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Throw Out the Rulebook on Tickets
The Travel Tightwad · June 14, 2002

Forget everything you know - or think you know - about finding a cheap airline ticket on the Web.

Sites that sell so-called "last-minute" tickets constantly add and remove inventory. But now the pace of those changes is accelerating beyond what most travel experts believed possible.

The old rules no longer apply with these dot-coms on steroids, meaning that you've got to think quicker, act more decisively, and learn to play the airfare game better when you’re ready to buy.

Michelle Peluso, who runs Site59.com, a website that specializes in last-minute vacation packages, says airlines are more aggressively discounting their tickets with shorter lead times since last fall. "We sometimes get even greater price breaks from many suppliers seven days in advance, instead of two weeks, so for those really willing to wait, even better deals can often be had," she says.

It's not just the nature of price reductions, but also the location of the cheap tickets, called "distressed inventory," that is noteworthy.

Each website that sells tickets has access to different offers, based on agreements that the company makes with the carrier. For example, Travelocity offers special access to fares from American Airlines; Expedia has excellent Northwest Airlines tickets, and Cheap Tickets offers an abundance of Delta Air Lines inventory.

Ticket availability fluctuates by season, demand, and even time of day. So you can never be entirely sure what you're going to find on one of these sites. There's evidence, too, that the rate at which the inventory levels change is quickening, as the software that manages the tickets becomes more sophisticated.

Think of it as shooting at a bucket filled with water in which a goldfish is swimming. You can aim at the bucket, but you can never be certain if you're going to hit the fish.

Do you have to become a sharpshooter - a travel insider - to find out where the last-minute deals are? No. Even the experts can't predict where and when a desired fare is going to pop up on a given site, especially in this new era of aggressive, fast-paced ticket pricing.

You just need a good strategy - a net, if you will. Genia Collins, who works for an insurance company in Norcross, GA, has developed one that works for her. In order to find an appealing last-minute fare she starts at Hotwire, which generally gives a good idea of what the bargain-basement fares for her itinerary ought to be.

"Then I go to Orbitz, and I see if there's a comparable fare," she says. Why Orbitz? Because unlike Hotwire, you know which airline you're using - and you can exercise greater control over your itinerary. Collins' next stop is the airline's own website. If it's being offered there, she can often save five percent, plus get a booking bonus like additional frequent flier miles.

"If the fare is not available on the site, I shoot over to Expedia since they seem to be offering some fantastic deals lately not available anywhere," she says. "After all this, and maybe a trip to Cheap Tickets, if I haven't found a fare I'm comfortable with and if my flight times are flexible and if I want to sacrifice those miles, I'll go to Priceline to bid."

This "flowchart" helps Collins save hundreds of dollars on airline tickets. But while jumping between these particular sites may work for her, it probably won't for you. Why? Because you have to develop your own strategy that takes into consideration everything from your preferred airline to the new realities of distressed inventory.

Next week, I'll show you how to create your own website flowchart - and what to do with it.

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator based in Key Largo, Fla. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion.