Author Topic: Your travel search engine of choice (Read 6935 times)

Dugout DickStone · « **on:** March 19, 2013, 09:46:31 PM »

Kayak?

michigancat · « **Reply #1 on:** March 19, 2013, 09:48:20 PM »

Yes. Or southwest, depending on origin/destination.

often both.

Dugout DickStone · « **Reply #2 on:** March 19, 2013, 09:55:18 PM »

Just making sure I'm not missing a new one, 99% of my travel is booked through our in house agent but I hate that she throws a % on all personal travel I have her book.

michigancat · « **Reply #3 on:** March 19, 2013, 10:00:46 PM »

Our in house agents often can't get prices I can find on airline websites. It's pretty silly.

PowercatPat · « **Reply #4 on:** March 19, 2013, 11:44:00 PM »

What is so great about Kayak?

michigancat · « **Reply #5 on:** March 20, 2013, 12:05:44 AM »

Quote from: PowercatPat on March 19, 2013, 11:44:00 PM

What is so great about Kayak?

quick, easy, has most airlines. more flexible and easier to filter than other travel sites. also easy to do more advanced things with price alerts and tracking.

do you think there is a better option? I'd give it a shot.

steve dave · « **Reply #6 on:** March 20, 2013, 05:50:36 AM »

ITA travel software and their On The Fly app for elite power users. Milewise or Pointhub for award searches and price comparos. Hipmunk is also good.

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/search.htm

https://secured.milewise.com/

https://www.pointhub.com/ (will search SW)

http://www.hipmunk.com/

ben ji · « **Reply #7 on:** March 20, 2013, 08:25:58 AM »

Usually fly southwest and check priceline just to make sure prices are decent. Will have to check out Kayak next time I travel.

Hotels.com is my standard choice for picking hotel rooms but will check others as well. Have used hotwire befire on a last minute trip and it worked great.

SkinnyBenny · « **Reply #8 on:** March 20, 2013, 10:07:08 AM »

Get the Hotel Tonight app if you like naming your own price on Priceline Hotels but would actually like to know before you buy where you're staying. It's decent.

steve dave · « **Reply #9 on:** March 20, 2013, 10:11:16 AM »

never book a flight or hotel through whatever website you comparing prices at. find the flight/hotel you want and then book directly through the carrier as the price will be exactly the same. the chances of getting put in a better room and ease of dealing with itenerary changes are the advantages to doing this.

hurtsogood · « **Reply #10 on:** March 20, 2013, 10:13:30 AM »

I make my wife do all of the booking! Right guys?!?!

No. No, actually I'm not married. Don't even have a girlfriend. Pretty lonely.

steve dave · « **Reply #11 on:** March 20, 2013, 10:13:51 AM »

Quote from: hurtsogood on March 20, 2013, 10:13:30 AM

I make my wife do all of the booking! Right guys?!?!

No. No, actually I'm not married. Don't even have a girlfriend. Pretty lonely.

hurtsogood · « **Reply #12 on:** March 20, 2013, 10:34:07 AM »

Quote from: steve dave on March 20, 2013, 10:13:51 AM

Quote from: hurtsogood on March 20, 2013, 10:13:30 AM
I make my wife do all of the booking! Right guys?!?!

No. No, actually I'm not married. Don't even have a girlfriend. Pretty lonely.

I know this is a silly website, but I'm being serious. I'm lonely.

And the Master Dating Thread isn't helping. It isn't even for dating. It's for talking about dating and "fillies", which I can't really do because I'm not dating anyone.

hurtsogood · « **Reply #13 on:** March 20, 2013, 10:34:31 AM »

Also, I use Kayak.

chum1 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 20, 2013, 10:40:25 AM »

Million dollar idea: travel dating website.

hurtsogood · « **Reply #15 on:** March 20, 2013, 10:42:32 AM »

Quote from: chum1 on March 20, 2013, 10:40:25 AM

Million dollar idea: travel dating website.

I thought that was this website!

chum1 · « **Reply #16 on:** March 20, 2013, 10:45:32 AM »

The website matches both personalities and itineraries.

steve dave · « **Reply #17 on:** March 20, 2013, 10:46:59 AM »

Quote from: chum1 on March 20, 2013, 10:45:32 AM

The website matches both personalities and itineraries.

this is a great idea

asava · « **Reply #18 on:** March 20, 2013, 10:49:09 AM »

i use either kayak.com or hipmunk.com sometimes use bing.com to check fluctuation in prices.

steve dave · « **Reply #19 on:** March 20, 2013, 10:55:22 AM »

Quote from: asava on March 20, 2013, 10:49:09 AM

i use either kayak.com or hipmunk.com sometimes use bing.com to check fluctuation in prices.

yeah, bing is actually good. microsoft bought that flight price predictor website that I can't remember the name of a couple years back.

michigancat · « **Reply #20 on:** March 20, 2013, 11:08:30 AM »

Quote from: steve dave on March 20, 2013, 05:50:36 AM

ITA travel software and their On The Fly app for elite power users. Milewise or Pointhub for award searches and price comparos. Hipmunk is also good.

