Selected Booking Services

Expedia.com
Bestfares.com
CheapTickets.com
LastMinuteTravel.com
Lowestfare.com
OneTravel.com
Orbitz.com
Qixo.com
Travelocity.com

Expedia allows you to book flights on any major airline for specific departure and arrival times. In some cases you can hold your reservation for up to 24 hours before making your purchase. If your itinerary isn't the cheapest one available for the times you choose, you'll be shown some less expensive alternatives. You can also make a lower-than-list-price offer for flights on the same day. The conditions are essentially the same as those for Priceline.com (see Make a Bid, below).

Expedia's Hotel Wizard allows you to check prices for thousands of lodgings worldwide and book reservations at most of the establishments listed. You can also rent cars and book cruises and other vacations at Expedia.

Bestfares collects little-known offers from major airlines, hotels, rental-car agencies, and cruise lines and lists them on its Web site. Some of the best offers are available to members only, so you'll have to decide for yourself whether the fare listed is still a bargain after you add in the cost of subscribing to the site.

Cheaptickets lists low fares for flights, rental cars, hotels, cruises, and packages. You can use the site to research fares and availability, but call the 800 number to make sure that the fare you found is, indeed, the lowest available.

LastMinuteTravel.com displays offers from various providers for airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, events, cruises, and vacations. As the company's name suggests, many of the deals are late-breaking specials. You don't make your reservations on this site but rather are connected directly with the provider for booking.

Lowestfare.com, which uses the Sabre system for airline bookings, has deals on flights, hotel rooms, car rentals, and cruise and other vacations.

OneTravel.com is a good option for low airfares. You can also book hotel rooms, rent cars, and check availability in many price ranges and locations.

Orbitz, the discount Internet travel site founded by five major American airlines---American, Continental, Delta, Northwest and United--- to compete with Expedia and Travelocity, offers many Web-only specials. In addition to airline tickets, it also provides rental cars, lodging, cruises, and vacation packages.

Qixo searches 20 top travel Web sites and lets you decide which itinerary and price are the best. You can purchase your ticket on this site, or directly from the vendors.

Travelocity has an easy-to-understand system for booking flights and checking arrival and departure times. After two visits to the site, you'll be asked to become a member even to check flights. You can also book hotels, rental cars, and cruises and other vacations at Travelocity.

Note: You can also book airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, and other products and services directly through a company's Web site -- United Airlines, Sheraton, or Hertz, for example -- which sometimes offer special promotional fares not available over the phone or at the counter.

If you know the carriers that fly between your departure city and destination, check their sites for special deals. On the sites of most hotel chains and independent properties you'll find a "special offers" button to click on, and this is usually the case with the major rental-car companies as well.