When I want to fly somewhere and don't know who flys there, I go to Orbitz or similar, see who flying where I want to go, then go that airlines website to book tix. I usually fly American or Delta, and they seem to match the Orbitz et. al. fares. Thinking about going to the LSU/Auburn game in Cals bye weekend, and if there's a Saints game, stay over in NOLA for that. I have hotels res's, rental car res, and checked Orbitz today for flight info. They had US Air nonstop for $350, from LAX to Nola. Went to US Air and it was $556 with a stop both ways. Can I trust Orbitz. Is there a catch somewhere.
Thanks

piemelon;842080839 said:

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When I want to fly somewhere and don't know who flys there, I go to Orbitz or similar, see who flying where I want to go, then go that airlines website to book tix. I usually fly American or Delta, and they seem to match the Orbitz et. al. fares. Thinking about going to the LSU/Auburn game in Cals bye weekend, and if there's a Saints game, stay over in NOLA for that. I have hotels res's, rental car res, and checked Orbitz today for flight info. They had US Air nonstop for $350, from LAX to Nola. Went to US Air and it was $556 with a stop both ways. Can I trust Orbitz. Is there a catch somewhere.
Thanks

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Haven't booked with flights Orbitz specifically, but I often book with Travelocity and it works well. Never had a problem. I think I've gotten hotels with Orbitz - again, never a problem.

I've used Orbitz, cheaptickets.com, and Travelocity (I think they are all owned by the same company), never had a problem. Actually the problem I've had is checking ticket prices one day, going back the next day and finding them higher. I have used different computers at different locations so this is not an IP sniffing, just a royal let down.

I also use Bing for travel searches as they have price predictor that lets you know if their algorithm thinks the price will go down or up.

Orbitz is a legit and reputable company, I trust them. I would also make sure their prices includes taxes and fees, which usually amounts to a large sum of money.

Just booked a trip to Hawaii on Orbitz. Got airfare, car, hotel and the rates seemed to be very good and really enjoyed trip. Used them also a couple of years ago to Hawaii and ended up hating our hotel. We switched hotels on our own and they gave me back the full amount for the hotel. Good experience.

Anytime I've booked flights, I've always checked Orbitz, Travelocity, and all the others and always, bar none, ended up booking directly with the airlines. I've never seen a better deal from those sites.

A couple years back, my wife was flying from here (Sacramento) to Ithica, NY, driving to Hartford, and then Hartford to home. USAir is the only major airline that flies into Ithica. All of the websites required a bunch of stops to Ithica and not just changing planes, but changing airlines. When I went to the USAir website directly, I was able to book her to Ithica with only two layovers and all of it on USAir. The total cost was only $10 more... totally worth it.

There's an advice column in the Sunday paper where travelers write in for help when they they get cancelled and can't get a refund, flights change with no notice, hotels don't have their reservations, etc. and he takes care of it. I would say that over half of the problems are with the online travel agencies. I don't remember ever seeing a problem when someone booked directly with the airline. That's not saying it doesn't happen, but probably much less frequently.

The other thing you have to remember is that Southwest Airlines does not book through Orbitz or any of those; so you need to check their flights on the Southwest website.

Having said that, the only exception is if you want a GREAT deal on a Las Vegas hotel, go to tripres.com. You'll get incredible deals. When we went to the Las Vegas Bowl against BYU, we stayed at the Palace Station for $28/night including taxes. They have strip hotels and downtown hotels, too. But if you see a good deal, grab it because it may be gone the next time you log on. On the other hand it may be back a couple days later at an even better rate.

The best way to find cheap airfare is through Airfarewatchdog.com. All they do is list airfares so you will not be able to book through this site. You will have to use Orbitz. On AFWD you can search from a city or to a city. Both functions work really well. All prices displayed include all taxes and fees, i.e. out the door.

You can also sign up for their RSS feed and customize what you are going to see. They also have a twitter feed you can follow. Some of the flights are only there for literally just hours. I live in Salt Lake City and I booked a flight to Lima, Peru (hello Machu Picchu) for $248 r/t. When I checked a couple of hours later, they were gone. There was also one to Cancun for $198 for Christmas travel. My wife was in the mountains for a couple of days and out of cell coverage. I knew she was leery about Mexico so I didn't book without speaking to her. The next day, they were gone. So sometimes you have to move fast.

Its really great in that you can travel to a lot of places that perhaps you wouldn't normally think of going-a little off the beaten path. Some sample fares that I have seen from SLC

$432 to Dublin
$500 to Istanbul
$550 to Moscow
$650 to Johannesburg

If you don't see a city, AWD does not consider it a deal and won't post it. The top 50 fares are what they consider to be their best deals on that day.

