(OT) Online Airline Tickets?...

[Bruce S Kershaw]

I know some of you travel frequently.

Can you point me to a good site for airline tickets?

Got a wedding to go to in the Carolinas.

Thanks,

Bruce

[John Turpin]

I normally use Expedia.com and I travel every week. There are many discount sites, but I tend to go back to Expedia each time. You might also check out the various airlines' sites as well--just to keep the discount places honest.

[Barry Pyeatt]

I've had consistently good results with Travelocity. They are always competitive and include all the hidden fees in their quotes. The others aren't always so inclusive. Never had a problem with them of any kind.

I've also had pretty good results with naming my own price on Priceline.com and getting some real bargins. You just don't have a choice of carrier or times that you fly. But the savings are real. And the frequent flyer miles add up for me anyway.

I use Northwest a lot and seldom have an issue with their ticketing. Just their hubs and delays in flights.

But then I'm flying out of Seattle to points South and East. But what isn't generally South and East out of Seattle? I know... Hawaii and Alaska. :roll:

In your area, I would just check Jet Blue and maybe Southwest.

[Frank Hagan]

I've used Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz (add ".com" to get to the websites).

Check to see if Southwest goes where you need to go ... they are almost always cheaper for unrestricted fares. They sell only through their own website, so go to http://www.southwest.com to check their fares out.

Southwest is a little bit different ... they are the only profitable airline over the last 5 years, fly only 737s, and have had only one airline incident on landing (no crashes) in their entire history. They do not assign seating. Instead, you get a boarding pass with one of three groups assigned to you based on how soon you arrive at the airport. Group 1 (or "A") boards first, and you choose the seat you want. If you are in the third group, you could end up in a middle seat. I understand you can use Internet check-in after midnight on the day you fly to be assigned a boarding card number now, so you can ensure you are in the first group.

There are no meals on any of their flights (as if airline food was edible anyway). Their flight attendents are, in my opinion, the nicest of any in the industry. Sometimes, you have to make several flights to get where you are going, and that can be tough ... I won't make more than one connection anymore, but your tolerance for airports might be greater than mine.

I usually fly United because I qualify for the Premier status, they go everywhere I go, and I get the seats up front (and occasionally get upgraded to Business or First Class). But if I had to fly only occasionally, Southwest would be my choice.

[Bruce S Kershaw]

Thanks, Guys.

[MisterMoon]

I frequently use Orbitz to see who flys the route or at least offers the best connections. I then go to the various airline sites suggested by Orbtz to see what those same airlines charge if you buy direct from them. Often as not, it's cheaper to get the tix from an airline directly. Orbitz/Expedia/Travelocity all charge anywhere from $5-$15 service fees.