Comments on: 5 Little-Known Websites That Will Save You Time and Money When Booking Airfare Online

By: Kyle Lester

Kyle Lester — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:31:06 +0000

Another tip I would give is to try to find travel agencies who focus or fly solely to the country you are looking for. For example, I’ve been to Japan 6 times in the last 2 years, and I wouldn’t use anyone besides iace-usa.com. They focus only on flights USAJapan, and they absolutely have the cheapest rates I have ever found.

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By: Manfred Georg

Manfred Georg — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:55:59 +0000

Thank you for posting this. I just saved more than $100 on a flight, and got to go on the days I wanted to the airport I wanted by finding a flight through tripeedo.com (it found one on airtran). Thank you for posting this.

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By: Mary

Mary — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:25:24 +0000

Thanks! I bookmarked this post for use in January when I’ll be planning a trip from Panama to Missouri. Only one stumbling block for me: you didn’t mention exactly how to use Tripeedo, and it took a little looking around on their site for it to become clear just how easy it is – once you know how! If you decide to update this post sometime in the feature, a simple example for using tripeedo would really help.

Thanks again. It’s definitely a useful post.

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By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:19:46 +0000

You should try farecompare.com
They get their pricing information directly from the source and will show sales before the other site do.

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By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:05:22 +0000

ITA Planner (http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/) can replace most of the websites you’ve mentioned. Book loose or strict itineraries, book connecting flights at different airports in the same town if it’s cheaper, review a graphic view of your itinerary.
I bought round trip tickets from IAH to Buenos Aires a few months ago for $243/ea (oh! and the price it shows you includes taxes and fees – a book and board price) using ITA Planner. I used to do the “lookup flights on a dozen different websites always getting different rates” dance, but now ITA planner does everything for the cheapest rate possible.

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By: Kristen

Kristen — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:41:05 +0000

Thanks for this. I’ve always just used kayak.com. I’ll be giving these sites a whirl this holiday season.

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By: Jamie

Jamie — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:59:42 +0000

I use TripIt when I fly to keep my flight info straight. Once you’ve bought your tickets, you basically just forward the receipt to the service and it automatically creates a simple, easy-to-read itinerary for your whole flight. I love it. http://www.tripit.com/

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By: Martino

Martino — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:19:18 +0000

Hi Baker,

Martino from WhichBudget here. I am the Founder & CEO of http://www.whichbudget.com

Thank you for mentioning us in your review. We are really proud of the work we do and your recognition is a wonderful encouragement.

As you said, some larger aggregators focus too much on price and hence are unable to include some smaller, lesser known airlines. We are community run (no, no shareholders to satisfy, just our visitors), so can concentrate on listing as many budget airlines worldwide as possible and welcome all feedback and offer of involvement from travelers worldwide.

Stay in touch.

Regards,
Martino Matijevic
martino whichbudget [dot] com
Twitter: @WhichBudget
Facebook: facebook.com/whichbudget

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By: Eric @ thriftyvillage

Eric @ thriftyvillage — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:49:45 +0000

Another site that I find extremely valuable for getting a complete overview of who flies between a certain city pair at any given time is Passrider.com. It has a tool that allows you to search schedules and it will show every single carrier flying the given route during your search period. It’s useful for finding the flight option that works best for you, or picking a few options and then going right to the carrier’s website to book the fare which is often the cheapest way to do it.

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By: Scot

Scot — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:04:23 +0000

Hi Baker,

I wanted to drop you a line and thank you for the mention in your blog today! My name is Scot, and I manage ‘www.skyscanner.com’, our US and Canadian site.

As we are getting ready for our ‘big debut’ in North America, I welcome any feedback that anyone may have with regard to what we do well–or could do better.
(@Kate: Kate, I am happy to hear your feedback. We have just launched our geo-specific sites, so if there are any currency-issues, I would like to know about them: scotc@skyscanner [dot] com)

Thanks again for the mention…enjoy the site!

Scot Carlson
Coutnry Manager, US and Canada
Skyscanner.com

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By: Evan

Evan — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:29:14 +0000

Matt,

You have to remember to clear your cookies each time you use these sites. They are notorious for knowing when you are searching and bumping up the price 5 to 10% leaving you to think it is because time (day or two) has passed when in actuality its the cookies!

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By: Stuart

Stuart — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:17:27 +0000

There’s some great sites here. It takes so much time to shop airfares online. Glad there are some easier ways here. I always just used expedia, but will try some of these out in the future.

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By: David/Yourfinances101

David/Yourfinances101 — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:10:05 +0000

I had always thought that the “bigdog” airfare sites out there were all virtually the same–this post confirms it. This post is now on my faves list and I will definitely use it to book airfare!

Thx

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By: Casey

Casey — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:02:11 +0000

Geez Baker. I wish I knew about these awhile ago, haha. I have never heard of any of these. Nice to be able to compare prices to Kayak.

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By: John DeFlumeri Jr

John DeFlumeri Jr — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:34:31 +0000

Yes, we need to break the habit of using the same airline without shopping around. Thanks for your reminder and the help you provided.

