March 6, 2005
Advice shopping for flights online
L.A. Johnson of the Post Gazette has some detailed advice about shooping for airline tickets online.
The idea is to start with big sites like Orbitz and Travelocity. Then check the web site of the airline with the cheapest price. Of course there are more sites to check including some of the searches like Mobissimo that check out a bunch of toher sites and the sites of low-cost carriers that don't get listed in the third party web sites.
There's also some advice about bidding on Priceline and a warning about buying travel online in general:
Travelers booking trips online also should be aware of a practise called fare jumping, when a particular quoted fare suddenly increases mid-booking, McGee warns.Posted by James Trotta at March 6, 2005 4:40 PM
As a matter of practice, most of these bigger sites don't include taxes and transfers in thier pricing either. Then you have a heck of a time finding a way to get in touch with them.....My suggestion is to book your trip on the phone with a Travel Firm or your local travel agency. At least you have a point of contact and you will always have someone to answer your questions. They also handle ALL the details so that your vacation is hassle free.
Posted by: Carolyn at March 9, 2005 6:53 AM