Which one of these have you had better experiences with? Or are they both about the same? (Have only purchased online thru airline websites, so far).

From my experience Orbitz has it all over Expedia and Travelocity in reviewing lowest fares of one carrier vs. another, and in ordering tickets. Orbitz is just so responsive ... they confirm ASAP, and then the next day e-mail a complete itinerary. Yesterday, I ordered tickets over Orbitz, and the only snafu, they didn't get the seat assignments correct. But they were fast. It is so simple to see fares. I find the other two a bit out of date and almost cumbersome. I am also seeing that Travelocity is very uneven in alerting me to my fare watcher cities. I really like Orbitz's approach adn tone. But that is just my experience ... others may feel differently. Ciao, L

Fran-
L has it right in my opinion. I travel a lot and usually buy off airline web sites, but 4 or 5 times I have found the best rate on Orbitz. As an example, I booked tickets to Dallas earlier this month from Nashville. The best rate I could find with any carrier was $402 on Delta. Looking at Orbitz, I found 3 different airlines, including Northwest, with tickets at $255. I am a platinum elite member on Northwest Airlines(100K miles/yr), so I called the WorldPerks reservations number. The Northwest people couldn't tell me why they offered better rates at Orbitz than they had via the phone or their own web site.

I know that Orbitz is owned by 6 or 7 airlines, so that may also influence the rates they offer. Just know that if you are looking to book on Southwest, their flights are not shown on Orbitz. Good luck!

I used to be a Travelocity fan and customer. However, I would never buy tickets through them again since I had a very bad, and still ongoing problem with them. I purchased seven of their "Good buy" fares for travel very soon after the WTC events. They were very difficult to deal with but had to grant a refund after my flight was eventually cancelled. I mailed in my paper tickets to the refund department as instructed and now that department is denying my refund. Hello! Your Customer Service Department approved it already! Don't these departments communicate with each other?? Anyway, save yourself the hassle unless you can save enough money to make it worthwhile. For my part, I can't say how much savings would make my headaches worthwhile. I spent about three full days on hold SO FAR.

Neither! use Cheaptickets, or Orbitz

I am going to try Orbitz next time I fly!

I had an unpleasant experience with Expedia. Apparently, when you are in the process of purchasing airline tickets, they secure room on your credit card before they check the seat availability on your flight. When they find there's no room available on the flight you have to try again BUT the amount of money they've "preauthorized" on your credit card takes a few days to disappear. So if you do this a few times you will run out of room on your credit card before you've purchased any airline tickets. (I was purchasing a multi-leg itinerary for four people - $5000.)Of course, I called them and they were very understanding and attempted to help me out. Unfortunately, you can't call Expedia and expect to speak to the same person ever again so it was nearly impossible for me to call my credit card company and then call Expedia back. After about three hours on the phone back and forth I finally got my airline tickets but be forewarned!

Travelocity drives me crazy with their membership program. No, I don't want to join! Stop asking me!

Do not use Expedia. I got stuck in Europe during 9/11/01. There was no way to get a hold of Expedia in Europe. There is no toll free number from Europe. I tried e-mail but they said I had to call by phone.
My flights were cancelled and Expedia still has not refunded my money. I had to buy another ticket for over $1000.00 to get back from France.

Another vote for Orbitz. I've used Travelocity on a few occasions but lately have been using Orbitz. They consistently have the best selection of fares available when I check and I find their websit to be very easy to negotiate.

Not Travelocity! I wouldn't know how reliable Expedia is, but just try to make contact with a real person at Travelocity when something goes wrong with your booking(as it did with us in Tucson at the Days Inn).Their way of dealing with problems and complaints is very simple, but hardly comforting to the unlucky customer!

I like to start with Sidestep. Then, I go to the individual airlines for comparison. However, I'll check with the others as well. Last month, Expedia came in $100 cheaper than the others for SDf-MCO. I've never had any trouble booking through any of them. (Travelocity doesn't list SW airlines either)

The original post was unearthed after over a year - I hope the traveler has found a good airfare by now.

Can't comment on Travelocity but wld. suggest staying away from Expedia. We reserved & paid for seats to Florida back in July for travel in Dec. Last week Expedia sent us an email to advise that our flight schedule had changed "significantly" You bet it did!
We went from good connections in the middle of the day to a very early departure flight & a 5 hour layover. We have been given the run-around by Expedia. They can get us flights that are close to the original departure times w/ similar connections on another carrier but the "new" flights cost almost double what we paid back in July. If we go that route our "paper tickets" will have to be mailed back & a refund will take approximately 3 months!! Why does payment only take 3 seconds but refunds take at least 3 months???

I like Travelocity's Fare Watcher and have gotten some really good deals. Does Orbitz have a similar feature? I have looked and couldn't find it.