Feb 5, 2008
Telling your airfare search engine that you want to look at flexible dates is a powerful way of securing the lowest airfare
Airlines like American, Delta, Continental and more, all permit you to look at airfares over a range of dates -- you simply click on a feature called "flexible dates" or perhaps a link that says "more options." Trouble is, that they will then search only their own flights -- and not those of other airlines.
So go to an aggregator offering "flexible" searches. Although such services as Kayak (www.kayak.com) require customers to register before doing flexible data searches, the 30 seconds it takes to register is well worth the trouble. Afterwards, the website gives the option of searching fares up to three days before or after the dates selected. I recently plugged in a Chicago-London roundtrip in September with a Friday departure, returning the following Sunday. Within seconds, Kayak retrieved prices from more than a dozen airlines and revealed that by shifting the trip around and leaving a day earlier and returning two days later, I could save nearly $175 compared to the original dates.
Travelocity and Orbitz also offer flexible date searches. But each site has its own glitches. In test searches on Travelocity, the website sometimes retrieved prices only for the exact dates plugged in, never producing the better fares resulting from slight shifts in dates. Orbitz was better at finding a range of fares, but its grid only shows prices -- information regarding airlines, flight times, and stopovers doesn't appear unless you click on a price and the website does a separate search. And, of course, always remember that Travelocity and Orbitz add fees $5 to $10 onto the flights they sell.
Whatever you decide, flexible technology permits you to see more -- and see it quicker -- than ever before.
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So go to an aggregator offering "flexible" searches. Although such services as Kayak (www.kayak.com) require customers to register before doing flexible data searches, the 30 seconds it takes to register is well worth the trouble. Afterwards, the website gives the option of searching fares up to three days before or after the dates selected. I recently plugged in a Chicago-London roundtrip in September with a Friday departure, returning the following Sunday. Within seconds, Kayak retrieved prices from more than a dozen airlines and revealed that by shifting the trip around and leaving a day earlier and returning two days later, I could save nearly $175 compared to the original dates.
Travelocity and Orbitz also offer flexible date searches. But each site has its own glitches. In test searches on Travelocity, the website sometimes retrieved prices only for the exact dates plugged in, never producing the better fares resulting from slight shifts in dates. Orbitz was better at finding a range of fares, but its grid only shows prices -- information regarding airlines, flight times, and stopovers doesn't appear unless you click on a price and the website does a separate search. And, of course, always remember that Travelocity and Orbitz add fees $5 to $10 onto the flights they sell.
Whatever you decide, flexible technology permits you to see more -- and see it quicker -- than ever before.
Write and read comments about this post.
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
