Jim Karpen Tips

June 2001

We've covered Cheap Tickets in the past, and the site is often a good place to get a sense for the lowest airfares. But when I tried it recently, it was so busy that I couldn't access it. Another good site for finding the lowest price is Qixo, which searches many other sites and then lists all the prices that it finds.

I didn't buy my ticket from either of these sites, though. And based on my limited experience I've concluded that they work best when you have a simple flight with few connections. I was trying to get a ticket to Ankara, Turkey, and when I used Qixo, it would give me widely varying prices based on minor differences in departure date. Wen I finally got on CheapTickets, it was more consistent, but it too had a stumbling block I couldn't resolve: it kept offering a flight that stopped in Vienna. Yet I knew there was a direct flight from Chicago to Istanbul.

Then I tried the two most popular services: Travelocity.Com and Expedia.Com. The latter ended up being my favorite. Let's see if I can explain why.

Most sites let you do a quick search and also offer an advanced search. I now realize that the quick search is limited. There are lots of different ways to go to Ankara and back, and I have certain preferences: low cost, few stops, reasonable arrival times. But the quick search doesn't necessarily know your preferences. So you have to do an advanced search.

That means that you have to go through more of a step-by-step process. When I tried to do this on CheapTickets, I couldn't figure out how to do it. But when I did it on Expedia, it worked really well. Plus, the site was fast.

On the Expedia site click the Flights tab at the top. Then at the left, select Flight Wizard. When you do a search it will give you some quick results and suggest which ones have the lowest prices. But don't get fooled. The price that it gives in the top left of each item is an estimate. The final price will depend on the subsequent choices you make.

But by listing first the fares that tend to be the most reasonable and giving you an estimated price, it makes it easy for you to hone in on the lowest price at each step in the process while at the same time letting you conveniently make your choices. I quickly got exactly what I wanted. Expedia also has a toll-free number, and I was immediately able to get someone on the line when I had a question. Overall, I was quite impressed.

© 2001 by Jim Karpen, Ph.D. (#270)