Preferred website for comparison flights

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kinkacruiser

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With so many 'booking helpers' available, I stumbled on FareCompare today and have requested an alert for discounted prices on a Beijing - Brisbane one way. It looks OK, but are there any traps with this site?
Also, what's your preferred search enjone when looking for best prices on flights. I also use BestFlights.
Thanks in advance.
 
kinkacruiser said:
The Matrix is excellent. Thanks so much.
Do you book directly with the airline once you have the best price?
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Yes. Sometimes you may even find that a direct booking with the airline will be at an even better price than what ITA can access.

Also, you can take the fare codes that ITA Matrix gives you to a travel agent and they may be able to replicate the fare if you prefer.
 
This is a good question and it would be great if there was a "best" search engine that we could all go to and get the best deal.

IMHO there is no "best" site and most of the time the different search engines will give you different prices for the same flights.

One thing we do know is that for some reason Australians tend to get ripped off when it comes to paying for airfares. Therefore I believe you are better off booking your flights through a search engine that is not based in AU and have a .com.au extension.

If you get a cheap airfare quote from an overseas search engine and then take it to flight centre or one of the others that have the "we will beat any price guaranteed" they will tell you that the small print says that the guarantee only applies to airfares available in Australia.

The bottom line is that some airlines release some fares ex AUSTRALIA cheaper to search engines in other countries.

I think you need to have a list of search engines onshore and off and when it comes time to book your flight search through them all.
 
I know this thread isn't new, but I'm replying because I want to reiterate that Matrix, by ITA software, should not be underestimated. Regarding what extracta said, it simply IS the best airfare search tool. This type of technology simply blitzes the search capabilities of any major travel website. And Google owns it, so go figure. :)

Also, one thing that wasn't mentioned is that you can input a sales city into the search parameters. I managed to get a $930 return flight with QF from MEL to LAX, including taxes, by inserting Dublin as the sales city. I did this back in August (the same deal hasn't reappeared since), and ended up booking it through expedia.ie in order to get that fare type. If I were to try and book the same thing through qantas.com.au, the fare was coming out at around $1400. It just takes a bit of experimentation but, fortunately, the software is addictive and fun to use, and great for flexible travellers like me that can change their travel dates to suit.

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wiz said:
I know this thread isn't new, but I'm replying because I want to reiterate that Matrix, by ITA software, should not be underestimated. Regarding what extracta said, it simply IS the best airfare search tool. This type of technology simply blitzes the search capabilities of any major travel website. And Google owns it, so go figure. :)

__________________________________
My new blog: www.vacationkickbacks.com
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I have just done a comparison of the Matrix and a site that I use and the same QF flights are a lot more expensive on the Matrix.

I have also done some comparisons of QF flights for next May BNE - BKK using QF , MATRIX , and the site I use.
QF $1020
MATRIX $1100
MATRIX using city in another country as booking city ... $873 (converted to AUD)
Site I use ... $828 (converted to AUD)

The MATRIX is a good tool but not necessarily the best.
 
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moa999 said:
extracta - care to share "the site I use"
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I would love to share with anybody on here that wants it. If there were a secure section to this forum I would place it on there. I have been monitoring this site for 7 months now and it has remained consistantly good value for many QF flights.

I have only shared with a couple of people I have met personally. The problem with putting it in the open here is that the airlines see what is on here and change policies accordingly.
 
extracta said:
I would love to share with anybody on here that wants it. If there were a secure section to this forum I would place it on there. I have been monitoring this site for 7 months now and it has remained consistantly good value for many QF flights.

I have only shared with a couple of people I have met personally. The problem with putting it in the open here is that the airlines see what is on here and change policies accordingly.
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PMs are a wonderful thing :!:
 
extracta said:
I have just done a comparison of the Matrix and a site that I use and the same QF flights are a lot more expensive on the Matrix.

I have also done some comparisons of QF flights for next May BNE - BKK using QF , MATRIX , and the site I use.
QF $1020
MATRIX $1100
MATRIX using city in another country as booking city ... $873 (converted to AUD)
Site I use ... $828 (converted to AUD)

The MATRIX is a good tool but not necessarily the best.
Click to expand...

Same result for the search I did, Sydney-Auckland on a specific date Matrix =$324, QF = $301.
 
wiz said:
Interesting. Has the software been developed much since they purchased it?
...
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Not a great deal - it was only about a year ago. (ita google purchase)

ITA provides a lot more travel services than that specific site.
 
I usually find that the deepest discount Y tickets don't seem to appear on the Matrix site. These are best discovered on the airlines own website.

Mostly the 'normal' discount and standard economy fares, and of course Business and First, I've found to be pretty close, within the error of currency conversion usually.
 
Moopere said:
I usually find that the deepest discount Y tickets don't seem to appear on the Matrix site. These are best discovered on the airlines own website. ...
Click to expand...
This is mainly due to the airlines not releasing those fares to the GDS's.
 
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