Playing the Internet price game

WHICH of the major Internet search engines turns up the lowest airfares? Which has the lowest hotel rates or prices for cruises?

Though everyone has a favorite search engine, it is impossible to prove that your favorite is always or even usually the most effective. Airfares change from week to week, even day to day, and one or more search engines appear to enjoy special deals and discounts on different occasions.

Try a test yourself. Choose two U.S. cities and enter a hypothetical round-trip nonstop (or one-stop) booking for the same dates on Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Cheaptickets and Overstock. It has been my experience that one will turn up a fare of $10 to $15 less than three or four of the others for the same flight at the same time. Another will cite prices higher by $30. Enter another hypothetical booking, and this time a different search engine will emerge as the low-cost winner.

How about the opaque search engines, Hotwire and Priceline, which conceal information about the flight (like flight time and airline identity) until you’ve booked it with your credit card? While you may succeed in bidding for a lower price, you may also have to accept a substantial trade-off, like a 6 a.m. flight departure. Though the savings can often be substantial (occasionally as much as $100), some travelers faced with a predawn check-in might prefer not to enjoy the bargain.

Airline Web sites, in my experience, seem to quote prices for domestic fares that are a bit higher than those of airfare booking engines. But some of the domestic airlines offer specially reduced rates to people who sign up to receive periodic e-mail notifications of so-called e-fares. This is especially the case for people willing to book a weekend flight they’ve learned of as late as Wednesday.

What’s a cost-conscious traveler to do? Devote 40 minutes or so to scanning the results of multiple search engines. If you’re willing to book early-morning or late-night departures, try Hotwire or Priceline. You will work for your savings and enjoy a nice meal at the destination with the difference you’ve pocketed.

The same procedures apply to the search for the lowest-priced hotel rooms and cruises. The major search engines now offer hotel booking services, and a review of them will reveal major differences in rates for the same hotel.

As for cruises, varying rates for the same departure of the same ship can often be found by surveying the major Internet sources of cruise bargains: www.Cruise411.com, Cruise Value Center (www.cruisevalue.com), www.CruisesOnly.com and www.CruiseBrothers.com. The exercise is time-consuming, but it pays off.