Learning the intricacies of airfares

[hope54 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close hope54]

I would like to learn how to find and compare flights and prices to destinations. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Hope

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

I Use www.Kayak.com or www.travelzoo.com to check air fares. There are also some other travel agency's that are listed in our Links Directory. You can see a few more by clicking Here.

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

Another Air Travel Site

There is the folks at MIT

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/

ITA Software has created the world's first modern system for airfare pricing, airfare shopping and seat availability management in over 30 years.

This technology is being licensed to:
Airlines
Web sites
Travel agencies
Computer Reservation Systems

Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, ITA Software was founded in 1996 by computer scientists from the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

[hope54 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close hope54]

[QUOTE=Hostelling;75681]There is the folks at MIT

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/

Thank-you for this website.

Is there anyone who uses "Flyer Talk"? Is that easy to learn?

Hope

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

[QUOTE=hope54;75765]

Is there anyone who uses "Flyer Talk"? Is that easy to learn?

Hope

There are a few posters here that post on Flyertalk. You can get a lot of info there. But sometimes I have found some of there posters get a bit nasty if you do not know what your talking about.

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

I frequently read www.flyertalk.com , an excellent site with a lot of useful info.

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

Also, check the airlines website -- sometimes they ARE cheaper.

At any rate, you get a feel for what the fare is and you have a point of comparison.

I also use www.sidestep.com (along with a couple others mentioned here)

I have found there is NO one site that constantly gives the best fares.

Because we go to the Caribbean every year, I usually purchase one ticket, and use ff miles for the other. That is one way to save on the price of airfare.

I also use "faretrackers" on several sites -- when a fare falls below/near what I am willing to pay, I am notified. (example: I post a fare of $400, when the fare meets/goes below that I receive an email)

[hope54 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close hope54]

Thanks all for the responses. It has been helpful.

Hope

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

I finally decided to sign up for ff miles at one of our larger local carriers. I may or may not fly enuf to ever get anything out of them, but, I will certainly never get anything if I don't start getting my miles tracked.

It was definitely cheaper buying from them directly, altho I do get emails from orbitz and sidestep so I can see the sales from other carriers also.

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

Some Airlines Not In The Search Engines

Dont Forget some of the airlines are not to be found in the standard search engines. Such is the case with South West Air

http://www.southwest.com/


Daniel

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

If you are going to Europe, they have a much more significant LCC sector in the airline industry than we do. I have tried to post many of the links to European LCC's on the TS4MS link page.