How to find cheap flight tickets?

i've only ever used expedia and priceline... but i rarely fly. i was satisfied with both services. i think i remember hearing that dealing directly with southwest or jet blue (if they're available for your flight) can actually be less expensive than most online services... but i could totally be remembering this incorrectly (hell, i may even have just made the whole thing up entirely... it's been a long day and my brain's squishy).
 
EJFan said:
i've only ever used expedia and priceline... but i rarely fly. i was satisfied with both services. i think i remember hearing that dealing directly with southwest or jet blue (if they're available for your flight) can actually be less expensive than most online services... but i could totally be remembering this incorrectly (hell, i may even have just made the whole thing up entirely... it's been a long day and my brain's squishy).
SWA and JetBlue aren't on any of the services that I know of. You might also try Orbitz..there are others but I don't know what they are.
 
PowerLifter it would help if you told us where you're flying. It's different in US, Canada, Europe, etc.
 
I have used price line in the US. The only draw back is if your trip gets delayed or you need to change you are screwed. If you live in the US Southwest is cheap.

Some times you can look in your local paper for people selling you tickets using their frequent flyer miles.

Boris
 
Thanks for the input.

I always fly in the U.S. but maybe in the next few years, I'll venture out of the country and see what it's like in other areas.
 
PowerLifter84 said:
Thanks for the input.

I always fly in the U.S. but maybe in the next few years, I'll venture out of the country and see what it's like in other areas.
it's a lot like here but you see it from the other side of the road.
 
PowerLifter84 said:
Thanks for the input.

I always fly in the U.S. but maybe in the next few years, I'll venture out of the country and see what it's like in other areas.


NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You don't want to leave the country!!!!!!!!!

I left the country a couple times and I kept running into foreigners!!!!!!!

:nana: :nana: :nana: :nana:
 
Bobmi357 said:
I left the country a couple times and I kept running into foreigners!!!!!!!

I liked that so much, I moved out completely!

Seriously, another good site to try is www.kayak.com. Kind of like Sidestep in that it searches a bunch of other sites for you at once, but I've found their fares to be a little lower.
 
I use Kayak and the other services to find flights, then book through the airline's site directly.

With the fees priceline, expedia, and most others add to the price, in addition to usually having more restrictions regarding changes and refunds, I've never found them to be less expensive than going through the airline's site (they often charge extra to call).

The same goes for hotels - most have a lowest price guarantee when you go through their sites, special internet rates, or are at least cheaper without the added third-party fees.
 
I use FareCompare.com, specifically their Gateway Maps and Alerts features, to look at the best fares to multiple destinations simultaneously. If I see a fare I like, I have an additional tool I use to see if I get get something even cheaper (which I'm happy to share here; it's not quick and dirty but appeals to someone like me who has reason to build itineraries that the airlines won't tell you about).

The First Alerts feature is even better than the old Travelocity FareAlert since you can specify any number of city pairs to be informed about.
 
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