Watch for a cheap flight whenever it's available

October 21, 2006 3:49 PM

How can I watch prices for a roundtrip flight for a few-day visit somewhere? The dates aren't as important as cheap fares-- pretty much any time through this coming April would be fantastic. I'd just like to watch for lower prices. How can I do this?
posted by freddymungo to Travel & Transportation (6 answers total)

Farecast lets you check prices for a wide range of US cities over a 30-day period: if the somewhere is on the list, then that might hook you up.
posted by baggers at 4:03 PM on October 21, 2006

Much depends on whether you're looking for a specific place or not. Much also depends on the city you're flying from.

If you're in a relatively popular Southwest Airline city sign up for DING! which will sit in your task bar and alert you to fare sales throughout the day.

If you're in Cincinnati, Atlanta or Salt Lake City sign up for Delta's email notification.

I could go on, but you get the idea. Figure out what airline is big in your city and signup for their notifications.
posted by FlamingBore at 5:25 PM on October 21, 2006

Go to Travelocity and search with their "flexible dates" option.
posted by MsMolly at 6:57 PM on October 21, 2006

I haven't used this feature, but Kayak.com has a fare alert system where you can set up an itinerary (iirc you can have multiple nearby airports) and then have them email you updates. I use them generally when I'm looking for low fares and have been mostly happy with them.
posted by jessamyn at 7:40 PM on October 21, 2006

farecast is good, so is airfare watchdog and perhaps worth considering might be the flyer talk forums.

oh, and check the aadvantage miles blog.
posted by krautland at 7:46 PM on October 21, 2006

There's flyspy plus at least another couple which you can follow with RSS, but they escape me.

I feel like all the big name flight websites are catching on to this, though. I think Travelocity for sure.

Good luck. Peace.
posted by gbinal at 9:34 PM on October 26, 2006