Cheap Flights Article Discussion

I have just been looking to fly to Florida next year, during school hols (I know.... but with 2 kids, and me working in a school, so I'm limited with dates!!)

All the UK web sites show Virgin as being the cheapest non-stop (£3893.80) however on the screen scrapes I've just done off this page, CHEAPOAIR.COM (via mobissimo.com) shows Virgin at being $4031 (£2035). Both include taxes

The flight numbers are different, but only because they have both shown different flights on the same day as being cheaper.

Is there a penalty for buying the same flights from a US site, when I could potentially be saving £1800??

I am looking to book for Florida (Orlando) next August also. Yes I'm a teacher too! When looking on screen scrapes they don't have much choice yet. I think it would be better to wait until all airlines release their prices but I don't know when that will be do you? I found flights for 4 on 15/8 for a family of four that was £683 each and wasn't any cheaper for children. I'm hoping to pay less than this! As for booking with a US site, why would there be a penalty? I think it might be cheaper this way as the pound is strong against the dollar but if things change and you haven't paid the full amount then you might end up paying a lot more than you thought. It's hard work looking for a good deal!!

SingyB wrote: »

I have just been looking to fly to Florida next year, during school hols (I know.... but with 2 kids, and me working in a school, so I'm limited with dates!!)

All the UK web sites show Virgin as being the cheapest non-stop (£3893.80) however on the screen scrapes I've just done off this page, CHEAPOAIR.COM (via mobissimo.com) shows Virgin at being $4031 (£2035). Both include taxes

The flight numbers are different, but only because they have both shown different flights on the same day as being cheaper.

Is there a penalty for buying the same flights from a US site, when I could potentially be saving £1800??

Martin Lewis has written a brilliant article about how to find cheap flights, particularly the section on screenscrapers, however, there are a few points which I feel should be mentioned and may have been overlooked.

a.) When you are selecting which flight comparison sites to use you must ensure that the ones you select actually search different and unique sites rather than repeating searches which do not provide any additional value. I would, with respect, be careful not to search EVERY single site mentioned in the aforementioned article for the following reasons...

There is absolutely no point in searching both Sidestep AND Kayak as they are actually the same company and search exactly the same sites for flights. Kayak actually purchased Sidestep for the sum of 90 million pounds late last year.

Similarly, Openjet is searched by both Kelkoo and Momondo so it it doesn't make much sense to search Openjet if you have searched either of those two sites already.

Also, Expedia is now compared by Travelsupermarket so there is no need to conduct a search on Expedia seperately if you have already searched Travelsupermarket.com.

It is important to know this otherwise you could end up wasting time searching sites which have already effectively been searched.

My personal list would include For Long haul - Mobissimo, Kayak and Momondo (TravelSupermarket is excellent in my opinion for UK departures) whilst for short haul I would recommend Skyscanner and Dohop.

This would ensure an adequate number of UNIQUE sites being searched,
effectively isolating the best deal for you. In my opinion it is a MUST to search ALL of these sites as it is very unpredicatable as to who will locate the best deal.

b.) As Martin suggests in his article it is preferable to search numerous flight
comparison sites in seperate windows and compare all of the results - This, however can be quite cumbersome and many people fail to search every single important one potentially leaving the cheapest flights undiscovered ...

A quick way around this is to make a search on the newly launched website http://www.cheap-flights-finder.com which actually searches five flight comparison sites for you with 1 single search (i.e Kelkoo, Kayak, Mobissimo, Dohop and Skyscanner). This is a great time saver and allows you to compare numerous flights quickly and easily, leaving just Travelsupermarket and Momondo for you to search seperately if need be.

c.) Another very useful tool which many people may not be aware of is Momondo's price calender functionality. This is a handy, easy to read graphical calender which shows flight prices for alternate departure and arrival dates to your chosen destination. Quite handy if your travel itinerary allows for flexible dates. The only downside being that it only shows fares for searches other users have found and can occasionally fail to provide alternate flight prices.

d.) Two sites which have not been talked about much but are causing a bit of a stir across the pond are Farecast and Yapta. Farecast actually claims to track fare prices and give you a verdict on whether it is a good time to buy or whether you should wait. Apparently their predictions are considered to be 74.5% percent accurate according to a third party independent audit undertaken by Navigant Consulting.

Then their is Yapta, which is similar in the sense that it tracks fare prices and gives you alerts to notify you when it is a good time to buy. They also claim to be able to credit you for the difference if you find a flight has dropped in price after you have purchased it.

Although these sites are actually for the North American market, they can still be useful if one is searching for international or domestic flights departing from the USA or Canada.

I am aware that people may be skeptical about flight comparison sites in general but in my experience, with which I completely concur with Martin, they should be the first port of call when looking for cheap flights on specific dates.

As long as the advice in the main article and above are followed, i.e - numerous different comparison sites are searched which in turn search numerous UNIQUE travel sites and airlines, it is highly likely that the prices
found cannot be beat.

If any one is interested in finding out more money saving options including advice about courier travel, flight auctions, student travel, group travel, seasonal travel, frequent flyer programmes and more then go to www.cheap-flights-finder.com and sign up to the special deals email which explains these things in further detail.