I'm starting to see some pretty good airfare deals to Germany on Lufthansa from DFW. However, the airline's web site is the most expensive. Cheap Tickets, Expedia and Orbitz are cheaper. Which of those has better service, less problems with their on-line booking systems?

I would love to hear your personal experiences with these services since I've only booked using the airlines directly in the past.

I have used Orbitz several times, but only once for Europe.
I have never had any problem with them. Of course, I have never had to cancel a trip.

For a while now, I check the Expedia, Orbitz ect . . sites to see who is flying and what the deals might be. When it came to booking, I check the airline site and invariably get as good or better a price direct with the airline. .

Happy hunting . . Rich

We purchased tickets to Europe from Cheapseats.com and had no trouble. Their prices were literally hundreds of dollars less than Orbitz, Travelocity, etc. I was a bit nervous about using them since they aren't as well known as the biggies, but the tix are now in my file cabinet, waiting to be used.

I do the same as Rich. I check the deals and find the flights that I want. THEN I call the airline and tell them what I want. It's always a little cheaper than oline. We fly from DFW also!

I bought three tickets to Rome in 2001 on cheaptickets.com. Three days before the trip I had to canceled due to a family loss. I called Cheaptickets.com and explained. Their rep was very understanding over the phone, told me to mail a certified copy of the death certificate to get reimbursed. Within 8-10 days of mailing the document my credit card was credited every penny I had spent on tickets. That is what I call customer service.

That said, after a very bad experience with flights.com, if I can buy the tickets directly with the airline, that is my preference.

I generally check Expedia and the others and then try to deal directly with the airline and get them to match the fares at least..if they do I go with the airline. If they don't I go with the lowest priced site. I've had consistently good results with Expedia in terms of service and so forth although every now and then they have been a bit difficult to reach by phone, so I usually try to call them early in the AM from the East Coast.

Answer: one site does not consistently offer the best fares, along with the others mentioned already I recommend:

http://beta.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/prego
www.flights.com
www.qixo.com

and for site that you must download search programs:
www.sidestep.com
http://www.travelogia.com/boardingpass/download.asp

lately, I've been finding the best fares direct through AA