alternative to Kayak for searching flights?

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

I am trying to look for one way and/or multi city flights from US to Europe, Kayak is showing a lot of other reseller fares through companies I'm not sure I trust, like JustFly, whose fares are 30% of the direct fares to the airlines. Maybe mileage resellers, but does anyone have a good alternate site to Kayak that searches all the airlines and presents various (real) options?

Thanks!

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/flights

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/flights

Thanks,Frank.

That is also showing JustFly with a far lower price than from the airline itself - I am a little hesitant to book through JustFly. But this is a good site to have, thanks.

[StressCadet Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close StressCadet]

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onlin...stfly-com.html

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onlin...stfly-com.html

Thanks, I had seen some of that but not the whole thread. The fares I'm looking at are shockingly lower than other sources including the airlines themselves, which gave me pause. If it sounds too good to be true....

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

I'm not familiar with JustFly but in years past I used to buy tickets from these consolidators.
I imagine they may still exist. They were always half of what the airlines would charge for the same seats.

They would pre-buy seats and sell them thru the back door, so to speak.
They wouldn't accept credit cards at the time, only cash and checks.

They were pretty popular here in Miami with South American and European flights.
I bought a ticket to Brazil for 1/2 what I could find from the Airlines at the time.

TWA used to have a consolidator that would sell super cheap tickets too.
It was a standing joke with my friends that wherever we were going was via St Louis, MO.
Of course nobody was complaining while we sipped margaritas in the airport while we saved money with our 5 hour layovers.

The consolidators are akin to II or RCI.
Marriott and the other big names won't advertise those super low rates that we get buying from the exchange clubs because it devalues
their product in the open market, but they have no problem working thru the back door with curtains drawn from Google's eyes.
An empty airline seat is like an empty timeshare room. They'd rather get something for it than nothing.

[itchyfeet Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close itchyfeet]

I always use www.fly.com

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

I always use www.fly.com

Thanks - that also seems to track other sites like CheapoAir (which comes up best for my flights at the moment), but it's a very user friendly interface!

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

I always use www.fly.com

Thanks - that also seems to track other sites like CheapoAir (which comes up best for my flights at the moment), but it's a very user friendly interface!

Can you set up email searches where they send you an email avery day with what you are looking for?
I am looking around and do not see it.
That is a feature I like about Kayak

[CarolF Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CarolF]

Matrix - ITA Software http://matrix.itasoftware.com/#searc...=LAXCDG-CDGLAX

Beginner’s Guide on How To Use Matrix by ITA Software
http://www.theflightdeal.com/2013/02...-ita-software/

[akparsa Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close akparsa]

Google Flights has replaced Matrix - ITA software as my favorite. I'm not sure what the backstory is, but Matrix has become painfully slow and almost unusable. GF has a ton of flexibility like Matrix but is far easier to use.

Neat trick: Put in your departure city and dates. Leave destination blank. You'll get a map of rates to all cities for those dates.

Glitter, you can save flight searches and get notifications. I haven't done it so I can't vouch for its ease or reliability, but I know it exists.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

Google Flights has replaced Matrix - ITA software as my favorite. I'm not sure what the backstory is, but Matrix has become painfully slow and almost unusable. GF has a ton of flexibility like Matrix but is far easier to use.

Neat trick: Put in your departure city and dates. Leave destination blank. You'll get a map of rates to all cities for those dates.

Glitter, you can save flight searches and get notifications. I haven't done it so I can't vouch for its ease or reliability, but I know it exists.

Thanks!

Well as it turns out, in this case the good old fashioned phone-direct-to-airline worked better than anything online. AerLingus was able to give me the multi-city itinerary I wanted for DS, at about $400 less than I was seeing online today. And I was able to tweak the flights better than the way the consolidators have it posted. I did have to call twice as the first agent wasn't as adept (or customer service oriented, perhaps) than the second - sort of like our timeshare exchange companies, no? Oh, and he also gets a free checked bag up to 50lbs on all legs - Norwegian wanted $60 a bag per.

The only reason I even had to call is because the Aer Lingus website doesn't allow for multi city the way I wanted to book it. Yay, old-school.

I would have signed up for notifications, but all indicators showed the flights likely to go up rather than down (Europe in prime summer), and they even went up yesterday before my eyes.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Aer Lingus is actually a very nice airline to fly…I know he will enjoy his trip.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

Aer Lingus is actually a very nice airline to fly…I know he will enjoy his trip.

So glad to hear, double yay! I really wanted him to be able to spend some time in Dublin, and there was a no-cost stop there on the way home from Barcelona to New York. I didn't expect them to have the best option from NYC to Rome, but they did!

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

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