Do not fly Spirit Air. I cannot recommend them at all. Do some research online and you will see why.

Another way to search is through Hotwire and their flexible date search.

http://www.hotwire.com/air/flex/index.jsp?

You can search any 30 day window here. Again, all flights displayed are with taxes and fees. If you are leery about booking with Hotwire (I am not) usually you can book these flights directly with the airline. This matrix is a great way to find the best prices.

Probably more thn you wanted to know, but you can find some amazing deals. We flew from SLC to Hawaii last December and spent Xmas in Hawaii. Christmas morning was spent on the beach-my kids loved it! Our tickets were about 330 a person in the highest of high times to one of the most desired destinations in America.

Good luck and happy searching.

Edit: Thanks to BearyWhite for noticing my original Orbitz link was not working. Orbitz has slowly been removing this feature from their website. It used to be right on the main search page for airfares. They then buried it on their site making it hard to find. It looks like they removed the link completely on 02.12.13. I have replaced the old Orbitz link with Hotwire. Both serve the same function.

Valleyblue;842080902 said:

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Having said that, the only exception is if you want a GREAT deal on a Las Vegas hotel, go to tripres.com. You'll get incredible deals. When we went to the Las Vegas Bowl against BYU, we stayed at the Palace Station for $28/night including taxes. They have strip hotels and downtown hotels, too. But if you see a good deal, grab it because it may be gone the next time you log on. On the other hand it may be back a couple days later at an even better rate.

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Before you do that, read this [and other articles]:

http://lasvegasbadger.blogspot.com/2012/11/if-you-had-travel-plans-to-vegas-using.html

It looks like they have filed bankruptcy and some folks have been left out in the cold by this company.

Valleyblue;842080902 said:

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Anytime I've booked flights, I've always checked Orbitz, Travelocity, and all the others and always, bar none, ended up booking directly with the airlines. I've never seen a better deal from those sites.

The other thing you have to remember is that Southwest Airlines does not book through Orbitz or any of those; so you need to check their flights on the Southwest website.

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I have not had the same experience almost ever. Usually, the prices are very close, and Travelocity always shows the price WITH all taxes/fees. The airlines generally don't tell you until you are closer to payment (this may have changed recently. I remember something about the airlines being required to list fares on first glance with taxes/fees included).

Agree about Southwest, though. I always check them, too.

grandmastapoop;842081162 said:

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I have not had the same experience almost ever. Usually, the prices are very close, and Travelocity always shows the price WITH all taxes/fees. The airlines generally don't tell you until you are closer to payment (this may have changed recently. I remember something about the airlines being required to list fares on first glance with taxes/fees included).

Agree about Southwest, though. I always check them, too.

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You are correct- it has changed now. All airlines quote prices that include all taxes/fees in the quote.

piemelon;842080839 said:

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They had US Air nonstop for $350, from LAX to Nola. Went to US Air and it was $556 with a stop both ways. Can I trust Orbitz. Is there a catch somewhere.
Thanks

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With orbitz, you should check to make sure the entire trip was actually on US Airways. I'm almost positive they don't fly direct from LAX to NOLA. United or AA might have a non stop, but not US Airways.

Orbitz or travelocity or expedia are fine and trustworthy, but where they really excel is making trips across multiple airlines in combinations you can't get with any one. If you are booking on just one airline, it's better to go to their own website as it takes out a middleman and can make changing flights easier too.

A quick search on orbitz shows that the US Airways flight from LAX to MSY is actually on United, but US Air offers it as a codeshare. I have no idea why orbitz can offer that fare but USairways.com cannot. So this is a good time to use orbitz versus the actual airline sites.

piemelon;842080839 said:

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When I want to fly somewhere and don't know who flys there, I go to Orbitz or similar, see who flying where I want to go, then go that airlines website to book tix. I usually fly American or Delta, and they seem to match the Orbitz et. al. fares. Thinking about going to the LSU/Auburn game in Cals bye weekend, and if there's a Saints game, stay over in NOLA for that. I have hotels res's, rental car res, and checked Orbitz today for flight info. They had US Air nonstop for $350, from LAX to Nola. Went to US Air and it was $556 with a stop both ways. Can I trust Orbitz. Is there a catch somewhere.
Thanks

---

I'm pretty sure that all the big travel sites -- orbitz, travelocity, expedia, kayak, etc -- use the same SABRE system that travel agents use to compare flight data. some have extra features (kayak lets you compare data from additional sites) but essentially you're getting the same deal from all of them, and they're all equally reputable. you can get better deals from the sites that are more restrictive, like Hotwire (where you pay in advance for car rentals in exchange for significantly better prices) or Priceline (where you 'name your price' and pay before finding the final details of your flight; only good if you have a pretty flexible schedule and favor cost over flying time).

remember that there are a few airlines which don't participate in these sites, including Southwest, JetBlue and Virgin. I recently got Southwest tickets on one-day notice that were half the price that any SABRE airline was offering.

