Traveling by air is perhaps the fastest and most convenient way. Whether you are traveling for recreation or business, all flights serve the same purpose. The difference in this mode of travel mainly comes in with the type of flight service you choose. Many online travel agencies help ease the flight search process however most are often in the same ballpark in as far as price is concerned. Even if you know exactly where and when you want to fly, there are some factors that you ought to consider before choosing the best websites for booking a flight. These factors may range from date, price and times to airline, fare class and so much more. As you surf the web for Airfare considers these 10 best and worst Airfare search sites.
Before we embark on analysis the flight websites from the worst to the best; there are aggregators websites, OTAs (online travel agencies) and booking engines (Hotwire, Priceline and Expedia). Aggregator site refers to the sites that do not book directly but rather search other online travel agencies (OTAs). As such, some aggregators and OTAs are efficient and effective when booking than others. Below is an analysis from the best OTAs, aggregators and booking search engines – a courtesy of our friend over at richmond bc moving company whom also owns a couple of travel agencies in Vancouver BC.
Top 5 Best Airfare Sites
v) Hipmunk.com
As
an aggregator site, the site offers well-displayed graphics that the
user finds easy to use. Apart from the user interface display,
pricing scores only average
Pros:
User-friendly website, fare alert and vacation packages
Cons: Never the cheapest; agonizing email sign-up window
iv) Kayak
Kayak.com is the most famous aggregator because it keeps on improving.Kayak.com offered the cheapest transatlantic flights. Furthermore, the site ‘Flex Searches’ pre or pro travel dates to show you the fares.
Pros: Free alert emails and vacation packages
Cons: No exclusive details with itineraries cities
iii) Google.com/Flights
Combining
the IATA Software flight with wizardry algorithmic has helped
Google.com produce a fast and reliable search engine that has the
ability to root for good fares. The “Explore” allows users
to select two major cities and it shows you the best fares trends.
Pros: Fastest, detailed filters and mentions amenities
Cons: Poor searches on softball searches
ii) Skyscanner.com
Skyscanner
first included low-cost carriers and up to date have maintained the
lowest prices available. The aggregator site has a tagline “where
do I go cheap?”
Pros: Best at ferreting lowest fares, displays month whole of fare, fare alert emails
Cons: Not good on direct flights, annoys with sponsored results
i) Momondo.com
This
aggregator site remains the best and most affordable airfares site.
Momondo.com site offers shortcuts to the cheapest and best overall
results. This is in addition to a three-month fare calendar to help
you see if another day would be cheaper. The site doesn’t use cookies
to track users. Besides, the site filters by the airport and alerts
users by the airport. The “flight insight” feature gives
Intel on prices.
Pros: Smart user interface
Cons: face extreme competition on price
5 Worst Airfare Sites
v) Priceline
Priceline.com is an OTAs site. Analysis of the sites, there is no guaranteed lowest price but instead, you will find worst fares hiked seven times in over 25 searches. Priceline’s tagline “Express Deals” offers an opaque fare where you only get to pick travel dates and airports. What worse is that there are no airlines or flight times.
Pros: If you are patient enough; the opaque fare deals may save you up to 40%
Cons: Priceline is middy to poor on price; Priceline.com do not include low-cost carriers
iv) Expedia/Travelocity/ Orbitz
Expedia.com is abooking engine; now own the former big three search engine. These are orbitz.com and Travelocity.com. Within the three sites, you will find similar lousy prices.At some point, Expedia overcharged a direct flight from Philadelphia to Rome at $2,016.Worst enough they could not find $591 fare requiring a plane change in Madrid. Seemingly their strategy is poor.
Pros: Fare inclusive baggage fees and alert e-mails to notify travelers of better deals
Cons: Expedia pricing offers fair to poor prices in major routes and have limited filters
iii) Hotwire.com
Currently, Hotwire.com is an online travel agency (OTAs)that stood out when they cut the prices off Air China from LAX to Hong Kong. The site is bashful with constant interstitial ads, popups and uncountable sidebar boxes.
Pros: Includes baggage fees and fare alert emails in case of offers and vacation package
Cons: Limited filters, provides average to poor results
ii)
SeatGuru
This
online booking agency leverages deep knowledge on plane
configurations and therefore offers excellent details on amenities.
Indeed, Seatguru.com rates these services on a “G-Factor”
comfort rating. The rated services are Wi-Fi, seatback TV, legroom
and so on). However when it comes to pricing Seaguru.com is an
average site.
Pros: Wonderful details on bag fees and amenities and informed amenities rating
Con: Poor pricing performance
i) CheapOAir.com
This
online travel agency informs any site on the last-minute
international fare with their “
“Super Saver” opaque fees
to blind clients.
Pros: Opaque fares, seat selection map, vacation package and details on baggage deals
Cons: Not good at finding the best prices