Where Is The Best Place To Compare Airline Prices?

[Madi100]

We want to take a trip in February for my birthday. We are pretty flexible right now on the dates. Is there a way to compare different airline prices and get the cheapest without going into each airline?

 

[pumpkinboy]

Personally, I like Orbitz.com (despite the insufferable pop-ups). You can search an entire month and get the best fares on the majors. Other folks like Expedia and Travelocity, but I prefer the Orbitz layout and flexibility (and I can get double Amex rewards points too). You can also select to search airports within 70 miles of each other, in case there is a better deal out of a nearby airport.

The great drawback of the major online travel sites is that they do not include such carriers as SouthWest and JetBlue, where better deals can often be had. I solve for that by opening two additional windows when searching with SWA and JB, plus Orbitz. However, I am pretty sure that JetBlue does not serve any airports near you in Iowa, and I'm not sure if SouthWest does, so maybe Orbitz will cover all of your options.

Good luck!

 

[NotUrsula]

I prefer itasoftware.com; you can fiddle the airports by proximity and date, and number of connections, etc. You can't book on this site; you just note the flight details and go directly to the airline to book the tickets.

Southwest's website lets you look for bargains by using date ranges.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Originally posted by NotUrsula
I prefer itasoftware.com; you can fiddle the airports by proximity and date, and number of connections, etc. You can't book on this site; you just note the flight details and go directly to the airline to book the tickets.

Southwest's website lets you look for bargains by using date ranges.

The ITA software system was developed by a group of computer scientists from the Artificial Intelligence Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is now licensed to a number of travel industry operations. Orbitz uses an enhanced version of the ITA software system, so the same search features are available, along with access to other travel planning features.

Ralph

 

[Madi100]

I tried the ITA website, and I couldn't get anything to come up for me. I'm looking for February. Am I looking too far in advance?

 

[pumpkinboy]

Originally posted by Madi100
I tried the ITA website, and I couldn't get anything to come up for me. I'm looking for February. Am I looking too far in advance?

You are Not looking too far in advance, by any means. I will sometimes book flights 10 to 11 months ahead if it's anything like a peak time. Try out Orbitz and plug in the entire month of February in the flexible search. What airports are you looking for here?

BTW, do I see two redheaded children in your picture? Wow, then congratulations on producing redheaded progeny. I also have two, one boy (the real pumpkinboy - born in October after all) aged 6, and one beautiful DD now 4+ . This leaves my DW as the only non-redhead in the family in our house.

No wonder I post in Orange, eh?

 

[pumpkinboy]

After doing some research, it looks like you're near Iowa City, so perhaps Cedar Rapids (CID) would be the closest airport, right? The best I am seeing in February for CID is $344 per person on United via O'Hare, or $363 p/p on Delta via Cincinnatti (CVG). Moving a little East to Quad Cities in Moline, IL (MLI) might pay tho, since I am seeing $213 p/p on Northwest via Memphis, and $244 on Delta via CVG. Des Moines (DSM) out a bit farther to the West of you is somewhere in between in terms of price, with the best being $253 on NorthWest via Memphis or $264 on ATA via Chicago Midway. I searched from 1/29-2/28, using a 7-10 day trip, and these are the best possible prices that popped up using this method.

So I'd suggest searching on the flexible search on Orbitz, and plugging in CID or MLI or even DSM and seeing what you come up with, preferably a time that includes your Birthday . Note that all the prices on Orbitz include a $5 per ticket booking fee, which could theoretically be avoided by using the airlines' sites (I have gone thru Orbitz most times and paid the fee for the convenience their excellent search engine provides me). Notably, It is much harder to pull these prices and decent routes on the airlines' websites.

Good luck with the search!

 

[Madi100]

Originally posted by pumpkinboy
You are Not looking too far in advance, by any means. I will sometimes book flights 10 to 11 months ahead if it's anything like a peak time. Try out Orbitz and plug in the entire month of February in the flexible search. What airports are you looking for here?

BTW, do I see two redheaded children in your picture? Wow, then congratulations on producing redheaded progeny. I also have two, one boy (the real pumpkinboy - born in October after all) aged 6, and one beautiful DD now 4+ . This leaves my DW as the only non-redhead in the family in our house.

No wonder I post in Orange, eh?

Thanks. I didn't think I was looking too far in advance, but I couldn't find anything on that one website. I'll keep looking.

