A lot has changed since I reviewed travel Web sites four years ago. Now the best ones reflect the new realities of travel, and offer to include luggage fees in fare calculations. That helps because $15 or $25 applied each way can turn a good deal sour.
My verdict this time: I found TripAdvisor slightly better than Kayak and Bing Travel.
Four years ago, I recommended travel-focused search engines, particularly Kayak, as a one-stop shop for airline deals. These services check multiple sites at once and let you book directly through the airlines. By contrast, online travel agencies such as Orbitz and Expedia did the booking for you — and tacked on several dollars in service fees.
I’m pleased to say that those fees are largely gone, partly a response to rising competition. Yet after trying all the sites again, I am still sticking with the search engines for their ease of use. Sometimes the search engines still refer me to an online travel agency for the best deal, but at least they’ve checked around for me.
And I can more easily use the search engines to narrow my choices based on departure times, frequent-flier programs and other criteria.
Before I get into why TripAdvisor was slightly better than Kayak and Bing Travel, I’ll note that they all work similarly. Start by typing where you are leaving from and where you are going. Then pick the departure and return dates and hit “search” or “find flights.”
You’ll get a list of flight options, which you can sort by price and other criteria. If you prefer non-stop flights, you can uncheck boxes for one or more stops. If you need to get there by noon, you can adjust an on-screen slider to eliminate afternoon and evening flights.
Kayak and TripAdvisor let you filter out airlines that aren’t part…