Just FYI, I'm considering a fall trip and have been checking airfares. I've been a big fan of Kayak for the last year - but I've recently found that Kayak does not show certain options that appear when I check directly with an airline's website.

For example, if I check PDX-LJU (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and return PRG-PDX, Kayak shows no option with only one change (Amsterdam) to LJU. But I figured out on my own that I can connect to a Adria Airlines flight from AMS to LJU. I thought I might have to book that on my own. But then I happened to try checking directly on KLM.com and they will let me buy it all as one ticket! (And the price is decent; and if I miss my somewhat tight connection in AMS, KLM would still get me there eventually since they booked the whole thing as a single ticket.) For some reason, this was not an option with Kayak even though they are showing KLM flights.

So word to the wise: if you have a preferred airline for a trip to Europe, Kayak may be a nice place to start but checking with that preferred airline's website directly might be wise.

I like to look at Kayak or Mobissimus to gauge the market for costs and best timetables, but then I go to the airline and see if they can do bettter, as you say.

I'd always assumed Kayak was different from Orbitz and Travelocity et al because Kayak didn't actually book anything - they checked other websites like Orbitz, CheapTickets, as well as the airline websites and then referred on on. That's why I was surprised to find different results on KLM directly. I would expect Orbiz and the others to give me different results.

I prefer to book directly with an airline to ensure I will have some form of customer service if there is a problem with my flights.

I start out checking Kayak and other such sites. I have found differences in the flights listed on sites that provide aggregated information and individual airline sites, but I've never understood how the aggregated information sites differ one from the other.

I'm not very organized and often lose track of flights available but for the most appealing schedule and price options - I start to note it all down and then give up as the options multiply (between different dates, airlines, airports, prices, non-stop vs one stop, websites, etc). I usually assume discrepancies are due to my overlooking information rather than it being absent (!).

I check the general pricing and schedules on some combination of Kayak, Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz and then turn to the individual airlines where I feel I will be served best.

For my last two purchases, my airline of choice had flight options not listed on the aggregated sites and the price was competitive.

Sign me,
Confused

Right, I generally always book directly with the airlines as well. Kayak has been helpful because it checks all those airline websites (well, most of them) as well as Orbitz, cheaptickets, and others - and then you just follow its links to book directly with the airline. The idea of Kayak is supposed to be that it saves you the effort of checking all those other sites. Apparently, not. Kayak definitely checks KLM.com but for some reason doesn't get all the results, as I found out.

And as I said, you can't actually book anything with Kayak - they aren't Orbitz, which will sell you a ticket. Kayak just directs you to Orbitz and the other websites that will book tickets for you.

I shop around on Expedia and others but I buy direct from my airline. I always find decent prices and feel much more secure that way.

oh and thanks for the tip about Kayak. It's been recommended to me but I didn't realize how it worked.

I still think Kayak is great - I've found some great deals through them. But from now on I'll keep this little caveat in mind!

I have fond itasoftware.com to be a much more useful aggregator site than Kayak but to each their own