The Internet gives the public access to more information than ever before, but it still isn't organized in a manner that enables you to easily find the lowest fare.  Frankly, airline-owned online booking engines give you the best fare for them.  Travel agents often get better fares because they have “deeper” access to the systems.  The key issue here is that travel vendors don’t want their inventory in stock, they want to sell it - they want your money.  So come here to learn where you can get bargains.  By the way, if you come across a great online travel deal, please send it to travelguru@esmarts.com and we will evaluate it. 

In our opinion, a very good travel agent is often far better than typical on-line travel resources, but then a very good travel agent is hard to find and even harder to get to when you want to do a deal. If you use a travel agent, you now have the resources to check market conditions, which you did not have before. If you use the on-line systems to buy tickets, we recommend that you check with at least two different services.

Additionally, you should check Southwest Airlines site because most on-line agencies do not ticket them. Read about our opinions of the best Internet travel agents.  Booking a ticket directly on an airline's website may get you bonus frequent flyer miles. Click here to learn about the current offers.

One great way to save money is to take advantage of Internet special fares. These potentially cheap fares are typically published each Wednesday, for travel on the next weekend, often returning Monday or Tuesday. Click here to learn more. 

Travel Sites Worth A Look – read the words and use the links. 

- This site is simple and loads quickly.  It has a clean GUI.  One problem with the site, like most others, is that you have to enter sign-in before you can actually do anything other than a simple flight search.  The site does have useful travel news on the bottom of the page, except when some links don’t work!
• 1880hotel96.com – (http://www.180096hotel.com/) is a really cool site.  Their main business is to get you great hotel rates – and they are great.  The GUI is quick and easy.
• Go Direct Tours – (www.godirecttours.com) is the place to find great leisure specials.  The site has a membership program that offers even lower prices if you are a member.  Typically you will get your membership fee back in the first deal.