I haven’t done this in so long that I literally can’t remember all the ins and outs of the process. :o I need to book a flight from Burbank, California to Portland, Oregon for Wednesday, March 30. Who are the best online companies to deal with now? Any other salient advice anybody could offer would be mightily appreciated.
I have had very good customer service from CheapOair, but I have no idea how they compare with others.
These days I usually first compare prices with a service like Kayak and then book directly with the airline.
I recommend checking the Southwest Airlines website directly. I don’t think their airfares are listed on most of the web services.
That sounds like a plan. I’m going to do that first. Thanks.
Concur with this. Just peeked at Kayak, cheapest round-trip (I used 3 April for return) was $446.00 with unappetizing times. Southwest was about $490.46 for reasonable times, cheaper if you wanted to leave way early. All the above are connections, Alaska has nonstops, but range from $550-600.
Used Burbank-Bob Hope to Portland Intl.
Lots of options. Might want to consider LAX or other LA airports too.
Agree, except Google Flights. It doesn’t cover Southwest, for some reason, so I check that one too.
Southwest fares aren’t available on most of the consolidator sites. I’m assuming that’s by Southwest’s choice.
Y’all were right. Southwest only books through their own site. All taken care of now. It took all of about five minutes to book the flight. Thanks, everybody. 
Too late now, but I’ve been using Google Flights a lot lately. I like the interface better than Kayak.
Remember, on Southwest your first two bags are free. And remember to check in 24 hours in advance to get a good boarding number which will ensure you get a decent seat.
Another vote for Google flights. I’ve used it the last two times I’ve flown and it’s easy-peasy.
I’ve never even heard of Google Flights (I typically use Expedia for my first stop); WOW is Google Flights fast! Even as you scroll through different dates it updates pretty much instantly.
Indeed, keep this in mind in pricing flights. If you think you might check a bag, with other airlines you have to factor in an additional fee for the bag check. With Southwest WYSIWYG (do people still use that?).
Yeah, it’s pretty amazing. Years ago almost all the online travel sites had flexible search functions but one by one they have dropped that option forcing you to search day by day to try and pinpoint the cheapest flights. Kayak’s flexible search is pretty good, too, but I like Google better. And as others mentioned, it’s always good to give Southwest a look since their fares aren’t picked up by the OTAs.
I’ll bet that Google Flights is a result of its acquisition of ITA Software about five years ago.