Sky Talk

A new take on buying the cheapest online travel

Trying to get the best deal on a rental car in the U.K? Don't assume you're getting the best deal just by picking the cheapest price off of the U.S. travel sites you check.

The New York Times, in its Practical Traveler column today, notes that "some of the best travel deals on the Web these days don’t end in .com but can be found on a travel company’s foreign offshoot, which usually ends with the country’s domain name, like .fr (France), and .de (Germany). Though the travel companies don’t advertise it, they often charge different prices based on the country of origin.

"In an effort to expand their global reach, online travel agencies based in the United States like Expedia and Travelocity, as well as individual airlines and car rental agencies, are creating Web sites geared to foreign counties," the Times notes. "Travelocity, for example, just started www.travelocity.com.mx for travelers in Mexico. It also has www.travelocity.co.uk for Britain; www.travelocity.de for Germany; and www.travelocity.ca for Canada. Expedia has 13 foreign sites, including ones for Denmark, Italy, and France.

"The savings can be considerable," the Times concludes. As an example, it searched Expedia.com for a day trip from Melbourne to Sydney in August, and found the cheapest fare at $350 on Qantas. Checking Expedia's Australian site, expedia.com.au, the Times found the same flight for $187.

-- Scott

Fare-searching twist - site uses people, not software

We've written about fares and the inscrutible nature of airline pricing recently, and mentioned sites like FareCompare and Farecast that try to help you figure out the system. Another new player in the market is airfarewatchdog.com, which was given an honorable mention by Time magazine in the travel category for best 2007 Internet sites.

What makes the site different is that instead of computer programs trolling for airfares, they have actual people who scan prices all day, looking for deals. And they monitor Southwest, Spirit, Allegiant, Skybus and other carriers that are often overlooked by the big travel Web sites.

- Trebor

American inks deal with Expedia

The online travel company Expedia announced yesterday it has inked a new deal with American Airlines to provide all of the carrier's published fares, schedules and other inventory through its Expedia.com website.

Expedia Corporate Travel will also be able to once again book American's fares.

This despite the fact that, as we told you last week, American is trying to launch a new and improved website in hopes of competing with online sites from Expedia and Southlake-based Travelocity.

-David