Good for you Ron.<BR><BR>It's fun for bargain hunters like us to search the web for lower and lower prices.<BR><BR>It's hard to imagine what we did before the internet.

I've used Expedia previously (over the years) with no problem and fabulous results (amazing hotel and air fare rates). Lately, though (and I do shop like the dickens each and every time), I've found them far inferior to other resources. For air fare, for example, I've found there are far better fares just about everywhere, including booking through the airlines directly. Same with hotels. Plenty of times Expedia has shown "no rooms available for your dates" when the hotel's direct booking has rooms and various other resources offer rooms at the same properties for considerably less. I'm just guessing here, but it would seem to me that Expedia has partnered with certain airlines and assumes you shop nowhere else, and if they have no rooms or seats they've pre-purchased (you didn't USED to have to PREPAY to book a hotel) for corresponding hotels or airlines, they indicate there are "no rooms/seats available for your dates" alleging the hotel/plane is full, when it is NOT. But, here's the real test - e-mail them and see how long you wait for a response. Try calling them on the phone and see how long you are on hold while they are "assisting other customers". How long before your receive a response? One day, two days? How long are you on hold? How many times does it take to get a human being on the phone??? I gave up entirely on Expedia last time I tried to phone. After being on hold and giving up for 20 minutes or more several times a day for three days, I finally got a "person" who told me "I cannot do anything for you that you cannot do for yourself on our website, have you tried e-mail?" Believe me when I tell you, there is SUCH competition all over for everything these days that the "good deal" you think is available with Expedia is more than likely available all over the web and through all sorts of other resources. Expedia may not, for sure, be the best deal, anyway. In my estimation, you have to shop like the dickens, know what you're doing, and read all the fine print. As for "e-tickets" versus printed tickets, you still have to check your bags and acquire boarding passes most of the time, so there's really no advantage to paper tickets, assuming you haven't left them home or misplaced them. There is NO such thing as HASSLE FREE at the airport. No matter what, you will have overlooked something you were not aware of.

Hi Donna,<BR>Thanks for your view. I'm well aware of "anything can happen" at the airport-- been there, done that.<BR>Just wanted to add that I called Alamo directly for an SUV rental. Was quoted a price $20.00 less than what Expedia is offering (I've been checking sites for months now & Expedia was the best on-line rate I could find). Anyway, I was able to reserve the vehicle directly w/Alamo, with my "B.J.'s wholesale club card" and save an additional 5%. Plus, I had a $20.00 coupon from B.J.'s that I was credited. Total cost will be $591. for twelve days for an SUV (this out of Salt Lake City). I went ahead with this deal, felt pretty good to me. I'll continue to occasionally check back at Alamo until I leave for my trip, you never know what specials they may run.<BR>P.S. Hertz was over $100.00 more, even with my AAA membership.<BR>Thanks for all the posts.