cheap tickets

[dmax]

What are the best web sites to find the cheapest plane tickets?
What about hotels?
Are there better sites to go to for flights and different ones to go to for hotels? I usually use expedia, but I figure somebody on here knows where the better ones are.

[Sly]

priceline.com, cheaptickets.com, obitz.com, travelocity.com try them all and compare. All have flights and hotels

Just try to book atleast 3 weeks in advance.

[Cookerhiker]

I've used all the ones Sly mentioned but about a year ago, I discovered Kayak.com which I think is the best because it searches all the aforementioned sites plus the airlines' sites incredibly fast and gives you a comparison. In short, it does in 30 seconds what you could do in about half an hour if you went to all those sites yourself.

Others include hotwire.com and hotels.com. And recently, I discovered http://hotel-guides.us/ and was able to find deals not available on the others.

Several travel sites charge booking fees but you can to to them to find the cheapest air flight or hotel, then go to the airline or hotel site and often find the same rate or less where you can book without the fee.

[FFTorched]

I second Kayak.com, but I've never used the site yet. If I take my trip to Prague I will most likely use Kayak.com.

[Fiddleback]

priceline.com, cheaptickets.com, obitz.com, travelocity.com try them all and compare. All have flights and hotels

Just try to book atleast 3 weeks in advance.

In the recent past, three weeks did seem to be the cutoff for discounts. Who knows what's going on this summer..? One thing you have to be concerned with is changing/cancelled schedules as the airlines are cutting back on flights and capacity this summer.

FYI, the book-in-advance discounts are usually found on the individual airline's web site too...I try both the airlines' and the travel web sites. When there's not a big difference I prefer to deal with the airline directly. Ditto auto rental.

FB

[Blissful]

I like this site from ITA software for airline prices, esp if you aren't picky about layovers, switching planes, etc. Click on searching airfares.

[modiyooch]

kayak.com

not only does it show the cheapest, but it has several filters as well such as takeoff times, # of stops, certain airlines, length of layover. I notice it has a hotel tab, but I have never used it.

also, check out jet blue airlines and airtran airlines. They only fly into certain airports such as Boston and Baltimore. I prefer to fly to Manchester, NH; but for the price, it was alot cheaper to fly to Boston.

Beware: ticket prices have doubled. That's why I am currently homebound. I have to combine my hiking trips.

[Moon Monster]

I'm another kayak.com fan.

Also, farecompare.com is a nice site for research on how to time your purchase to possibly save for your given set of departure and arrival cities. It searches the airlines' FAA filings and tracks historical data. Of course, historical data may be worth less in these times of fuel price volatility.

[A-Train]

Another vote for Kayak. I found $350 to Costa Rica here (roundtrip, non-stop, Saturdays, Delta).

[Alligator]

I like this site from ITA software for airline prices, esp if you aren't picky about layovers, switching planes, etc. Click on searching airfares.

I've used this one for a couple of years myself and found it very helpful.

I will also try out that kayak.com in the future.

[Fiddleback]

This isn't a big thing...now. Let's hope it doesn't catch on...

"Airline Plans To Cancel All Flights Booked Through 3rd Party Websites"
(QUOTE)...And people wonder why airlines have so much trouble staying in business? We were already confused enough by American Airlines' desire not to be listed on the sites where people search for airfare, and easyJet's plan to sue the sites that send it customers, but Irish-based airline Ryanair is taking this all to a new level. Beyond just being upset about those 3rd party sites (i.e., sites that send it business!), it's planning to cancel the flights for everyone who booked through one of those services ENDQUOTE (more follows)
http://techdirt.com/articles/20080808/1057031933.shtml

FB

[fiddlehead]

I've found that bestfares.com is a good one.
for hotels, I'd check Lonely Planet.

[Bob S]

I never understood the idea of price shopping for plane tickets, people have been doing this for so many years that the aircraft industry has to market this way now to survive and also this leads to corners being cut in areas where you should not do so. Planes not maintained properly can kill you. It’s not like a flat tire on a car; you don’t just pull over and change it.


Jets are big very expensive to make.

Burn a large amount of fuel.

Have a lot of parts that have to work right every time or it crashes and lots of people die.

And you have to constantly work on it, check for problems, change parts that are wearing out.

Airline companies have to pay for space at every airport they use.

Pilots make $70.000 a year.



All these things cost and make owning and flying jets expensive, and people seem bent on not paying much to fly, it’s a recipe for disaster.


