If you are planning a trip to Las Vegas, your trip will not be complete without a tour through the Grand Canyon. If you don't have time on this trip to get down into the canyon and explore on foot, you will appreciate the ability to take a tour from an airplane. It's true that bus tours are less expensive, but flying is the way to go, especially if you take advantage of one of the airplane deals you can find online.

Grand Canyon airplane tours take off 365 days a year (including all major holidays) from Las Vegas airfields and Grand Canyon National Airport, near tiny Tusayan, Arizona. The Las Vegas flights allow you to visit the South and West Rims, but you can only visit the South Rim if you depart from the Grand Canyon National Airport.

There are a couple benefits to booking a flight in the morning: smoother air for more comfortable flying, and better visibility. If you enjoy flying during sunset, you will enjoy the flight back to Las Vegas which always happens around sunset. The left side of the airplane will always offer the most spectacular views, so you should book your seats for that side.

You will have the choice of finding Grand Canyon airplane deals for landing tours or aerial tours. The flight from Las Vegas to the West Rim will only take 20 minutes, while the direct flight from Vegas to the South Rim will require a little over twice as long (about 45 minutes). You'll be in the air up to 45 minutes on a South Rim aerial tour, but I always suggest choosing a landing tour. The landing tour takes longer because you can get out of the airplane for white water rafting in the Colorado River, a walk across the Skywalk, and an exciting landing at the floor of the canyon.

Your plane window will give you a view of well over a hundred miles of the canyon, but a bus window limits your view to about thirty miles. You might think these are tiny private planes, but they're actually standard commercial jets that are fully certified for safety by the FAA (the Federal Aviation Administration).

The largest planes will accommodate about seventeen adults. They've been customized for sightseeing and their generously sized, climate-controlled cabins offer plenty of legroom, comfortable seating and windows large enough to provide unobstructed views of the landscapes passing below. As you go through the tour, you will hear details regarding the history of the canyons through headsets.

You will always get the best Grand Canyon airplane deals if you shop online. The best deals can give you as much as a 35% discount. Checking in for your flight is a lot easier, too, because you'll be able to print out the confirmation letter you receive by email. If you like to keep information on your phone, you could text yourself your confirmation number rather than printing out the email confirmation.

An airplane tour is the best way to see the splendor of Grand Canyon National Park. It will cost more than a bus tour, but you'll be able to find Grand Canyon airplane discounts online and reduce the price. In less than an hour, you will see more from a plane than you could see in hours from a bus. Besides saving money, you will make sure that you get seats on the flight you want when you book online.