More importantly, you need a kayak.
Sam reminded me of the wonderful Kayak.com, a cool travel site that beats the old Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz sites hands down.
The secret of Kayak is that it’s simply a search engine for the best fares and deals. They don’t answer to the airlines (like Orbitz), and they simply find the best stuff that’s avaialble at the moment you search. Additionally, they use Google Maps’ API to create a “best fares from your area” map – handy for finding a cool getaway on the fly. It’s kind of like Qixo with a stripped-down makeover – and that’s not a bad thing.
The drawbacks of Kayak? It can be painfully slow during heavy user loads (though it’s improving in this regard). And there are still some times when it’s easier to use one of the “big three” for a quick scan of the fares. But Kayak is pushing the envelope, which is very cool, indeed.
Ethan Jonas
11 November 2005 — 22:43
Kayak also has a developer API so other sites can create cool travel tools of their own. I like SportsGroupie.com – travel search using Kayak, but instead of just entering city and dates, you select an away game. Can get tix, too. Very cool.