Customer want to fly from Detroit to Florida for $99.00, (pick whatever your favorite route is) common sense tells me something is going to have to be cut out of the equations to keep jets in the air. Inspection and repairs are going to be one area that gets the axe because they are not seen by customers. Parts are going to be run a little longer, tires that need to be changed every 3 landings are going to be pushed to 5 landings. Things like this work, till is doesn’t and a failure is catastrophic.


At some point it’s going to have an undesired effect (people are going to die)

20-20 just did a show on runway incursions as they called it. Basically what they said in the show is that there are 2 ½ near misses on runways in the USA every day. (One plane pulling onto a runway while another was coming in for a landing at 185 MPH.) this is going on every day, 365 days a year, that scary!!!



I would consider driving instead of looking for a low cost plane ride. It’s like a balloon, you can keep blowing it up, but you know at some point it’s going to burst.




My guess at some point there is going to be a plane crash that will focus on how poorly the airline industry is maintaining its planes & jets and there will be a big push to nationalize the airline industry to protect us.

[Frosty]

Read the entire Ryan Air aritcle before getting upset.

Ryan Air has the lowest fares of any airline, so low that even teh cheap websites sell tickets for less than they are on Ryan Air.

Hard to blame a company who keeps prices as low as possible for not wanting websites to make more than they do per ticket. I don't agree with the way they are doing this, but it sounds like there has been a war on for a while, as Ryanair states they will refund the websites and let them sort out the refunds in order to create ill-will and chaos for the websites.

Admittedly Ryanair is unique, but in this case the price gougers are the discount websites, not the airline.

[rafe]

I've dealt with cheaptickets.com for a few years now, generally no problems. However, as of this week I've discovered one serious downside: you really can't change anything in the itinerary once you've booked it. cheaptickets.com will refer you to the airline in question. In my case it was AA, and their charge for changing the return date exceeded the original round-trip fare. Ridiculous. I returned the rental car (from Hertz) a week early, and expect to get no refund.

[rafe]

My guess at some point there is going to be a plane crash that will focus on how poorly the airline industry is maintaining its planes & jets and there will be a big push to nationalize the airline industry to protect us.

So are you saying that the "free market" is not enough to guarantee airline safety?

You make some interesting points. Certainly the airline industry is being squeezed hard right now -- but frankly, I've never quite understood their business model. At the moment, you get free non-alcoholic beverages -- but no meals or snacks -- on a cross-country flight (coach class) on American Airlines. On my return flight from SFO yesterday, on USAir, they were charging $2 for sodas and bottled water (and no meal or snacks at all.) The "Sky Chef" industry must be dead or dying.

USAir is charging $15 for the first piece of checked luggage, and $100 for the second. Folks are trying to get around this by carrying large or multiple carry-on items, which creates further havoc. Economy-class flying was never much fun, but it seems to be getting worse.

[max patch]

I use the Travelocity service where they email you every time one of the cities you've listed with them lowers the price $25. I also book thru them even tho I could save $5 a ticket (their service charge) by going directly to the airlines because its the right thing to do.

[PJ 2005]

Another kayaker reporting...

[Bob S]

I’m saying that at some point there is going to be a final straw of accidents and people will run (demand) that the government take control and fix it rather then expect the industry to do it. The free market at that point will not be any more. One would think that there is an opportunity at this point for the emergence of an airline that goes above and beyond all others in not only maintenance, but also customer service. And be forward in advertising these facts. And charge more. Yea it cost more, but it’s safer. But it seems people are not really interested in safety as much as they are a low price. I was simply pointing out how I don’t understand this thinking?


Every safety rule or law is written in blood, the airline industry is no different. I’m a big believer in free enterprise, but I also think there should be safety standards as at times companies or in this case (I think?) the whole industry is willing to forgo safety issues.

As far as the airline industry becoming nationalized in the USA, I see it happening at some point for 1 of 2 reasons. The industry can’t make it and will fold, or an accident will push us into it because of public demand for it.


I don’t think it will make it better or give us better service. Other then the post office, what has the government ran that gives its customers better service? Nothing!



I don’t look forward to more of the nanny-state where the government takes care of all our needs.

[rafe]

I don’t think it will make it better or give us better service. Other then the post office, what has the government ran that gives its customers better service? Nothing!

That's not correct, by a long shot*. That's been the conservative mantra for the last thirty or forty years, but think about it: do you really want government officials who constantly preach that the government is "the enemy?" It's actually in their interest for government policy (at least social policy) to fail -- so they have zero interest in making it work, and plenty of interest in having it fail. That wasn't always the case.

(*Here's a PDF about the relative costs of public vs. private health care that refutes your claim.)

As to the airlines -- I think you make a case for strong regulation, if not nationalization. Nationalization, in the USA, is not going to happen.