Hi there,

I am trying to find cheap flights for 2 adults and 4 children from
London to Pittsburgh on or around 21 July 2006 (=/- 4 days) returning
from denver to London on or around 21 August (=/- 4 days. Can you
help?!

Best wishes,

Peter H in London
Price is $40

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Request for Question Clarification by palitoy-ga on 30 Aug 2005 00:31 PDT

Hello Peter

You are certainly doing the correct thing by trying to book your
tickets in advance as soon as possible as this always gives you the
best chance of securing the best price for the tickets you require. 
Unfortunately all of the sites I have tried do not work that far in
advance!  For instance British Airways only allows tickets to be
booked 350 days in advance (according to their website).

What I can provide you with is a list of sites that will enable you to
search for the cheapest price in a month or so.  I use these sites
frequently for travel to and from the USA.  Would this be acceptable
as an answer?

palitoy-ga

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Clarification of Question by dogser-ga on 04 Sep 2005 11:55 PDT

Hi palitoy,

really sorry for the delay. I stupidly replied to the email I got
rather than going through the correct procedure.

yes, a list of sites I could easily search in a month's time would be
just great, but you may find that now that's it's September the search
can be done ok. Sorry for the inexcusabloe delay on my part!!

Best wishes,

Peter

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Request for Question Clarification by palitoy-ga on 04 Sep 2005 12:34 PDT

Hello Peter

No problem!  I will work on this for you tomorrow and double-check my
previous results.  I would hope to post my findings by lunchtime (I am
in the UK).

palitoy-ga

Hello Peter

Thank-you for your question and for accepting my clarification as an answer.

The best price I have been able to track down for your desired flights is:
£4844.60 http://www.ebookers.com (plus a credit card booking fee)
£4814.60 http://www.aircanada.com

The Air Canada site also gives you a nice matrix allowing you to
easily modify your flights to ensure you get the cheapest tickets. 
There were some slightly cheaper tickets available depending on your
stay dates that you will see when you go to the Air Canada site.

The flight details are:

London (LHR) to Toronto (YYZ)     Jul 21 08:20 11:15
Toronto (YYZ) to Pittsburgh (PIT) Jul 21 13:30 15:00

Pittsburgh (PIT) to Toronto (YYZ) Aug 21 10:50 12:14
Toronto (YYZ) to London (LHR)     Aug 21 18:15 06:20 +1 day

Unfortunately I was unable to locate any direct flights to Pittsburgh.

As promised I have included a list of the sites that I use on a
regular basis to determine the cheapest airfares to the USA. 
Unfortunately there is no perfect site as each of the sites are
usually owned by travel agents and add a percentage on to make a
profit.  This being said I prefer using the ebookers.com (or
travelbag.co.uk - they are part of the same company but curiously
travelbag.co.uk sometimes seems cheaper!) sites to get a quick idea of
the price I should pay, this would be closely followed by
expedia.co.uk.

When booking flights to the USA, my strategy is to use the sites below
to check for any good deals and to find the price I need to beat.  I
have not yet found a high street travel agent that could ever beat an
online price!  Once I have found the "best price" I always then search
for the flight on the airline's own website.  Most airlines now have
their own sites and you generally always get the cheapest price there.

It is also worthwhile knowing that most of the weekend newspapers have
travel sections with the latest deals and offers.  It is usually the
best strategy to book as far in advance as possible as this secures
you the seat but nearly all airlines discount their seats if a flight
is not filling up as they would desire.

With flights to the USA (and the rest of the world), certain airlines
- such as British Airways, like to rip off their UK customers by
charging them an extra premium for flying from the UK.  If you want a
cheaper flight it is nearly always cheaper to fly to your destination
from Amsterdam, Paris or Frankfurt.  I recently saved over £400 on a
flight to the USA for 2 passengers flying economy by travelling from
Amsterdam.  With the many cheap low cost airlines now flying to Europe
this is worth considering if you don't mind the extra travel.

I did a quick search for flights from Amsterdam to Pittsburgh and
found one quickly on the KLM site for 4870 Euros, or approximately
£3300, which is quite a saving on the London-Pittsburgh price. 
Unfortunately the amount of time I could spend on this question did
not allow me to search any further.

I have tried to put the list in the order I check the sites, ones
lower down the order I find less useful for UK travellers.

http://www.ebookers.com
http://www.travelbag.co.uk
http://www.expedia.co.uk
http://www.traveljungle.co.uk
http://www.airline-network.co.uk
http://www.onlinetravel.com
http://www.skyscanner.net
http://www.flightcomparison.co.uk
http://www.travelocity.co.uk
http://www.priceline.co.uk
http://www.opodo.co.uk
http://www.trailfinders.co.uk
http://www.statravel.co.uk
http://www.flightcentre.co.uk
http://www.e-flights.de/_en/
http://www.justtheflight.co.uk
http://www.cheaptickets.co.uk
http://www.skydeals.co.uk
http://www.thisisflights.co.uk
http://www.wefly.co.uk
http://www.lowestfare.com
http://www.qixo.com
http://www.sidestep.com
http://www.kayak.com
http://www.farechase.yahoo.com
http://www.hotwire.com
http://www.orbitz.com
http://www.travelsupermarket.com
http://www.questtravel.co.uk
http://www.lastminute.com

I hope this fully answers your question, should you require any
further information please do not hesitate to ask for clarification.

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Clarification of Answer by palitoy-ga on 07 Sep 2005 02:22 PDT

Thanks for the rating and generous tip, they are both appreciated.

If you wish to post a question to be answered my me, the easiest way
is to post the question with "For palitoy-ga" in the title.  The other
researchers will then leave the question for me to answer.  As soon as
I see the question I will post a clarification to notify you that I
have seen the question and I am working on it.

I will be on vacation in the USA myself for 3 weeks from Monday and
will return on 5th October.  I will be unable to access the internet
during this period.  I will be happy to perform further searches from
you when I return.

Hi Palitoy,

Your answer was awesome, and I really appreciated the extra detail. I
love the Amsterdam idea and for such a saving it could well be worth
it. To get you back on the case (I'm still 2 weeks away from
finalising dates) is there a way for me to start a new search and ask
for you by name since you clearly know what you are talking about?

Cheers,   Peter