John DeFlumeri Jr

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By: Bradley

Bradley — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:30:35 +0000

great post. the only one i had heard of before was seat guru. i have been searching for a site that would include the budget carriers in the search. especially since i am always on a super tight budget!

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By: Jeff Pecor

Jeff Pecor — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:00:31 +0000

There’s another site that travelers can use to capture low holiday fares: Yapta.com. Yapta (short for Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant) enables travelers to find their ideal flights, track airfare prices and be alerted via email when the fare on a particular flight drops or falls within a desired spending limit. But here’s what’s really unique: The site can track the price of your flight even AFTER you’ve purchased your ticket and it will alert you when you’re eligible for a travel credit from your airline. (Most U.S. airlines have “guaranteed airfare” policies that enable you to claim a travel credit if the price of your flight becomes available for less. Not many people know that the policy even exists – nor do they bother to check the price of their ticket after purchasing it.) To date Yapta has alerted over 750,000 travelers to more than $250 million in savings.

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By: David Turnbull

David Turnbull — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:52:21 +0000

@Bon – I’d never actually tried wego.com and it seems better than a lot of other flight search engines, although I still prefer Skyscanner’s interface. Thanks for sharing though, I’ll definitely consult the site before purchasing any tickets.

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By: Ana

Ana — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:38:21 +0000

I love SeatGuru. I get claustrophobic if I don’t have an aisle seat and it’s really helpful to be able to check out the layout of the plane first because while seat lettering is generally consistent airline to airline, I’ve seen variations. I also prefer to be in the middle of the plane (the pointy end is way out of my price range and you feel the turbulence more at the back) so when I call the airline to ask for my aisle seat, I’ll know how far back the row they are offering is located.

This might sound a little obsessive but most of my flights are longhaul (Australia-US or Australia-Europe) and it’s the little things like this that make the difference.

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By: corey

corey — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:36:14 +0000

Thanks for the great tips. I always suspected there was a lot being over-looked or not included in the bigger-name sites orbitz .

OK…a little off topic, but Shatner is not “washed-up”! If you haven’t listened to his “Has Been” CD he did with Ben Folds a few years ago (+Aimee Mann and Joe Jackson and Henry Rollins), you are missing out.

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By: bethh

bethh — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:47:13 +0000

hmm.. I’ll need to do some more playing with those when I have some real travel needs. I used whichbudget when I was planning my trip to the UK last spring – it was SO helpful, since I had absolutely no idea about airlines.

Word of caution – once you identify a budget airline of interest, it may behoove you to look around online to see what other travelers think of the airlines. When I was planning my trip I found that EasyJet, RyanAir, and Aer Lingus would all work for me, but after reading reviews I opted not to use one of them (I’m being vague because I don’t remember which was the “bad” one, not because I’m being discreet).

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By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:08:59 +0000

Thanks for this- it’s very timely!

I tried Sky Scanner out this morning but found it frustrating as it doesn’t specify which currency it’s being priced out in.

If I clicked around, a little bubble would come up saying “XYZ is likely to price in USD” but a) that came up even when XYZ was a Canadian airline, and b) doesn’t ACTUALLY say what currency it’s in.

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By: Jean

Jean — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:49:05 +0000

This was a timely post. I have a friend who needs to make flight arrangements for next week for a funeral. Even though I work for an airline, I checked these sites out. She can get a secured seat for less than $30 more than she would pay flying stand-by on my buddy pass. And even though I can fly for free (stand-by), I may check this out when looking for flights to Germany next summer. Thanks!

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By: Dutchguy

Dutchguy — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:37:36 +0000

Try Momondo.com and Mobissimo.com as well. Especially the latter one has given me numerous good deals to Europe!

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By: Cali

Cali — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:28:20 +0000

I love skyscanner.net and used it extensively when traveling throughout Europe for five months.

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By: Colin Wright

Colin Wright — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:56:01 +0000

Love it! I’ve been using Kayak.com, but after just a cursory glance these sites seem to offer quite a bit more than the big K.

Great post, Baker, and thanks J.D. for hosting it!

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By: Alan Cordle

Alan Cordle — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:48:57 +0000

Thanks JD! All but one was new to me.

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By: Craig

Craig — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:02:05 +0000

Good resources, I have only used Orbitz and Kayak but could use some more. Planning a trip to Miami in Feb and would like a cheaper flight.

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By: David F

David F — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:28:39 +0000

Thanks for tip on SeatGuru! I wish I had access to something like that years ago when I was traveling all over the country. I learned through trial and error where not to sit (front seats behind bulkhead) and the pros and cons of different aircraft and airlines but didn’t keep good notes. As a result I spent many uncomfortable hours in the air. I would highly recommend this site to anyone who flies.

- David F
david@mbabriefs.com

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By: Nicole

Nicole — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:15:57 +0000

Wow. This is incredibly useful. Thank you so much. Since graduating college I’ve become incredibly behind in the latest technology. I will definitely bookmark this post.

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