One way to use the Internet to check for prices is to go to the airline sites directly. All major airlines (and the
smaller ones too) have their own web presence where you can book flights. Many airlines have lower fares that you can only get when
you book online or when you buy an e-ticket (a paperless ticket). So don't overlook them when searching for fares. But let us warn
you that the best deals usually come from auction sites, or consolidators, or special deals. Going to the airline itself should be a last resort.
While the Internet travel sites are unbeatable resources that enable you to see the range of available prices, there is no one
site that can guarantee the lowest fare -- no matter what they advertise. A recent search for flights from Boston to Toronto,
Canada, on the above sites turned up "lowest fares" ranging from $222 to $500 at a variety of times and airlines. And we're sure
that if we surfed for a couple more hours, we could have found a lower rate. The moral of the story: the more time you spend
researching, the lower the rate you'll get.
A final drawback is the lack of precision in some of the searches. You may have specified you want to leave at 8 p.m. and the site
will show you flights leaving at 6 a.m. This is because the 6 a.m. flight is available. But for those who want to keep all of their
options open, it is a boon in the search for rock-bottom fares.
Trip planners
These sites have several services that slice and dice your flight inquiries in any number of ways. They can search one-way trips, round
trips, each leg of the trip, by price, by date, by time, and by multiple airports. They can do it all. They typically also offer services
to alert you to when low fares for desired routes become available or to examine baseline fares offered by airlines throughout the year.
Travelocity.com has airplane seat maps for 13 airlines, in case you want to choose your seat too. Many trip planning sites also have hotel
room finders and car rental options. Thetrip.com has a Fare Aware option that shows what other passengers paid for a certain trip at the same
time last year. For the top 1,000 routes in the United States, the service shows the average price, average number of passengers, what a
one-way trip costs, the airline that flies that route the most often, and the low-fare courier rate. While some sites do international
flights too, others such as Yahoo! only search within the Continental US, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
One other great thing about these Internet sites is that you can often find sweet deals at the last minute. If you want to fly on a
whim for the weekend, this is really the best route to go.
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