Procrastinators, prepare to snatch a fare and run out the door

Twas the Sunday before Christmas, and all through the house, the Internet savvy were using the mouse.

With four days till Christmas, there’s no time to spare, especially if Grandma hopes you’ll be there.

If you are just today making plans to go home for Christmas or to spend New Year’s Eve elsewhere and are looking to the Internet for rescue, brace yourself.

Finding a last-minute airfare or vacation on the Internet can be a challenge any time of year, but it is particularly so during busy holiday travel periods. Websites such as 11thHourVacations.com, Site59, LastMinute Travel.com and Go-today.com promise travel packages and vacations custom-made for procrastinators. But there are more caveats than there are fruitcakes under a tree.

These sites, despite the promise of their “get-up-and-go-tomorrow” names, are not for every travel need. Most have limited availability for departure and destination cities. Go-today.com, for example, offers only international destinations. Some sites also specialize mainly in package deals. You can book airfare-only on some, but be prepared to book a car or a hotel at the same time if you want the best deal.

On top of all that, this is one of the year’s busiest travel periods. “The Christmas holiday is our lowest for availability. It’s a mad scramble,” said Siobhan Foley, vice president of merchandising and communications for Site59, which specializes in last-minute weekend travel packages. New Year’s is better, she said, but hotels in top destinations such as New York or Las Vegas will be scarce.

I consulted some experts for advice on maximizing the chances of success for booking a last-minute holiday trip using the Internet. Here’s what they recommend:

* Keep your eyes and ears open as airlines will look at any date that looks soft, said Terry Trippler, airfare expert with Cheapseats.com. Seats may open as the departure date approaches. Even hard-to-find frequent flier seats you tried to book months ago may become available. Trippler recommends the major travel Internet sites and the airline’s sites. (Travelocity and Orbitz can automatically notify you by e-mail if a flight becomes available in your price range.)

* “Look at alternate airports and don’t get yourself hung up on direct flights,” said Bob Jones, who calls himself a “frugalist” (his job is to find budget travel deals) with OneTravel .com. “If you want to go from L.A. to New York, look at the bigger sites with a radius search and look at airports within a 50-mile range.” Consider renting a car or booking a fly-drive package. For example, if you are going to New York, think about flying into Philadelphia instead of one of the New York area airports, he said. It may be less convenient, but you may save money or find better availability.

* Rather than going home for the holidays, take an international trip. “At this time of year, our international availability is much stronger,” said Foley of Site59. PubClub.com, a website dedicated to whisking fun-loving travelers into the heart of the hip and happening pubs and clubs around the globe, has compiled a list of the best party places for New Year’s Eve, and six of its top 11 cities are outside the U.S. (Go to www.pubclub.com and click on “New Year’s Eve best party places.”)

* Above all, be flexible. Rather than focusing only on Palm Springs, for example, think “warm place in the desert.”

“If you’re open to a good time you have a pretty good chance of finding it. Sometimes it is more important to get away than where you go,” Foley said.

If you are heading to a specific destination such as the place you call home, consider flying on the actual holiday. “The flights are not as booked,” Foley said.

And if you see a good deal, book it. “If you’ve made up your mind to go,” said Jones of One Travel.com, “the time to press that button is now.”

James Gilden can be contacted at www.theinternettraveler.com.