Where do you typically find lowest fares on line?

[reiselaender]

I've also availed from cheaptickets.com. nowadays, we really need to save up on everything. but that doesn't mean that we have to sacrifice recreational moments with our family, especially travelling. so, might as well just avail of some affordable packages and take advantage of promos.

[robb01]

i usually start with priceline/hotwire, but ive found a couple of good deals through lastminutetravel.com

[Alda]

Yeah !
Thanks for sharing the details , keep up posting the good work ...... : )

[Newdaawn]

I have suscribed to airfarewatchdog.com. This will give you - twice a week - all the best buys from the airport that you travel out of. As for hotels I have always found that calling the preferred hotel direct is the best buy. When you make your reservation direct you can cancel with no penalty - usually up to 4 pm on the day before. With most jobbers you have to pre-pay and I wonder about getting that money back if you have to cancel.

[krchapman]

Is there one place that you typically find lower fares?

Whatever you do don't go through cheap-trips.org. they are a complete rip off.

[Pogi]

I usually check several online travel agents (http://www.priceline.com, http://www.travelocity.com, http://www.orbitz.com, http://www.expedia.com/, and a few others). I find that priceline tends to have the best prices (but not always) which is why I check. I also use http://wisetravelsearch.com which makes searching multiple travel sites a lot easier... I used to get carpel tunnel syndrome from typing my search into each site I also like http://www.skyscanner.net for flights within Europe.

[TravelTalkAim]

I usually do most of my searches on Expedia or Orbitz, make note of the prices and then amazingly find the lowest fares directly on the airlines' site. Plus, I'm able to use airline credits and vouchers booking airfare directly with the airline. Using credits and vouchers has saved me a BUNDLE over the years and allowed me to travel more often than I would paying full price for fares.

[Wary Traveler]

In purchasing airfare, you really do need to check multiple sources including the consolidators and the airline websites. I also receive a newsletter delivered regularly from airfarewatchdog.com with airfares from my local airport. This gives me a general idea of what I might expect when I begin looking for specific dates or routes. If you have the luxury of time, it also pays to be persistent and check every day for a period of time before you make that final decision.

For hotels, it also pays to check several sources. Just this weekend, I found a new source which saved me approximately $250 for a 5-night stay in D. C. I had checked prices for the same hotel with the hotel itself as well as several on-line booking agencies. Their prices were all about the same so I was pleasantly surprised when I found the bargain rate. I am glad to share this new source: all-hotels.com. I had to pay for the hotel stay in advance but with this amount of savings, I didn't mind that.

How do you find consolidators. I have read that they are good for international travel, but I have not been very successful in finding them.

[Wary Traveler]

I use Cheap Flights Search Engine - http://www.cfares.com for finding the lowest airfares available online plus exclusive deals. They're a consolidator site too similar to Kayak but they're great for both domestic as well as international flights. You can use their free search or sign up as a member to get even further rebates.

I found several reviews that said this was not a reliable site. Have you dealt with them personally? Were the results satisfactory? Did you get your rebate?

[BustPricelinedotcom]

I like kayak, cheap tickets, orbitz and expedia. Just not the other one. You know what I am talking about.

[Jerzon]

Travelocity, Expedia or Kayak. If I'm not satisfied with the price then I tried travel forums and ask there.

[New York]

This might not be a "typical" site but you can find some interesting offers at www.jumpflight.com. It's a portal for second-hand flights, i.e. travellers post their own flight tickets there. If the fee for changing the name (the ticket has to be tranferable, by the way) is not too high, you might actually make a bargain. As someone already wrote, compairing is everything when looking for the lowest fares.

[SarahS]

How do you find consolidators. I have read that they are good for international travel, but I have not been very successful in finding them.

You may find this article helpful for finding consolidators: http://www.independenttraveler.com/r...D=5&category=1

[RichardNika]

I usually check the major search engines and also the airline websites. Sometimes you get lucky. I got a Miami-Buffalo roundtrip last year for $160, one way on Continental, the other way on Delta.

I've flown Spirit Airlines about 50 times in the last three years out of their Ft. Lauderdale (FLL) hub. The trick is to join their $9 club and then apply for their MasterCard. Then watch your e mails. Don't look for the word "Spirit" in the subject line. Look for the word "Promotion."

I've made numerous same-day (no expensive NYC hotel!) trips to NYC, usually for $38, sometimes a bit more. I have daughters in Atlanta and the L.A. area. ATL r/t has been running $53 lately. Same when I went to DC a few weeks ago. LAX is usually about $100-$110 r/t inckuding taxes and fees. You have to be flexible with your dates to do this. In '07 I flew a r/t to Guatemala for $2! Of course that wasn't including the $70+ tax/fees, but still.... Thanks to that MasterCard, I have enough mileage for 3 free trips. I'm saving the miles for when I need to travel on certain specific dates, which is when you always have to pay a lot more.

[Jerzon]

Usually I go straight with airline website and check if they have promo for the specific place or country. Usually early booking will get me up to 50 percent off.

[dkartuzinski]

I am so sad. No one is rooting for Expedia! I check all three - at the same time - Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz. Flying from Minnesota over the last two years has yielded the best and lowest fares from Expedia. If AA is flying, I book with them direct - and thank god their service has improved - I fly 32 times with them in 7 months and they were late boarding 23 times!

The advice to go direct to the hotels is usually the best. The big sites like Expedia charge 25 to 40 percent commission to hotels. This is why asking for a discount (as someone mentioned) works most of the time. Don't ask me how I know about the commission percentages, but I do! I know people, who know people...

Anyway, I had to chime in.

-DK

[RichardNika]

I got one terrific bargain on Expedia in the summer of 2003 - a room in a nice hotel in the center of Washington, DC. I was at a convention and was there for a week. I don't remember the name of the hotel or the price, but I do remember that it had the biggest swimming pool in the city - and DC summers being what they are, I took full advantage of it!

[daman37]

You can go to a million websites and look again and again. What you really have to do is know WHEN to book. All of the search engines for book travel are always updating information. When you know the trick to the proper time which is normally on Tuesdays around 6 when they're updating deals then you're in for a good ol time!!

[RichardNika]

You just have to keep looking and looking. You never know what might pop up. Travelocity is usually pretty good, but not SUper good. But when I had to go to Buffalo last June - on fixed dates - it got me a $160 r/t out of Miami, even though - oddly - it was Continental going up and Delta coming back

I used Priceline once but they're not great for air fares, plus you don't get your mileage. But for hotels - wow! I spent 4 nights in a $169 room in the Hilton in downtown Philadelphia last Feb. for $50 a night - with the city's biggest-ever blizzard thrown in! That heated indoor pool sure came in handy!