Google Flights features a fabulous “Explore map” feature that allows you to select any two major city pairs and see lowest fare for your dates in addition to price trends for the month surrounding them. And it's one of only three engines in our results that has a filter allowing you to add checked and cabin bags and recalculate the prices accordingly. It shows average prices on a pop-up calendar so you can see at a glance when the cheapest days to fly are for the next two months (you can also peruse a price grid and price graph on the results page). However, the titan of online search has combined that database with its own algorithmic wizardry to produce some excellent features.įirst of all, it is unbelievably fast, refreshing results as you key in filters almost before you can blink. Google’s purchase of the IATA Software flight engine a decade ago didn’t turn into the game-changer many predicted. Many other aggregators canvass FlightNetwork as part of their results, but given the customer reports, using it might be best for itineraries you don’t anticipate having to change. The company is reportedly slow to respond or offer refunds, and dissatisfied customers have posted online about having to pay fees even when flights were canceled. It just shows a note that you’ll "be able to add baggage during check-in or at the airport." Checked bags can cost $30 to $100 a pop each way, so we expect better communication.įinally, many people report running into problems with customer service, especially when it comes to canceled flights and altered itineraries. Not only doesn't it disclose baggage fees, it also won’t let you bundle them into the fare. Although its six-week APEX fares prices for New York to Paris were the best of our bunch, its last-minute prices on the same route were the worst. By far the priciest when it came to last-minute fares, FlightNetwork was also the only site that couldn’t locate a direct flight to Japan even with a full six weeks’ notice. Yes, it found among the lowest last-minute fares for Miami–Rio and Philly–Rome, but it really dropped the ball on L.A.–Tokyo. Fares within 1% of one another were considered equal.įlightNetwork, a Canadian online travel agency (you’ll have to do your own currency conversions), makes our top 10 for the first time-but its results were all over the place. We then used a complicated, weighted scoring system for each route search that rewards two points to any site that finds the best fares, one point for second-best, nothing for average results, a negative point for high prices, and minus two for the sites that returned the worst fares. Airlines may think such routings make for viable plans, but we don’t. We have no time for, um, “creative” itineraries that would be hell to fly-so we discarded results that increased total travel time by more than half through excessively long layovers, too many stops, or flying way out of the way just to change planes. We threw in a curve ball (Denver to New Delhi) and even included a flight with no North American legs (London–Barcelona) to see how well each contestant handled Europe‘s wilderness of low-cost carriers. We covered major gateways (NYC to LAX, Miami to Rio) and secondary ones (Philadelphia to Rome). We tried both last-minute flights (leaving the coming weekend) and APEX fares (booked six weeks out). A lack of price transparency is standard operating procedure for the highly competitive aviation industry.We tested 19 sites on the same 28 itineraries. NPR requested specifics from the airlines, including a list of cities impacted and ceilings for the caps. Airlines said they'd limit fare increases through the weekend, but the details are fuzzyĪs Southwest's cancellation wave drags on, airlines including American, Alaska, Delta and United all said they'd impose fare caps domestically for the next few days. You should also check the options again later: Sometimes an airline will add back a cheaper economy seat when they finalize crew schedules or flight changes. Sometimes clicking through might reveal it as a business or first-class ticket. Potter said a good practice is to check your eye-popping fare with the airline's website. "Airlines regularly pull certain fares from sale in the waning days before a flight – they don't want to offload their cheapest fare classes last minute and may need to keep some seats open for crew, upgrades, flight changes, etc.," Potter said.
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