To the Editor:
I would like to comment on the April 24 article entitled "Travel websites offer best deals." Although I can no longer access many student travel deals as a graduate, there are certainly a few interesting websites out there that enable a more time-effective search for the best airfare. SideStep (www.sidestep.com) is a browser plug-in that you install on your computer. Whenever you conduct a travel search at a site like Expedia, for example, it pops up and does a side-by-side meta search that visits various supplier websites (it does this for hotels and car rentals too, but is best at finding prices from airlines).
Often, travel agents mark up fares and cheaper flights are available from the sites directly, but it takes time to visit many of them. Also, Orbitz.com doesn't have a carrier like Southwest, for example. Another interesting feature it has is that it will often let you know if that airline has bonus miles available for booking through its home site. Once it shows you the various fares available at airline sites (it also will help by searching for fares to nearby airports, e.g. Oakland is very close to San Francisco airport), you can click through and be taken to that airline's site. I've often found "web special" fares through SideStep that travel agents didn't know about that were only available through the supplier sites.
Another interesting site is www.farechase.com -- they visit suppliers and travel agents' sites and aggregate fares that way. Both sites are invaluable for the frugal traveler. My only other bit of advice for student travelers (especially international students like I was) is to join all the airline miles programs now, and learn how you can earn miles by flying partner airlines. I just used miles I earned on a trip home I took sophomore year-- four years later.
