Expedia.com 1

Expedia is a corrupt, monopolistic company. They scam innocent people, and they return higher prices in their searches than necessary using tricky filters. Not to mention, their customer service is sub-par. But at least they don't work with Shatner.

Enter Optifly. Optifly is a site that shows possible flight routes in Google Maps. I’ve never seen anywhere else that does this, and it’s pretty cool. You can even download the Google Earth plug-in and look at your flights in 3d. They aren't a ticket-selling site either, which makes them also a bit more trustworthy.

Actually, the best part is that Optifly shows low-cost carriers AND links to Expedia. It shows you all of the possible flight routes, and not just the ones that Expedia and Orbitz want to show you. Apparently you can save hundreds of dollars by using it to buy legs of a flight with a low cost carrier and then buying other legs using something else like Travelocity.

I thought it was cool, too, that they had also integrated city information for any connection locations. It’s a pretty neat interface, and I wish they offered direct ticket sales. Even as is, though, it seems like it would save a lot of time searching for cheaper tickets.

I thought it was a very helpful site and will definitely use it next time I take an international trip. The url is Optifly.com, and you don’t have to log in or anything. I would definitely recommend it, especially for international travel.