Flight Blog
News and Tips about Air Travel, Business / Industry, Flying, Airplanes, and other fun

I just wrote this email to a friend, and it’s worth sharing. In the past year the online cheap flight-deal landscape has changed. Things aren’t as simple — no, but they’re better. Witness the CheapAir flexible travel search: You don’t need to enter your desired dates, just your destination. Type in where you want to go and it returns all your options, with what dates they’re available. That’s pretty sweet functionality you couldn’t find last year.

So, here are the places I go now when looking to fly:

1. Air Fare Watchdog: I start here, scouting any deals on destinations that the flight searches might not turn up.
2. Orbitz: I go here next if my dates are set in stone.
3. CheapAir: I go here if my dates aren’t concrete.
4. Mobissimo: I finish here to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

… and find them with a cool map that pinpoints your location, and all the other places you can go for cheap (or kind-of cheap) dollars. Kayak Buzz is the best use of google maps and air fares I’ve seen yet, and I like that they took the time to put this together. I haven’t used it to book a flight yet, but I might. Here’s a link to Kayak Buzz. Now if only airfarewatchdog would put something like this together :).

Hey, in case you didn’t know, Flight Club is an online community for air travelers. Flight Club (the parent of this blog) has online tools that help members meet other members on airplanes and in airports — basically, we’re fun people that make travel more exciting. Business travelers, recreational travelers, if you fly for fun or for work, if you fly just once a year, Flight Club has a spot for you.

Membership is booming, so if you haven’t thought about joining before, then now is a good time. Registration takes about a minute and you can do it at this page. It’s free, it’s a fun site, uh huh oh yeah.

Travel journalist and blog entrepreneur George Hobica bumps his cheap flight report up a notch. A new domain, improved interface, and easier way to find discount air fares going where you want to go. This guy and the people helping him scour the web each day looking for fares the airlines don’t advertise. It’s great stuff.

On the new site he adds features like “Today’s Top 30 fares” — which is cool, but is it worth the effort? Most people looking for fares will search by destination, and then look for deals there.

Not to knock the man or anything … part of the reason I like what he does so much is his attitude behind it. Check out the last paragraph of his recent blog post about a newsletter he’s writing for Frommers. He says, “We often refer you to links and airlines that make absolutely zero for us (because we don’t have a financial relationship with that airline) simply because that’s the best value on a given route. We’d much rather gain your trust than [your money].” That’s awesome — and a definite contrast to someone like Tom Parsons.

Hey, been away for a while … here’s a roundup of some recent off-kilter airline news, enjoy.

• British teen launches cheap-flight airline from bedroom (thanks, Jon)
• Drunken airline pilots sentenced to prison (thanks, Christopher)
• 10 unforgettable in-flight fights
• USA Today analyzes wait times at major U.S. airports

Sure, writing about stuff you like is cool. The lucky people get to do that for a living. Tom Parsons, an internet travel entrepreneur, is one of them. He runs a web site about cheap flights. He also gets a few less-than-choice quotes in a recent Southwest Airlines press release (http://www.travel.fresh-coffee.com/flights/286/southwest-airlines-subscriber-fares-ding.htm ).

Quote:

“[Southwest Airlines Product] is an air traveler’s blue light special in the sky,” Parsons said. “Only Southwest Airlines would dare to offer fares this low.”

How much did they pay him for that quote? And after this dedication of allegiance to Southwest, why would I trust him as a source of information about cheap flights on non-Southwest carriers? I know it’s a free world, and a free market. But quotes on behalf of corporations rather than customers compromise the integrity of all the services you offer.

Shilling for the man is a one-way a ticket to the no-credibility parade.

A Flight Club member asked about the best place to find cheap flights in Europe (they suggested www.ebookers.com) … I know of two good places to look, but I don’t know if they are the best (I don’t fly around Europe much, yet)…

I found the Air Fare Checker at betterbidding.com today. It compares Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia prices (and one of the best uses for frames I’ve ever seen).

Find all the Flight Blog posts about finding cheap airfare here: Cheap Flights.

See what happens when you sit down one person to do one thing and do it well? George, a travel journalist already, now spends most of his time scouring the internet to find the inner workings of the internet air fare world. And how good does this guy get? Well, beside the fares he finds ($170 RT from Portland Oregon to North Carolina? Absurd!) he also breaks it down. Check out his analysis of the latest United deal: comes down to bogus.

He also finds such gems as the link to Independence Air’s corporate fare site, which gives you 20% off their regular trip prices.