# Buy air tickets on line recommendations **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2006, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-air-tickets-on-line-recommendations/362067 "2006-06-25T09:52:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-air-tickets-on-line-recommendations/362067/1 "2006-06-25T09:52:02Z")
Please recommend a couple of standard sites to buy plane tickets on line in the US. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-air-tickets-on-line-recommendations/362067/2 "2006-06-25T10:01:18Z")
Generally speaking it’s best (IMO) to actually buy your tickets through the airline, especially if you have a connecting flight. If you end up not having enough time between flights for whatever reason, your life can be greatly simplified if you booked through the airline. That said, for finding cheap fares (find the fare here, then pop over to the airline’s site and book there), [Orbitz](http://orbitz.com) is pretty good in my experience. The interface isn’t as easy, but [Kayak](http://kayak.com) will pretty much search every airline, ever. You can also try [Travelocity](http://travelocity.com), though I’ve never been very happy with them. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-air-tickets-on-line-recommendations/362067/3 "2006-06-25T16:35:37Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > [Kayak](http://kayak.com) will pretty much search every airline, ever. Wow - thanks for that one! I’m goofing around on there right now checking fares for a trip I’m toying with at the moment, and they are showing options which may mean that it’s the same price to travel in September, when the weather is still decent, as in November, when it won’t be nearly as nice. Have you ever booked a fare you found through them? Any hassles with getting frequent flyer miles credited through some of the non-airline search engines? ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-air-tickets-on-line-recommendations/362067/4 "2006-06-25T16:49:57Z")
I’m kind of a fan of hotwire ([www.hotwire.com](http://www.hotwire.com)). They’re not as big a bargain as they used to be, but they’re still definitely worth checking out. I use hotwire, travelocity, etc. as nothing more than ways to figure out which dates are cheaper to travel on and which airlines are worth looking into for the particular trip I’m planning. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-air-tickets-on-line-recommendations/362067/5 "2006-06-25T16:55:57Z")
> [@Eva Luna](#): > > Wow - thanks for that one! I’m goofing around on there right now checking fares for a trip I’m toying with at the moment, and they are showing options which may mean that it’s the same price to travel in September, when the weather is still decent, as in November, when it won’t be nearly as nice. > > Have you ever booked a fare you found through them? Any hassles with getting frequent flyer miles credited through some of the non-airline search engines? You can’t actually book something directly through Kayak - they just give you links to book it through the airline. That’s part of why I like it so much. This past winter, I found airfare from Newark to Dublin for two hundred bucks through Kayak. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-air-tickets-on-line-recommendations/362067/6 "2006-06-25T17:36:49Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > You can’t actually book something directly through Kayak - they just give you links to book it through the airline. Some of the fares I found were through non-airline links, though - can you still get the frequent flyer miles? ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-air-tickets-on-line-recommendations/362067/7 "2006-06-26T03:09:23Z")
[ITA](http://matrix.itasoftware.com/) [Sidestep](http://www.sidestep.com/air/) [Yahoo Farechase](http://scd.farechase.yahoo.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-air-tickets-on-line-recommendations/362067/8 "2006-06-26T16:17:22Z")
[Earlier thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=359744&highlight=airline) with a lot of good websites – especially check out [skyauction.com](http://skyauction.com), the eBay of the travel industry. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buy-air-tickets-on-line-recommendations/362067/9 "2006-06-26T16:35:24Z")
I usually check Hotwire,travelocity,cheaptickets and orbitz.