Buying Airline Tickets Online

First class tickets to Hong Kong for $99? Roundtrip to Rome $159? These are just two of the many great airline deals you can find on the Internet if you know where to look and have a flexible schedule. More and more travelers are bypassing travel agents to book tickets online.

For a traveler with a specific destination in mind, Microsoft’s Expedia.com is an excellent web site. Either enter specific dates in a "travel wizard" or simply search for the lowest cost flights to and from a specific destination. Expedia also sends a free weekly e-mail quote on up to three destinations.

1travel.com is a similar site, but a bit more adventurous in its outlook. This site specializes in last-minute deals by airlines and hotels. The layout isn’t as slick as Microsoft.com, but the site has some unusual information. Check out the "rules of the air" section. Here the traveler can quickly search all the major airlines on baggage limits, check-in times, fare discounts after purchase, and other airline rules.

At the rapidly growing Priceline.com you specify the price you are willing to pay for a ticket. Priceline sends your offer to participating airlines, who either accept or reject your bid within 24 hours. By pricing the lowest published fares for a particular flight before making your bid and using these fares as your basis, you can often find off-season prices during peak traveling times. But read the fine print before entering your bid. You must enter a credit card number, and Priceline charges your card when your bid is accepted. If your bid fails, you cannot submit another for the same itinerary. Check Cathay Pacific and South African Airlines for other bid sites for tickets.

All of these sites offer tradeoff between price and convenience. For a traveler comfortable with the Internet, Expedia can be easier to use than a travel agent, but you are unlikely to save a significant amount of money. On other sites, if you are patient and flexible you can find an international flight for the same price you might pay to fly to the next state.

In general, a travel site is more likely to be safe if it has been around for several months, is linked to other established sites, and has a professional look and feel--although none of these are guarantees. In general, online shopping is as safe as ordering from a catalog and growing more important each day.

MICHAEL CARR is a freelance writer from Springville, UT. He has several works of short fiction in print.