roundtrip flights for $100, separately.  Yes, you will need to re-check-in and all that, but to me, that's worth saving $500 USD.

4. Find out where the major airlines are based (United: Chicago, Delta: Atlanta, etc.) and check international fares from those domestic cities.  Use a cheap carrier like Frontier or Sun Country to get to these destinations.  It also can't hurt to look into flying into international major cities and then taking regional carriers.  For example, when I went to Vietnam, I noticed that tickets from the U.S. to Hanoi or Saigon were still too expensive.  Instead, I booked a roundtrip flight to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) then booked my flight into Vietnam through Air Asia (cheap carrier for the Oceania region.)  Plus, I got to spend a day in KL, which is actually a pretty cool city.  I probably wouldn't have ever made it over there without this itinerary.  I'm hoping to go back eventually!

5.  If possible, try to have some space in your journey if your airline overbooks.  As you may have noticed in an earlier post, I received an airline voucher for $1000 USD to spend an extra night in London.  Now, this might not help for your initial journey, but it's a good feeling to have that voucher tucked away for next time.

6.  From my own experience, the cheapest days to purchase airfares are on Tuesday or Wednesday.  Pay attention to the individual airlines too.  Sometimes, airlines will compete with each other to have a lower price.  Often, they seem to go back and forth, several times a day over a course of several days.  As I've said in the beginning of this post, paying attention to prices will serve you well in the end.

Happy hunting, kids!