The Travelling Trini, cause he travels a lot, often gets asked “What’s the best web-site for the cheapest airline fares.”
I always answer: “ITA Software” (http://www.itasoftware.com)
It does two things exceptional well. One of which has nothing really to do with airlines fares.
A: If your trip requires a connection, ITA Software appears to apply some magic in finding the lowest fare. Most airline fare web-sites will retrieve a list of options from each airline in response to the question “what are your options for A to B?”. What ITA Software does is use the fare databases published by the airlines to find suitable connections that possibly cross airlines. For example the fare from every airline from Dallas to Chicago might be $450. But if Northwest has a fare sale from Dallas to Memphis and United has a fare sale from Memphis to Chicago, ITA Software will put those fares (and flight times) together and add it into your result. ITA Software also correctly deals with red-eye flights correctly and will provide a TOTAL fare. It’s the weapon the traveler needs to find all the options.
B: ITA Software, is in the business of selling their fare search engine to other companies such as: Air Canada, US Airways, Continental etc. As a result, two wonderful things happen which make ITA Software, in my opinion, the best airline fare web-site out there.
The first is that ITA Software’s ability to pair together multiple airlines is non-existant. Air Canada doesn’t sell Westjet tickets, so Air Canada’s ‘version’ of ITA Software’s fare search engine doesn’t include Westjet tickets. This is one of their best features, which is available at ITA’s own website.
The second is ITA Software’s use of basic HTML. When I mean basic, I mean it looks like the web of 1999; and that’s just what the doctor ordered. I guessing this is to any complaints from their true customers (i.e. airlines) from complaining about out-glitzing ITA. That’s fine by me!
The web site is efficient. For example the result grid has airlines, stops (non, one, two), prices, times, flight durations and more. Want to select only flights by an airline? Click on it. Want to choose one stop flights on one airline? Click on it.
As a result, it’s just a straight up web site that delivers what a web site should be. It’s extremely fast, easy to find and drill down to any information you require. It hasn’t changed in many years, and still represents my airline web-site of choice. It just works.
– The Travelling Trini
