The good news: Unlike many online-only travel sites, there is a phone number for Expedia by which yo

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Spring has finally sprung and you're ready to book that getaway you've been dreaming about since the dark days of winter. But with so many options for planning and booking your trip, sifting through the horde of travel sites that promise discounted rates can be daunting.
Below is an unbiased rundown of some popular travel sites along with a few lesser known contenders, and tips on ensuring that your dollar travels as far as your imagination. Hover over each category the travel channel weekly tv schedule to find out more! Site What It Is Booking Fees Hidden the travel channel weekly tv schedule Fees Customer Service The Final Word
The biggest player in the online travel biz, Expedia Inc. owns more than 20 popular booking and travel information sites, including Hotwire, TripAdvisor, and Hotels.com. The main Expedia site allows users to search, compare, and book a comprehensive selection of hotels, flights, cruises, cars, activities, and vacation packages.
No cancellation fees, but some flights within vacation packages may incur a charge, and individual airlines may charge for cancelling or rebooking. Also, you need to pay the price difference if rebooking a trip for which the original price is no longer available. All fees on Expedia are disclosed upfront (albeit the travel channel weekly tv schedule in fine print), but the taxes and fees portion of vacation packages is not itemized, so you won t know exactly what this number entails.
The good news: Unlike the travel channel weekly tv schedule many online-only travel sites, there is a phone number for Expedia by which you can reach a human. The bad news: The humans on the line tend to be less than helpful and often will force you to spend a ton of time on the phone transfering between staffers and supervisors the travel channel weekly tv schedule recounting your situation over and over.
An excellent, exhaustive resource for booking discounted travel, in the U.S. and Europe particularly. Just beware the add-ons that are offered at the end of your booking (car rentals, activities, insurance, etc.). Sometimes the travel channel weekly tv schedule they are prefilled the travel channel weekly tv schedule Yes and you wind paying for a jungle tour you never wanted.
the travel channel weekly tv schedule Comparable to Expedia, w/ no surprises in the pricing. A bonus: the travel channel weekly tv schedule if another Orbitz customer books the same flight at a lower price prior to your departure, Orbitz will refund up to $250 per airline the travel channel weekly tv schedule ticket.
Doesn t forge any new ground from the above, but its new Experience Finder is a clever way to suss out a good destination, and more users we ve connected with have had positive experiences than with Orbitz.
Newest player in the flight search game; it combines a refreshingly simple the travel channel weekly tv schedule interface with a unique Agony feature in which your results are ranked in order of the agony you ll incur during the flight taking into account price, the travel channel weekly tv schedule duration, and number of stops.
None, since it s not a booking site (which means no results are given preference). When a user finds a suitable trip, he/she is directed to purchase it directly from the site on which it is advertised.
Our favorite! They have a comprehensive and unbiased database, and there s no agenda as to which search results populate first. Plus, it has great creative filters like no prop planes (if you don t want a puddle-jumper).
Before you book a flight, hotel room, or vacation package, check the price on each of the individual vendor's sites. Oftentimes, cutting out the middle man and booking separately is cheaper than buying a package on sites like Expedia or Orbitz. Furthermore, buying directly from the airline gives you more flexibility to manage your flights, and calling the hotel can result in unadvertised savings (especially during low season and if you are celebrating a special occasion). Remember, third party sites require full payment up front, so do your homework before plunking down the plastic.
Bonus tip : Our favorite the travel channel weekly tv schedule site for hotel deals in Europe is  Venere.com , which has an incredibly easy user experience, a vast Rolodex of hotels (including smaller boutique properties that you d never find on many U.S.-based sites), and lots of great deals and discounts. We didn t include it in the chart above because its forte is hotels rather than flights, but we ve booked many European the travel channel weekly tv schedule stays through Venere and have never been disappointed. 2. Be Direct.
Sometimes you won t find your favorite the travel channel weekly tv schedule or most convenient airlines on these sites. Southwest Airlines doesn t list its flights with any third party vendors, while American Airlines is missing from both Orbitz and Expedia. When in doubt, search your itinerary directly with airlines to ensure that you don't miss a cheap rate. 3. Consult A Travel Agent For Cruises.
Don't book a cruise on any of these consolidation sites. A travel agent specializing in cruises is always the better option because they have relationships the travel channel weekly tv schedule with cruise lines, which means discounted rates; and they can score you deals on the cruise ship and with shore excursions.
But most importantly, there are a lot of moving parts on a cruise trip (flight, transfer to ship, the cruise itself, etc.) and if one part goes awry, an experienced travel agent can use his or her connections to fix it. Meanwhile, the travel channel weekly tv schedule if you d booked your cruise via an aggregation site, you d be stuck doing phone battle without a life preserver (see Customer Service in the chart above). 4. Read The Label.
Beware of hotels or airlines labeled "top picks" in your search results. These aren't necessarily of a higher quality or better value. Instead, they are often a business partner of the booking site, and therefore get populated at the top of your search. 5. Travel Smart
Beata Santora is an Associate the travel channel weekly tv schedule Editor at Condé Nast Traveler . She was bitten by the travel bug at age 3 while on a cruise of the Black Sea, and now she loves airports the travel channel weekly tv schedule and hotels the way most people love chocolate. PREVIOUS Article Save Money For Summer Vacation with 3 Tricks NEXT Article Travel Insurance: Is It Worth It? What's New Are 529s Part of Your Benefits Package? 5 Ways to Boost Your Down-Payment Fund 8 Healthy Lunchbox Ideas for School—or Work! Close Get more handpicked stories, just like delivered to your inbox everyday Get My Daily (free)
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