Do you love finding low airfares, either for yourself or family and friends? Great! How would you like doing it for millions of people?
Airfarewatchdog.com, named "Best Cheap Flight Finder" by Money Magazine, is on the hunt for someone like you. You'll help maintain our fare database, scouring every possible source to find the lowest possible fares in various markets.
When we say we're hiring "Fare Analysts," it's not just a fancy name we made up. You'll actually be analyzing airfares, using your noggin and not a computer program, to see if an airfare is a "deal" or not.
As an Airfarewatchdog Fare Analyst, you'll spend your day asking, and answering, questions like these--questions that those automated airfare sites can't answer, because only real live human people like you can:
1) OK, so JetBlue is offering a $20 off coupon today on all flights. Their lowest fare from New York to LA is $218. But US Air has that route for $148 today. But US Air isn't nonstop. So which is the better deal? JetBlue for $218-$20 on a nonstop or the US Air sale fare? Or are both "decent" fares?
2) Spirit Airlines is offering a $9 fare, plus a $50 off "coupon". Does that mean that their Boston to Myrtle Beach fare really less than $0, since the taxes on that route are $35?
3) Baltimore to Detroit on Travelocity is $98 today. But Travelocity and Orbitz and the rest don't include Southwest's fares. So what is Southwest.com charging on that route today?
4) LA to London is pretty darn expensive for summer travel right now. Should we wait until there's a sale to list fares on Airfarewatchdog? Wait, Air New Zealand flies that route and sometimes has low fares you can only buy on their site. Let's see what they're offering today.
5) Southwest just announced a 50% off coupon code to Phoenix. Oops, looks like United has reacted with fares that are a bit lower. But many of Southwest's fares to Phoenix are valid on nonstop flights. Which fares should we tell people about?
You get the picture. It's sort of like being a travel agent, but you're not actually booking--just looking. And instead of doing it for one person at a time, you're doing it for our 2 million monthly visitors.
This is a full time, work-at-home position (you can also work in offices in Boston if you get lonely working at home). And home should be in or around Boston, orDetroit, or Windsor Ontario ideally, because training (which is paid) must take place in those cities. Work approximately 40 hours per week, including a couple of Saturdays and Sundays per month. Basic knowledge of web browsers and excellent PC or Mac skills. Travel background helpful but not essential. Passion for finding low airfares is essential.
The successful candidate will have the ability to work independently at home in a distraction-free environment. Speed, accuracy, brains, and attention to detail are key attributes we're looking for.
In addition to a competitive salary, you'll get a great benefits package (we're a TripAdvisor company), including 3 weeks paid vacation to start (maxing out at 5 weeks), matching 401K, and lots more.
Here's the official job description:
Airfarewatchdog Airfare Analyst (Full-time) Airfarewatchdog.com, a division of TripAdvisor.com, is an award-winning airfare listing and alert site used by over 2 million users every month. Working with other team members, the airfare analyst is responsible for hunting down airfare bargains from the US to anywhere in the world, and entering these airfares in a computerized database, while also checking on airfares already in the database. Reports to: Manager, Airfare Analysts Hours: Full time (40 hours per week), which will include Saturdays and Sundays, plus occasional holidays. Responsibilities:
-Maintain and update database of fares for Airfarewatchdog. This includes checking existing fares for accuracy, deleting fares that are no longer a good value, and evaluating and posting new fares as appropriate. -Monitor assigned airline and third-party web sites on a daily basis for new fares and routes, paying attention to seat availability, rules, and restrictions in order to provide reader users with the highest probability of being able to take advantage -Stay current on airline rules, practices, media releases, and general sales -Interact with programmers to report bugs, admin site performance issues, and admin tool enhancements Requirements: 1-3 years experience using the internet to find airfares as a consumer or travel professional Travel background helpful but not essential Basic knowledge of web browsers and excellent PC or Mac skills
To apply, send a cover letter telling us why you'd be the perfect candidate along with a resume to jobs@airfarewatchdog.com. Only qualified candidates chosen for an interview will be contacted.
Fly from Los Angeles to Milwaukee for $237 round-trip, including all taxes, on United.
We found seats available for travel in May, though other spring dates are also available beginning as soon as March. When searching Hotwire's flex search calendar, select the lowest fare ($250) to reveal the lower fare of $237.
