How do you book your tickets home?

[aussiechicka]

Directly with the airline or via Orbitz.com or somewhere similar online?

I'm trying to work out the best way to book our tickets home this year and trying to work out if there is a easier way than what I normally do.
Normally I use a site like Orbitz and book it all as a connecting flight, but my last trip home there wasn't a big enough gap between my connecting flight in Brisbane and I very nearly missed my LA flight!

I need to book Anchorage -->Rockhampton. We are also still trying to work out the cheapest time of the year to go.

Any tips or tricks?

[Sinn]

I'm a cheapoair fan

[Cynless in Seattle]

I usually check out kayak.com then go to the website of the airlines with the best deals and book direct with them.

[froggy]

I do the same Kayak and then go to the airline page

[aurora]

Out of Anchorage is tough, as not all combinations always show up. I was a maniac when I lived in AK. I would check flights out of ANC, SEA, SFO, and LAX then I would check connections separately. I use travelocity and cheaptickets.com then cross reference with individual airlines.

[WizBin]

I usually check out kayak.com then go to the website of the airlines with the best deals and book direct with them. This. But I don't have connections, so it is very simple for me.

[matt]

Only been back once and I used expedia.

[RollyTG]

I usually check out kayak.com then go to the website of the airlines with the best deals and book direct with them.
:yeahthat:

[snooky]

Another vote for kayak.com.

[TwoUp]

it's years since I went back - and I'm hate cattle class I wait till I can afford the flights and use upgrades and go business - hense I've not been home in years nor do I have enough money to take all four of us home sigh.......... never mind what's home?

[bellebird]

I always just use the QANTAS site..any problems you can always get hold of them and they wont let you book flights too close together if you are doing it all at once. Then if it stuffs up it is their problem as well.

[SimonM]

I'm locked in with an airline alliance so I usually start on something like fare compare.com and then go direct with the airline once I've identified the cheapest option. Although you might save a couple of buck going with the aggregators, you more points, seat choice and other benefits going direct with the airlines - IMHO

[P.P.]

We always dealt straight with the airlines as then there weren't any suprises. A route you may want to look to cut down on flying is Alaska Airlines from ANC to Honolulu and fly on either Hawaiian Airlines (they ONLY go to SYD though) or Air Australia from Honolulu to Brisbane. We also used to fly Air Pacific from LAX to Nadi to Brisbane. Personally I can not see any rhyme or reason how/why/when the airline prices go up/down on this side of the pond. (We only used a travel agent once in Anchorage and she was hopeless).

[Leah]

I only ever use CheapOair.com. I still haven't found anything cheaper.

[J&JP]

I usually check out kayak.com then go to the website of the airlines with the best deals and book direct with them.

We have used this approach too. Kayak and similar sites are great to research fares, but we always purchase directly from the airline. We have heard stories of people running into hassles with purchasing from discount sites if they need to change their itinerary, having connections that are impossible to make, etc. When you purchase direct, less chance of that type of thing happening.

[P.P.]

We always dealt straight with the airlines as then there weren't any suprises. A route you may want to look to cut down on flying is Alaska Airlines from ANC to Honolulu and fly on either Hawaiian Airlines (they ONLY go to SYD though) or Air Australia from Honolulu to Brisbane.

Scrap that, Air Australia just went belly up this morning!

[TwoUp]

so what was Air Australia PP? I don't know it - is it international?

[bellebird]

It used to be called Strategic Airlines. A small player with high aspirations.