I've been looking for airfares for next summer, early June. On some sites, like orbitz, they are very high (this is from Calif-Paris) about $9500-1000rt, then on justfares and travelhub much lower around $6-700 rt. What is the deal here??? Are these OK sites to use? Any catches?? Why such a big difference? And, should I wait a while longer before I buy for next June??<BR>Thank you for your help,<BR>Lynn

Lynn -<BR><BR>The experience I have had is that it is just as bad to buy a ticket too early as it is too buy one too late. Airlines are very good at estimating how many seats will be sold on flights but only a month or two out. Anything outside that time frame, I think they feel that they have you. I never buy a ticket more than two or three months in advance. Most of the websites (Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz or the airlines own sites) are on the level and can be trusted. I generally use one or two of these to get an idea of what the lowest fare is, then go to the airline website where most often it is the same or less. <BR>

The cheaper site will transport you via teradactyl

I never found good international fares on orbitz, expedia, etc. Travel Hub is a consolidator. Consolidators buy blocks of seats on flights at a cheap rate and then re-sell them---this is where travel agencies buy their tickets. They will almost invariably have lower fares than the fare quoted by the airlines. <BR><BR>I bought my most recent ticket through Travel Hub. I wasn't able to get exactly the itinerary I wanted, but it was very close. The day after I bought my ticket, I called Delta to make sure they had my reservation...they did and everything was fine. I saved about $400 compared to the next closest fare.

I've used Flight Coordinators to travel from California to France with good results (800 544-3644)

I seacond Jeanne's advise, I just saved 480 per ticket for Italy in October.

Jeanne,<BR>Unless your ticket was about $200, I don't think you saved as much as you think. I could get a ticket to Europe almost year round for about $600, and that includes ff miles. Right now any airline site, or the major travel sites have fares to Europe for about $550-600.<BR>LYNN,I would wait on your ticket till you see a big sale, and that will happen about 3-4 months before next June.

Another option is to use the airlines vacation depts, e.g. www.aavacations.com, deltavacations, etc. Your hotel choice is limited, but you can bulk package airfare. I've found that it is very hard to beat the price of their airfare when packaged in a vacation like this, but you can usually save a few dollars on the hotel. Consider booking the flights for the duration you need (e.g. 7 days), but booking the hotel for the minimum required (e.g. 2 nights), then book any hotel you want for the other 4 nights. I've done this many times, especially snow skiing in the Rockies.<BR><BR>--Billy

I recently bought tickets on justfares. They were great.

Love, <BR>Are you referring to flights from a major US city to a major European city? My Atlanta/CDG flight is around $600. But I have to catch a flight to Atlanta first and that adds to my fare. Please tell us where you find the lowest fares.<BR> <BR>

Its going to be very hard to find decent air fares. A few airlines are filing for bankruptcy. cutting a lot of routes so they wont have a lot of empty seats.

I checked all available web sites for fares from Montana to Nice for a flight in Sept. I then called a travel agent and she got me the lowest price through a consolidator even after paying the travel agents fee!!!{I am NOT an agent}

I always check airline tickets at www.economytravel.com It will come up as the select travel site. They seem to give the best prices and I can also use it to determine routes and airlines. I purchased rt LAX to London in March/April 2002 from them for $400 (not including tax and fees). I tried Priceline for the first time in July and got LAX to CDG (Paris)on Sept. 23 for $300 (not including tax and fees)roundtrip. The best price from a consolidators was around $500 at the time I purchased. I'm pretty happy about these prices. Happy hunting for a great fare