Fly from New York to Las Vegas for $256 round-trip, including all taxes, on Southwest.
Seats are scarce, but we did manage to spot a few scattered dates for spring travel, including the May itinerary seen below. The last date of travel is late September.
Fly from New York to Los Angeles for $280 round-trip, nonstop, including all taxes on Delta Air Lines.
We found seats departing April 25, returning April 30. Other dates also available for travel throughout March, April, and May, excluding peak travel periods (looking at you, spring break).
And yes, Los Angelenos, this fare does work in reverse. For booking info, see our Fare Details.
Looking for signs of spring? No need to strain those eyeballs – at these ten incredible indoor green spaces, there's always plenty of colorful flora to go around.
1. Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, Pittsburgh Brightening up winter around these parts since the 1800s, a gigantic Victorian-style conservatory features a variety of fixed and temporary exhibits; on select Fridays this year, the beautiful Tropical Forest garden hosts Party in the Tropics, a blowout with beach-worthy cocktails and bites, along with a live DJ you can dance to (phipps.conservatory.org).
2. Eden Project, Cornwall, England It may be a trek to get there, but the world's largest controlled jungle, beautiful Mediterranean landscapes, all under massive geodesic domes in a former quarry, is well worth a journey. Until the King Abdullah International Gardens in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia are completed – they're still under construction – the Eden Project brags the world's largest indoor gardens (edenproject.com).
3. Gardens by the Bay, Singapore Inside a 250-acre bayfront open space – part of the gigantic Marina Bay development just steps away from the mighty towers of Singapore's banking district – you'll find two of the world's grandest conservatories, showcasing the exotic-for-these-parts flora of mountainous and semi-arid regions. For more tropical greenery, you are of course in Singapore – that’s everywhere, including the impressively-zen Changi Airport, with its popular orchid and butterfly gardens (gardensbythebay.org.sg).
4. Montreal Botanical Garden, Quebec From desert to rainforest to an acclaimed Insectarium, it's all indoors in this northern city that's short on greenery for nearly half the year (tourisme-montreal.org).
5. Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania A whopping 4.5 acres of glass-topped greenery make this 1,000-plus acre jewel near Philadelphia a year-round destination. It's hard to imagine once you're here – it's so, so big –but this was once a private estate, just another piece of the DuPont family empire, HQ'd just to the south in Wilmington, Delaware (longwoodgardens.org).
6. Botanischer Garten, Berlin The acres (upon acres) of outdoor garden at this important green space may be in slumber for another few weeks or so, but inside the 1.5 acres of conservatory – don't miss the bamboo forest in the giant Great Pavilion, or the impressive cactus collection – it's green as can be (bgbm.org).
7. Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago This 100-plus year-old oasis in a tough corner of the Windy City's west side is one of the best things most visitors to Chicago will never see; that's good and bad; good because at times, you'll have acres of tropical garden all to yourself (now there's a little thrill, particularly during a Midwest winter), bad because more people need to see – and support – this place, which needs help more than ever, after a brutal 2011 hailstorm that caused tremendous damage (garfield-conservatory.org).
8. The New York Botanical Garden, New York City Imagine Central Park, but with fewer people. And more elaborate landscaping. That pretty much sums up this green lung that beats at the heart of The Boogie Down, just a short ride on the Metro-North Railroad from Grand Central Terminal. While trails through true treasures such as the city's lone old-growth forest are beautiful at any time of year, come winter, the real action's indoors at the 110 year-old Haupt Conservatory, an ornate crystal palace that – if you can believe it – was almost torn down in the 1970s due to decay (nybg.org).
Want to see the lowest available fares to New York JFK, LGA, and EWR.
9. Yumenoshima Tropical Greenhouse Dome, Tokyo From carnivorous plants to the unique flora of Japan's Bonin Islands – sometimes referred to as the Galapagos of the Orient – it's all about the unusual at this multi-domed attraction on Tokyo Bay. In all, expect approximately 1,000 species of plant, including a beautiful rainforest section, with waterfall and everything (yumenoshima.jp – in Japanese).
10. United States Botanic Garden, Washington DC A beautiful conservatory built in the 1930s – designed by the same architect responsible for the nearby Capitol – is a winter highlight of this national garden, brightening up its corner of the National Mall and offering the fastest possible escape from a wet, cold DC winter (and into the tropics) you're going to find (usbg.gov).