Mr. Triangle;842080905 said:

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Another way to search is through Orbitz and their flexible date search. They have hidden it on their website and can be very difficult to find but here is the link

http://www.orbitz.com/App/ViewRoundTripSearch?searchMethod=fareCalendarSearch&z=3800&r=i



Put in the cities you are going to and from at the top, then scroll down and click "option 3". Put in how many nights you want to go for, and then any 30 day window (I put in the first of the month and the 30th) and hit search. You will see a fantastic matrix of all the prices for each day you are interested in going. It really is amazing. Again, everything you see will be with taxes and fees included.

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Is this an old link? I tried filling everything out and submitting, it just sent me back to the homepage.

CalBear68;842080978 said:

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Before you do that, read this [and other articles]:

http://lasvegasbadger.blogspot.com/2012/11/if-you-had-travel-plans-to-vegas-using.html

It looks like they have filed bankruptcy and some folks have been left out in the cold by this company.

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Well, that sucks! It figures that once I truly find a good deal, it goes away.

I have used Orbitz, and its fine. I like Kayak better for understanding the flight landscape, then I book at the airline web site (mostly US Air anyway) especially once I have some status (so you get better seats). Also not part of Orbitz (I don't think) is Spirit, and I had some real success flying them.
I have booked through Hotels.com a lot. I like the site, and the rewards program means I don't have to worry about a specific hotel chain.

BearyWhite;842081205 said:

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Is this an old link? I tried filling everything out and submitting, it just sent me back to the homepage.

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Thanks Beary. I have edited my original post. See above.

Hotwire is great for booking hotel rooms. As most people know, you cannot see the name of the hotel until you book the room. This is how you can know the name [U]before[/U] you book the room. For best results, open three windows.

Window 1. Go to Hotwire and put in the location and dates you want to stay. Rates change often so whatever I type in here is current as of 02.15.13. In this example I am going to San Francisco for one night on 02.18 and checking out 02.19. I see a 4.5* hotel for $119 at Union Square West-Nob Hill.

Window 2. Go to http://www.betterbidding.com/ Scroll down to California, click on "Priceline/Hotwire hotel lists and tips for California." Click on the pinned list on the top "Hotwire hotel lists-California." Scroll down to San Francisco and make sure you find "San Francisco-Union Square West" as that is the hotel I was looking at on Hotwire. With Hotwire, there are many areas they service- Fisherman's Wharf, Financial District, Union Square East, Embarcadero, Marina District, etc. Always make sure you have the correct area in any given city.

Now, match up the amenities shown on Hotwire to the amenities shown on Betterbidding. Hotwire shows 8 amenities-Restaurant, pool, fitness, smoke free, hi-speed internet, business center, spa, room accessible. Match these amenites up with the 4.5* Union Square West hotel and you will find it is the Huntington and Nob Hill Spa.

Window 3. Go to the Huntington Hotel website and search how much their rooms will be on the dates you wish to travel. On the Huntington website, on the dates I put in on Hotwire, the rooms are 349/night.

Hotwire is 119, the actual hotel website is 349. You just saved 230 a night.

but I was told about a month ago that you need to clear cookies before doing a search of these websites. They have changed tactics and will raise prices after you've done a search for a destination and you look again later.

Mr. Triangle;842081331 said:

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Hotwire is great for booking hotel rooms. As most people know, you cannot see the name of the hotel until you book the room. This is how you can know the name [U]before[/U] you book the room. For best results, open three windows....
Hotwire is 119, the actual hotel website is 349. You just saved 230 a night.

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awesome info, thanks!

For hotels:

I always liked priceline's name your own bid. Sure you have to do some research before hand, but you are visiting the city anyway and would likely do the same research (as far as where everything is located and where you want to be and what everything costs). I've done priceline 6 or 7 times and half the time I am okay with the results and the other half of the time I'm elated by the results. This means I've never had a bad experience booking hotels via priceline. Seriously, the rooms are typically 30 - 40% cheaper depending on how persistent and time I put in.

If I'm looking for just an airline ticket, I prefer to book directly through the airline after doing research on Kayak or travel.bing.com. Just remember to check the Southwest web site separately since their fares don't appear in any of these travel site's search results.

