Get Great Deals on Summer Flights

So you want to do some traveling by air this summer? Sounds fun! Here are some suggestions for deals on flying.

Travelocity.com - This is my personal favorite. There are features like selecting nearby airports to fly out of or into, flexible dates, specific dates, or plus or minus one to three days from the date you'd like to travel. I suggest using all of these features to find the best deal. Also nice about this site is that you can choose to browse last-minute or online flight deals as well. You can also create an account and be informed when prices drop.

Orbitz.com - Orbitz has many of the same features as Travelocity, but offers more deals you can click on, like student discounts, and an Orbitz visa card. They also have a price assurance, where if you purchase a flight and the price drops, you will be reimbursed for the price difference, all you have to do is call. They have a Deal Detector also, that will inform you if tickets come down to a certain price.

Priceline.com - The big difference between Priceline and the other travel websites is that there is a name your own price feature. It won't tell you whether or not the price you name is accepted until you put in all your information, and if it's accepted, then you've purchased it, so you need to make absolutely sure that you've selected exactly what you want!

Kayak.com - The cool thing about Kayak is that it checks all of the above websites, and then a bunch more (Travelocity, Priceline, Expedia, and Hotwire). You then go onto whichever site has the lowest price to purchase your tickets. A new feature that I found is that when you enter your departure and arrival airports, a calendar pops up showing the least expensive flights that have been purchased recently.

Airline websites - While it's uncommon, sometimes you can get the best deal by going right to the airlines' websites. Become a Frequent Flier (usually for free) and you can rack up some flights too.

The best thing to do when buying plane tickets is to browse, browse, browse! All of these websites offer packages, also, so if you need a hotel room, try booking at the same time to save yourself some money as well. Keep in mind, though, that some hotels don't work with these sites and might be less expensive. Fly on a Tuesday, Wednesday, red-eye or early morning, and you'll probably save as well. Be flexible! You need to keep looking, too, because new flights are added all the time. Have a good trip!