Por Ron Stern

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ron Stern (aka: The Global Gumshoe). I have been a travel photojournalist for the past 11 years and my work has been published in major magazines and newspapers both in print and online. I am also the Editor-in-Chief of Justsaygo.com, a travel e-zine providing travel content to destinations around the world.

In my first column I want to give you my strategy for finding the best airfares. I usually start with Bookingbuddy.com. This one gives me a good basis for comparison and also searches many of the other top travel sites including Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz.

You can also search for vacation packages on this site. I checked a seven-day Orlando vacation package from San Diego on this website via Travelocity about three weeks in advance. I found a flight and nice value priced hotel with good customer reviews just five minutes from Disneyworld for just $600 per person.
Other ones I typically check would include Kayak.com and Mobissimo.com. I have found both to be very helpful for flight comparisons and have found significant savings on domestic flights using these.

You can also track fares on websites such as Yapta.com. If you’ve ever had the dilemma about whether to book the flight you see online or wait to see if it drops, you won’t have to do that anymore. Yapta will track the fares on airline websites and send you an email if the price drops. In fact, even if you have already booked a flight, Yapta will notify you if it finds a lower fare and provide you with the Airline’s rules that might qualify you for a voucher or refund if you find it cheaper someplace else.

Sometimes, just signing up for a travel website’s email newsletter can put you in the loop for some incredible deals. I was signed up with Travelzoo and received an email of a special deal via Orbitz . What was the deal? How about a $296 round trip airfare from Denver – where I happen to live – to Moscow, Russia, including all taxes and fees? Not bad huh? I saw a similar sort of deal once through Farecompare.com where they were offering a round trip from Denver to Paris for $530 including taxes and fees. This was about half of the normal fare.

Stay tuned for more ways to save money on travel in upcoming columns.

Ron Stern can be contacted at [email protected]
www.ronsterntravel.com
www.globalgumshoe.com