I am searching for airline tickets- what are the best sites to check out?

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shanti0608 said:

When it comes to searching for ticket prices, I usually use Orbitz. However, I almost always find that it's cheapest to purchase the ticket directly from the airline's website. Because airlines no longer pay commissions to travel agents, third-party sellers charge a fee for issuing airline tickets.

Some things worth noting:

1) A few airlines don't sell tickets through Orbitz -- Southwest and JetBlue come to mind. If you're interested in either airline, you'll need to go to its website. (Personally, I refuse to fly Southwest.)

2) If you're a student, teacher, or under 26, you may be able to get unpublished fares through STA Travel.

3) There's always the option of using an "opaque" travel site like Priceline and Hotwire -- they also have access to unpublished fares.

Also, try http://www.kayak.com along with matt's suggestions.

Many of you guys really helped me last time when I travelled a week ago.


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[Edited 5/13/06 15:41pm]

Mara said:

I love kayak! They're the best for comparing prices.

Thanks everyone!!

Travelzoo.com!!!! Bought 2 tickets to Los angeles for july for only 318 total in july!!!

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I might use this for Prince in Vegas.

Anybody know the cheapest way to get to Vegas and back from Detroit next weekend? I'm having a hard time.

I like Orbitz, but their cheapest flights are at very wierd hours of the night.

GangstaFam said:

http://www.southwest.com/

GangstaFam said:

As a general matter, flying from Detroit is likely to be expensive because DTW is dominated by Northwest Airlines, which has a hub there. Very often, it's cheaper to make a connection at a hub and continue on to another city than it is simply to fly to the hub city itself.

(Side note: The new terminal at DTW is beautiful. It's probably my favorite airport for making connections.)

The other problem is that the cheapest fares tend to require an advance purchase... often 21 days before the flight.

Would it be possible to fly out of another airport... say, Grand Rapids (GRR)? If you're just going to catch the Saturday night show, you could fly out of GRR on Friday at 9 p.m., arrive in Las Vegas (LAS) at 10:01 p.m. the same night (remember, the clock goes back as you fly west), leave LAS at 10:50 p.m. on Sunday, and return to GRR at 5:27 a.m. on Monday. Northwest Airlines is offering a promo fare of $320.21 through their website. That's a pretty good deal, considering that it's almost a "last minute" purchase and both flights are nonstop.

Mara said:

It seems as if Southwest would cost at least $500... maybe even $600+ if he's attending both shows. However, a lower fare might be available if the travel dates are flexible... all other things being equal, it's usually cheapest to fly in the middle of the week.

Imago said:

Airfares are -- not surprisingly -- ultimately a matter of supply and demand. Dates/times when people don't want to fly (e.g., the red-eyes you mentioned) or when fewer people tend to fly (e.g., Wednesday) are often the way to get the lowest fares, due to the lower demand for these flights.

BTW, in my experience, Orbitz prices seem to be the same as those available from the airlines' own websites, plus a $5 service fee. That isn't surprising, since Orbitz was originally a joint venture among five of the "Big Six" airlines. While I find Orbitz useful for comparison-shopping, I've never actually bought a ticket through them.