Travel sites waive booking fees

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Bye-bye, booking fees.

The big travel sites (Priceline, Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz) are packing up those pesky $7-$12 fees they charge when you book a flight through them -- at least for now.

But how good a break is this really?

Consuming Interests, the consumer blog at our Tribune Co. sister newspaper the Baltimore Sun, says the very best airfares often are found on the airlines’ own websites, not on outside travel sites.

But don’t snub those middlemen completely. Use third-party sites to research prices (also Sidestep, Kayak and Vayama), shop for vacation package deals and look for those rare fare deals that the airlines don’t have.

-- Nancy Rivera Brooks