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/search.htm

https://secured.milewise.com/

https://www.pointhub.com/ (will search SW)

http://www.hipmunk.com/

Milewise just pulled up zero results for an upcoming SFO-PHX trip.

And none of those are better than kayak, just slightly different. But the SW Miles one was nice.

steve dave · « **Reply #21 on:** March 20, 2013, 11:11:25 AM »

Quote from: michigancat on March 20, 2013, 11:08:30 AM

Quote from: steve dave on March 20, 2013, 05:50:36 AM
ITA travel software and their On The Fly app for elite power users. Milewise or Pointhub for award searches and price comparos. Hipmunk is also good.

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/search.htm

https://secured.milewise.com/

https://www.pointhub.com/ (will search SW)

http://www.hipmunk.com/
Milewise just pulled up zero results for an upcoming SFO-PHX trip.

And none of those are better than kayak, just slightly different. But the SW Miles one was nice.

you don't know how to use them

michigancat · « **Reply #22 on:** March 20, 2013, 11:19:37 AM »

Quote from: steve dave on March 20, 2013, 11:11:25 AM

Quote from: michigancat on March 20, 2013, 11:08:30 AM
Quote from: steve dave on March 20, 2013, 05:50:36 AM
ITA travel software and their On The Fly app for elite power users. Milewise or Pointhub for award searches and price comparos. Hipmunk is also good.

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/search.htm

https://secured.milewise.com/

https://www.pointhub.com/ (will search SW)

http://www.hipmunk.com/
Milewise just pulled up zero results for an upcoming SFO-PHX trip.

And none of those are better than kayak, just slightly different. But the SW Miles one was nice.

you don't know how to use them

OK

mocat · « **Reply #23 on:** March 20, 2013, 11:36:53 AM »

Quote from: steve dave on March 20, 2013, 10:11:16 AM

never book a flight or hotel through whatever website you comparing prices at. find the flight/hotel you want and then book directly through the carrier as the price will be exactly the same. the chances of getting put in a better room and ease of dealing with itenerary changes are the advantages to doing this.

Yep, booking 101. If you have to cancel an expedia flight, for example, good luck.

steve dave · « **Reply #24 on:** March 20, 2013, 11:39:29 AM »

Quote from: michigancat on March 20, 2013, 11:19:37 AM

Quote from: steve dave on March 20, 2013, 11:11:25 AM
Quote from: michigancat on March 20, 2013, 11:08:30 AM
Quote from: steve dave on March 20, 2013, 05:50:36 AM
ITA travel software and their On The Fly app for elite power users. Milewise or Pointhub for award searches and price comparos. Hipmunk is also good.

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/search.htm

https://secured.milewise.com/

https://www.pointhub.com/ (will search SW)

http://www.hipmunk.com/
Milewise just pulled up zero results for an upcoming SFO-PHX trip.

And none of those are better than kayak, just slightly different. But the SW Miles one was nice.

you don't know how to use them

OK

ITA will allow you to search by fare class which is important if you are wanting to get a status or mileage bump. it will also allow you to search by alliance with better results than any of the alliance carriers (other than ANA which usually shows all Star Alliance availability but you have to have an ANA mileage account). It requires some power user type stuff though. blog here explains some of it:

http://hackmytrip.com/2012/09/using-routing-language-with-ita-fare-matrix/

milewise stores your points and program logins similar to awardwallet. it will search flights based on the points you have in your accounts that it is tracking. Pointhub is similar but doesn't search the mileage you have in the tracked accounts. Showing SW availability is nice and it will show availability using different credit card programs (Ultimate Rewards, Membership Rewards, etc.) utilizing transfers or paying with points. Hipmunk has some of the built in stuff ITA has (not all) and is much easier to use. It also shows visually the layovers/lengths of each flight which is nice if you want to scroll through a bunch of flights fast.

but, if you want to fly from san fran to phoenix next tuesday in coach paying cash kayak is basically as good and easier for most.