We do a big fly-away vacation about every two years or so, so I’m not a big travel site user. I look at both Travelosity and Expedia and almost always-- probably always-- use Expedia. I don’t see any major price differences between them and the gnome bothers me.
So, which sites do you use? Which ones are easier to use and plan with? Are there any real price differences between them that you see? Do any let you plan/book more than a year ahead?
If I use any consolidator at all, it would be Orbitz. (I last used it in 2008.) I don’t think they are cheaper.
Usually I go to ITA, Kayakand Yapta.
If I find a fare I like (which, more’s the pity, hasn’t happened much lately) I go directly to the airline’s website and book with them.
Depending on the trip, I might plan a year in advance, especially if it is international, but I rarely book more than 6-9 months in advance.
We have a trip we need to take this fall, and I have not done anything about it.
I keep hoping the airfares will go down.
Kayak for flights, Tripadvisor for hotel reviews, then a random hotel discounting site (sometimes from Tripadvisor itself) to get the best deal. Since I rarely plan anything more than a couple of months in advance, the rest of the question is not relevant to me.
I use the flexible dates search functions on Orbiz or Cheaptickets. Most of the other sites don’t let you do flexible searchs on international routes, and I don’t like Kayak. I’ll usually book with the airline directly, unless I’ve found a good coupon code for a package deal, and can find a package deal that suits my needs.
I do a lot of travel arrangements for work. I have to actually book the trips through Amex due to our policy, but I look at the regular sites as an easy way to research flight schedules. I find Orbitz the easiest to use.
I also recently booked a trip for myself through Orbitz. Orbitz quoted me a rate of $119 per night. I called the hotel directly, and they quoted me $180. I mentioned the Orbitz rate. They said that they could honor the price, but it would be fully non-refundable. Orbitz’s policy was 3-day cancellation with a $150 fee. Which isn’t very good, but since it’s a 5 night stay, it’s a LOT better.
Orbitz and Kayak for availability, routings, comparables (am particularly fond of Kayak’s filters, e.g. “no overnights, no photo-finish connections, no prop planes”). Kayak especially if I’m on mobile.
Then whoever offers the best deal between them and the hotel/airline site. Any given year about a fourth of my bookings are on Orbitz, specially if I have to do multi-carrier combinations.
Tripadvisor.
I book a lot for work. I use Kayak to find the best prices (supplemented by using Southwest’s site) and book directly through the hotel/airline sites. I do this because I’ve found the cancellation/change policies at Expedia/Orbitz, etc. to be a PITA and expensive. Use them to find a fare, maybe, but I would never book through them.
I first look at the flight maps of the major airlines that fly out of the airports near me for direct flights to my destination (PHL->us airways, EWR->continental) then see how cheap those flights are on Kayak. For flights with lots of connections (for instance, my next vacation is to Tanzania) Orbitz is best. For local or direct flights to say, Dublin, then usually the airlines website is easiest.
I’ve found for multi-destinations sometimes Kayak and Orbitz can’t get the flights you want after you’ve lined it all up. In those cases a travel agent works really well, they can usually get those sold out/unavailable flights at close to the same rate.
Tripadvisor for reviews/ itineraries. Travelpod/google for travelogues of the cities I’m visiting.
I pretty much have it down to a science to get ridiculously cheap flights and accommodations, so I can go on crazy vacations 2x a year.
I’ve got some seriously good hotels prices through kayak. For flights, going through the airline’s site works best for me.
For flights, I use Skyscanner. They search fares from most of the other sites mentioned here (Kayak, Orbitz, Expedia, etc) as well as a few others. I fly a lot and this has worked out pretty well for me.
I usually use Orbitz. Sometimes I check back and find that flight on the airline’s website and the fare is often slightly cheaper there (by like $10 or so), and then I buy it direct. Plus a double-check with Southwest to see if I can’t get a better fare through them - especially if I am visiting my family in California. For some reason, the travel sites like to take me to SFO, even if I select all local airports, but my parents prefer to use Oakland if possible (easier to park). Southwest flies into Oakland and if I can get a good deal with them, I’ll always pick that option.
Kayak, TripAdvisor (for reviews), and Hotwire used in conjunction with BetterBidding. I usually hit all the major sites like Expedia just to see what they offer. Often, when I see the flight I want, I’ll go directly to the airline.
Oh yeah, I missed adding: Tripadvisor for reviews and evals of hotels, attractions, tours.
For flights I usually check the flexible search on Orbitz and Travelocity. Then I will usually book on Orbitz because they usually offer me more flight options.
For hotels I will check Expedia and Orbitz. Then I check betterbidding.com to see how much better I can do with a Priceline bid. If Priceline is better by half I give it a shot. If not, I book with Expedia since I like their customer service of there is an issue.
I never book with Travelocity. My experience with their offshore call center put me off them for good. Four hours on the phone and I was finally able to change my reservation. And they still didn’t do it right.
I do use trip advisor reviews on hotels.