Nowadays, the travel sites will have the same exact fare as the airline. I just prefer to deal directly with the airline if I have to make unexpected changes to my travel plans. You may have to do changes through Priceline or Orbitz if you book through them, which can be a hassle, especially with international travel. I also had a bad experience dealing with Travelocity directly 12 years ago and ever since I have preferred to deal with the airline directly whenever possible.

Speaking of international travel, I really like vayama.com for international airfares. If you're 100% set on your travel dates, I highly recommend them for good prices and also the ability to start your itinerary from smaller airports (eg flying to Middle East or Africa out of San Jose instead of SFO) I've used them once or twice. Another good site for international airfares is cheapoair.com. I've purchased business class fares through them.

One thing I do like Orbitz and Priceline for is the bundled stuff. You can get some pretty good deals on air+hotel+car or air+hotel. I also use Priceline's "name your own price" for hotels and cars (but not for air). I always check what bids were successful first by going to biddingfortravel.com

One more thing that Priceline and Orbitz are good for is that they sometimes find cheap itineraries on multiple airlines (eg fly out on United, return on American) ... Not great if you're trying to collect airline miles.

If you use orbitz, use promo code prez15 for 15% off. Expires today.

Booked an international flight through them - order went through fine, but there was no confirmation email. Logged in again repeatedly over the next week and the reservation didn't appear. Called them, gave my name, my email address, etc., etc., they couldn't find any record of it.

I ended up rebooking the flight through them. Two days before my flight, I get a call from the airline asking if I'd intentionally double booked. I told them to cancel the other reservation. And sure enough, the credit card was charged twice. Emails to Orbitz were ignored. I finally got somebody on the phone and they insisted that it wasn't their issue, it was the airline's issue. The airline said it wasn't their issue it was Orbitz' issue.

Eventually, I had to weave my way through the airline, relying on people who knew people who knew people who could get things done and I was able to get the second fare refunded except for the cancellation fee which was an Orbitz issue not their issue.

This was pre-Yelp, I'm not surrounded with lawyer friends, and after several months of trying to iron this out, I just chalked this up as a lesson learned and vowed to never use them again.

Travelocity and Hotwire are great though.

piemelon;842080839 said:

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When I want to fly somewhere and don't know who flys there, I go to Orbitz or similar, see who flying where I want to go, then go that airlines website to book tix. I usually fly American or Delta, and they seem to match the Orbitz et. al. fares. Thinking about going to the LSU/Auburn game in Cals bye weekend, and if there's a Saints game, stay over in NOLA for that. I have hotels res's, rental car res, and checked Orbitz today for flight info. They had US Air nonstop for $350, from LAX to Nola. Went to US Air and it was $556 with a stop both ways. Can I trust Orbitz. Is there a catch somewhere.
Thanks

---

The catch is that they only give you prices of participating airlines... it is down to just a few now.

That said, check out googles system. It is a simple interface that pulls data from the same api as the other sites, but no filters (yet)


Also, if you get a good deal that a hotel or airline wont show, call and offer to book with them if they will go lower. They get all the money instead of paying the website a cut and when you check in they know you booked through them so you may get treated better... this has consistently saved me 5%+ over the discount sites when booking.

Phantomfan;842081919 said:

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The catch is that they only give you prices of participating airlines... it is down to just a few now.

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that's because airlines are down to just a few now..

BearyWhite;842081952 said:

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that's because airlines are down to just a few now..

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Is there an echo in here?


But seriously, domestic you get about 3 with the discount sites now (after the merger). They miss virgin, southwest, and any other newer airline that might exist. Internationally is slightly better, but still misses some pretty significant foreign and smaller domestic carriers. To me it is basically reducing a check of 30 airlines to 20-25 websites.

That's why I recommend Airfarewatchdog. They keep track of all the low fares-not just the participating ones on Orbitz and other similar sites. They track Southwest, Jet Blue, Allegiant, and even Spirit.

They will have links on the site that will take you to the different booking sites or even the airlines own site as you cannot book through AFWD.

For domestic travel, the best search engine is Bing. Its the one thing Bing is good at.

As someone pointed out, the flight I was looking at was "operated" by United, not US Air. When I went to the United website, their fare was only slightly higher than Travelocity.

hanky1;842082132 said:

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For domestic travel, the best search engine is Bing. Its the one thing Bing is good at.

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Ummm...

Reddit says porn.

Reddit says do a side by side bing and google search for "amateur"

Reddit...hahaha

richmondisnotghetto;842081765 said:

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If you use orbitz, use promo code prez15 for 15% off. Expires today.

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phew, that was just for hotels.. was worried I'd missed a great flight deal