And, there is only one redhead in that picture. The older one has brown hair. We're not sure where the red hair came from. I think it came with the personality. If you ask her, she'll tell you it came from the mailman

 

[Madi100]

Originally posted by pumpkinboy
After doing some research, it looks like you're near Iowa City, so perhaps Cedar Rapids (CID) would be the closest airport, right? The best I am seeing in February for CID is $344 per person on United via O'Hare, or $363 p/p on Delta via Cincinnatti (CVG). Moving a little East to Quad Cities in Moline, IL (MLI) might pay tho, since I am seeing $213 p/p on Northwest via Memphis, and $244 on Delta via CVG. Des Moines (DSM) out a bit farther to the West of you is somewhere in between in terms of price, with the best being $253 on NorthWest via Memphis or $264 on ATA via Chicago Midway. I searched from 1/29-2/28, using a 7-10 day trip, and these are the best possible prices that popped up using this method.

So I'd suggest searching on the flexible search on Orbitz, and plugging in CID or MLI or even DSM and seeing what you come up with, preferably a time that includes your Birthday . Note that all the prices on Orbitz include a $5 per ticket booking fee, which could theoretically be avoided by using the airlines' sites (I have gone thru Orbitz most times and paid the fee for the convenience their excellent search engine provides me). Notably, It is much harder to pull these prices and decent routes on the airlines' websites.

Good luck with the search!

Thanks for the research. We usually fly out of Kansas City just because it's always been cheapest, and we never know where we'll live. KC has family. So, we can visit them. DH gets moved around with his job. We could end up on the other side of the state. So, anyway, we will fly out of KC.

 

[pumpkinboy]

Ah, so we're looking MCI to MCO then. Well in that case, you might want to wait until SouthWest opens up its February fares, since SWA has the only MCI - MCO non-stops (3 a day at that!). So maybe you are starting too early after all, at least for SWA. If you are able to nab flights early on after they release the schedule, you should be able to go for about $200 per person r-t (and direct at that - hard to beat non-stop when flying with kids).

If you want to pay more and have a stopover en-route, you could search the other carriers on Orbitz (or ITA), but the best they are coming in at is about $225 p/p r-t, and none of them direct.

Good luck with the planning. You might want to just get the hotel booked, and then buy the SWA flights as soon as they come out.

And congrats again for producing redheaded offspring!

 

[NotUrsula]

I'm aware that the Orbitz software is a version of the software on the ITA site; however, I prefer the ITA site version of it b/c Orbitz (and Qixo, which also uses this software) restrict the search parameters in ways I prefer not to have to deal with. Most importantly for those who are travelling from rural areas, it does not restrict the multiple airport search to places that are closer than 70 miles away from your first-choice airport. It includes some charter airlines that do not come up on Orbitz. Most importantly for me, all fares that turn up on the ITA site may be purchased on the airlines' own sites; some of the ones that turn up on Orbitz are bucket fares that can only be purchased there. I don't do bucket fares if I can help it; it's very difficult to get help from Orbitz if there is a schedule change or cancellation that is not acceptable to me.

 

[pumpkinboy]

One more thing, I saw on another thread (click here to see it ) that SouthWest was going to be releasing Jan, Feb and maybe March fares on or about Sept 18. So keep your eyes open, and keep checking SouthWest's website.

Good luck!

 

[Madi100]

Originally posted by pumpkinboy
Ah, so we're looking MCI to MCO then. Well in that case, you might want to wait until SouthWest opens up its February fares, since SWA has the only MCI - MCO non-stops (3 a day at that!). So maybe you are starting too early after all, at least for SWA. If you are able to nab flights early on after they release the schedule, you should be able to go for about $200 per person r-t (and direct at that - hard to beat non-stop when flying with kids).

If you want to pay more and have a stopover en-route, you could search the other carriers on Orbitz (or ITA), but the best they are coming in at is about $225 p/p r-t, and none of them direct.

Good luck with the planning. You might want to just get the hotel booked, and then buy the SWA flights as soon as they come out.

And congrats again for producing redheaded offspring!

Thanks. I actually found something in our paper about a site called fly4less. We can fly for $184, but I need to call for details. Also, did I forget to mention that little redhead wouldn't be taking the trip? This is for mommy and daddy only. No kids. We need a break from all the energy that red hair produces.

 

[disneydebi]

there is also a site called sidestep.com, that will show you different airlines, as well as fares from other airports close by to the one you are searching (which is good if you have airport options where you live).

It's also the only site i've found that shows you fares for SWA and Jetblue. You also book directly with the airline, by clicking on the fare, it takes you directly to the airline web site to book it.
no middle man.