Airline Ticket Deals?

[BMan100]

Anyone know of a site that compares prices for airline tickets for a certain flight?

[ptwnluv]

farecompare.com is pretty good, used it today for a trip to europe

[cerulean]

kayak.com

[Manos]

I'll second the Kayak recommendation. It's the best travel search engine I've used. The cheapest way to buy tickets used to be through the larger web travel agents like Travelocity. But since airlines started charging travel agents a $10 fee to sell their tickets, the cheapest way to buy them is from the airlines' web sites themselves. Search engines like Kayak.com scan multiple airline web sites to find suitable choices for the parameters you entered, then direct you to those sites. Kayak also gives prices for each flight from different travel agents, but they're always a little higher than the airlines' price.

[timewaster]

are there any sites in which you can input a range of departure and arrival dates to get the best price?

[exm]

sidestep.com.

[Manos]

are there any sites in which you can input a range of departure and arrival dates to get the best price?
Most sites allow flexible dates. Kayak requires free registration for the feature. Travelocity, Expedia, and most airlines' sites offer it. I don't see the feature at Sidestep, another good travel search engine.

[MrE]

See #2 above. Also www.farecast.com will give you a pretty reliable guess (about 75% accurate) if prices will go up or if you should book right away.

[BMan100]

Thanks for the responses everyone!

[timewaster]

off topic..

how do you know how many seats are left for a particular flight?
Is there a way to know which seats are already taken?
Is there a way to specify which seat you want when purchasing the plane ticket?

[Bill Geiger]

Basically, if you check the airlines site and choose your flights without purchasing them, you can see the seats and what is left and where.

[Manos]

off topic..

how do you know how many seats are left for a particular flight?
Kayak, and perhaps others, will tell you how many seats are left. The catch is that they will only tell you what's left at that price. Seats are added at various prices at any time, making this information almost useless.

Is there a way to know which seats are already taken?
Many airline web sites will display the available seats during your selection process.

Is there a way to specify which seat you want when purchasing the plane ticket?
Most of the time, yes. A map is displayed with available seats, and you can pick the ones you want. Sometimes it is not possible to select your seat at purchase, but that option often becomes available within 24 hours of departure.