|
AIRFARE DEALS
NEWS & ADVICE
BARK ABOUT IT
HELP
Login
|
| |  | | | | | | | | | |
 The Airfarewatchdog Blog
The ultimate (well, very cool) flexible travel date airfare search chart
Posted by George on Thursday, May 07, 2009
With fares going higher, and low fare seats getting scarcer, there is no better time than now to brush up on your flexible date search skills. If you don't particularly care when you fly as long as there's a cheap fare, flexible is the way to go. To help you, we've put together this nifty chart (we're all about charticles these days, have you noticed?) and some important tips to help you distinguish between the various Web sites offering flex search. Most sites let you search only over a 30 day period of your choice, both for the outward bound and the return flight (these include Cheaptickets, Hotwire, and Orbitz). Allegiant and Southwest, however, allow you to search over one 30 day period on the outbound and any other on the return. Then there are Travelocity and Cheapair, both of which allow a 330 day search. Only problem is, they're not very good at guaranteeing that there will be seats available at the fares initially shown in the search, whereas the other sites do a better job at this (the reason is that these searches take up a lot of computer processing power, and you can't have it both ways: a long date range search, or better seat availability predictions). And there are other distinctions between search sites, as the chart below shows. Some do one-way searches, others don't; most allow you to search for more than one seat, Travelocity doesn't; some do searches on routes from the US and Canada to international destinations (even if they say they don't); and others do not. And some charge fees, others give you a free ride (many online travel agencies have suspended booking fees through May 31, 2009). Alaska Airlines in July (2008) added a nice 30 day search; and American has had a 31 day search for quite a while, as has Southwest. But most airlines are limited in their flexible date searches, which is a shame. 
Users are solely responsible for the content of the comments posted. Comments are subject to
the Terms of Use and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or approval of AirfareWatchdog.com.
AirfareWatchdog.com does not control or endorse the content, messages or information posted. Reader CommentsClick here to post a comment
excellent, when will this be ready?
by S. Joe on
Friday, July 25, 2008
Great info as always!
by bwilly on
Friday, July 25, 2008
One correction: ITA does allow for "Alternate Airports", as you can specify the mileage range that you want your search to cover from your central airport.
by GBadger on
Friday, July 25, 2008
Sorry!!
Comment withdrawn, as I noticed that the "Alternate Airports" is probably only for the flex search tools being discussed here (and not for all of the tools on the site).
ITA does NOT have flex search for 30-day searches.
by GBadger on
Friday, July 25, 2008
But, you can use the ITA routing language (see the help section) to suggest your own alternate cities.
Something like:
FROM: BOS;PVD;MHT
TO: ORD
would search from all of the From airports for the cheapest airfare available.
Sorry for the multiple posts, but there's not "Edit" feature!
by GBadger on
Friday, July 25, 2008
Zuji.com (Travelocity spawn) still works 330 days flexible world-wide if you tell it you are searching from Hong Kong. Of course you have to do currency conversions to figure out exactly WHAT the cheapest fare is in your own currency but 2870 HKD is always going to be cheaper than 4355 HKD no matter how you look at it... :)
by Zeke on
Friday, July 25, 2008
This chart doesn't appear to work in FireFox (but does in IE)...
by JB on
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Why am I able to print ONLY 1 page of the Flexible Travel Page and ONLY 1 page of the Flexible Travel Date Search Chart?
by Laurie Anderson on
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
> This chart doesn't appear to work in FireFox (but does in IE)..
it is no true, chart does appear in firefox very well
by testicular cancer symptoms on
Monday, March 30, 2009
Man, what a great list! I've used Kayak and of course, airfarewatchdog, but I haven't heard of most of the other sites. Printing right now.. ;)
by Tom on
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Hello. Greetings to all. Help me! Please help find sites for: Order cialis. I found only this - Cialis levitra viagra. Buy viagra cialis levitra propecia reductil xenical champix in uk. When you find someone email and there are no details about who the person is, how can you find out? Thanks for the help :o, Agustin from Montenegro.
by Agustin on
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Hello everyone. All great truths begin as blasphemies. Help me! Can not find sites on the: Microsoft iscsi initiator download. I found only this - iscsi discovery. Double-click the microsoft iscsi event customer on the desktop.Click can ensure the service tag in a repeatability's dmi switch.At this performance, portal boot traffic need mentioned module for separate small throughput of the link that tape guessed. Control products are distributed to select the microsoft iscsi software operation competition.Most of the floors increase readerpush-button, but edition connections can not be based.Cisco ever owns virtual site due. Thank you very much :confused:. Cleon from Lithuania.
by Cleon on
Saturday, October 17, 2009
ne correction: ITA does allow for "Alternate Airports", as you can specify the mileage range that you want your search to cover from your central airport.
by air nike shoes on
Saturday, October 24, 2009
It's so hard these days to secure low fare seat flights. It;s no so that ITA allows for alternative airports.
by baby shower invitation wording on
Monday, October 26, 2009
This is a very nice chart you provided here. Keep it up!
by Air Transportation on
Monday, October 26, 2009
This is a one in town cool air travel chart.
by Photo Album Demo on
Monday, October 26, 2009
We actually had one traveler who had to pay $3000 for extra luggage for a flight from Beijing to Oslo... on a business class ticket. The moral - always be sure your ticket starts or ends in the USA!!!Thanks for sharing it.
Nice article, very helpful. Thanks!
Nike shoes USA||Air yeezy USA
by thanks.very helpful. on
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
A piece of women's Ralph Lauren polo
shirt in Slicker Yellow
ed hardy.It is
designed chic and comfortable.The
excellent quality and classic design
make this Ralph Lauren polo shirt an
essential in this season
ed hardy clothing!
Check your size and order now!Multiple
colors are available. Two mother-of-
pearl buttons at the placket.
Ribbed polo collar armbands,
ralph lauren polo
uneven vented hem.
Our embroidered Big Pony accents the
left chest.juicy couture
Leather gunpatch accents the right
shoulder.
by tiffany jewelry on
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Love this man. Great stuff, great prices, free shipping. Email him if you cant find what you are looking for and he will look for you. Good customer service.louis vuittonSomeone who is knowledgeable in louis vuitton.Another guy from hong Kong (Largest louis vuitton second hand city, I believe) he has great stuff at fair prices but his shipping is insane
by louis vuitton on
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thanks for putting this chat together. I always mind when to travel when there is cheap airfare. The main problem is that the fares swing all the time, and cheaper fare seats are hard to secure.
by Rave Light on
Saturday, October 31, 2009
This is an excellent chart, I introduced it to a few of my friends, they all benefit from it. Thanks
----------------
Mp3 rockets
by jump manual on
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
I'm on the lookout for flexible airfare cost and take a jump whenever it's cheap. I really don't mind the time, as long as it's cheap.
by Traffic School on
Thursday, November 05, 2009
I would say go with expedia, their policy is just great!
by wedding cakes on
Saturday, November 07, 2009 Post a Comment
Return to Blog listing... |
Named "Best Cheap Flight Finder" by Money Magazine, 2009 Follow us on Twitter Get the latest deals and promo codes "tweeted" to you.
Join us on Facebook Visit the AFWD Store Visit our United Kingdom Site Useful airline fee and other charts Online Travel Agencies and Aggregators
Book your air, cruises, rental cars and hotels with these links and you'll help Airfarewatchdog find you low fares.
Booking Buddy CheapAir
Merchandise
Amazon.com
Use this link to buy stuff on Amazon and we get a 6 % commission; it costs you nothing extra
|