What are your favorite cheap travel websites?

[Mom to Brandon and 2 cats]

I need to find cheap airfare from CA to St. Thomas for a family wedding....I've checked the standard (Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia), and coming up with $750 per person! ouch!

Anybody got any leads on some good travel websites?

Thanks!

[kelly ann]

I have been using www.sidestep.com lately with pretty good results - it compares a bunch of different airline sites and other travel sites like expedia & orbitz.

[miki]

http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/

http://www.farecast.com/

[Momof3Labs]

Many of the discount airlines don't participate in those sites - southwest.com usa3000.com and spiritair.com come to mind, but I don't know if they fly the route that you need.

Also, have you talked to a travel agent? Depending on when you are going, you may be able to get a package including hotel (through Apple or whatever) for that price or less.

[kochh2]

try kayak.com i've not tried it, as we're not traveling anytime soon, but heard rave reviews!!!

[cilantromapuche]

I vouch for kayak but keep in mind that airfares have doubled or tripled in the last year. So if you haven't traveled in a while, it will come as a shock.
We are going to S. America and it was triple the price from 14 months ago.

[hwin708]

Ditto for sidestep and kayak. Both search all the deal sites and the airlines to find the best rate possible, including tax etc.

[denna]

Hi Jennifer,

I have discovered that using the actual airlines websites www.nwa.com (northwest airlines) and so on (American, Delta, Southwest, etc) I have had better luck with cheaper fair (sometimes over $1000 cheapers (for multiple tickets) then what was advertised for the same airline on expedia, orbitz or travelocity. Also changing your dates by a few days (earlier then the wedding) flying from Mon-Thurs is cheapest generally can lower your fair a couple hundred dollars or more.

Also a site Ive heard about recently (but havent used) is www.lastminutetravel.com.

HTH,