Even if you had the time to sit at your computer and wait for the best airfares, would you actually do it?
I didn't think so.
No one values a low airfare that much. At the same time, budget travelers are not satisfied by paying the first fare that pops up on their monitors.
So here are five tools -- in no particular order -- that help cut through the confusion and give you valuable information on the costs for a given flight. Try checking several at the same time to establish a baseline price for your airfare shopping.
Tool #1: Kayak's Buzz
With airfares constantly on the move, it's nice to know the range for the past three days before you start shopping. Buzz allows you to survey these prices.
The platform for Buzz is Google Mapping. You enter an origination airport and destination continent.
On the Google-generated map, you'll see icons color-coded in four ranges of price. This makes it possible to pick out the lowest-priced destinations at a glance.
A text box drops onto the map when you click a destination. It tells you price, date, airline, and the time when that fare was found on Kayak.
One drawback: Just because someone found a good airfare on Thursday morning does not mean you will find the same fare Thursday afternoon. But this look does give you a good basis for further exploration.
Another source of fare information tracks prices even after your purchase. Could you be refunded the difference on an airfare that goes on sale after you buy it? Click "next" and read about it.
