Best search engine to find cheap airfares?

[sumiandkage]

The secret is that there is no secret when it comes to cheaper simple flights.  There are some sellers of package travel (air-land-sea-whatever) that have agreements with airlines to sell consolidator/bulk fare tickets as part of the package and part of that agreement is they don't publish fares or sell standalone tickets. There's also the grey world of what they call fuel dumping (groups of people who work together to pretty much look for a specific variation of mistake fares) but the fuel dumpers let finding a cheap ticket drive the destination they select and not the other way around. 

 

But for the most part, 95% of the airlines you want to fly all use the same ticketing and pricing database that then gets used by all the airlines, travel agencies, and OTAs to sell those tickets, and the pricing is generally not going to vary much. 

[cruise kitty]

2 hours ago, slidergirl said:

 

Well, most of my discretionary funds were sucked dry by being so ill and having to miss a lot of work and having to visit a few specialists who were out-of-network.  Nothing major on the travel horizon until I can build up an "emergency" fund and then have extras.  But, I can dream...  A friend is giving me her beach cottage to use for a week in May - I can go to Port Canaveral and see some ships and dream a little...

I try to stay out of the HAL forum due to a few nasty people, but I can't help it sometimes...

 

Wow, you got the double whammy with illness & then insurance not covering everything...  but that's great that you've got the beach cottage to go to.  My last vacation was in  2017 & the next is in May 2019 so I hear you about saving up for travel,  best wishes for a healthy 2019 & hopefully a nice financial recovery as well  :)

[iancal]

Two years or so ago we selected a YYC-BKk ticket on matrixit.  It was 1000. Cad.  We selected it because it flew direct to Narita whereas normally we have to go through SEA or SFO.  We had the flight and the fare codes.  The routing cut our trip by about five hours.

 

Called Air Canada, the carrier.  They had the route but it was 1500. Cad.  Same everything.  Tried Expedia and travelocity.  One had it for $1500, the other did not even list it.  As a last resort I tried Orbitz.  They had the route, the fare, and the fare code.  We booked immediately.

 

Someone mentioned that the differerence was attributable to different databases.

 

This was all done within 15 minutes of finding the routing/price on matrix it.

Edited February 18, 2019 by iancal

[Globaliser]

2 hours ago, iancal said:

Someone mentioned that the differerence was attributable to different databases.

 

Possibly a different Point of Sale, which can get you access to different inventory.

[FlyerTalker]

And possibly who knows what.

 

The big thing was that you found it through a known, reputable site.  As opposed to an unknown/suspect third (or fourth) party site that you might not trust with your booking (or credit card info).