A Note on Airfare

So apparently you have to actually post if you want people to read your blog. That is just crazy. Anyway, I figured I should mention something about the costliest item entailed in the trip – the airfare. Unfortunately Ed was unable to persuade the Germans to allow us to use the corporate jet, so we’ll be flying commercial. (ok Ed didn’t really try to persuade the Germans, but c’mon, they’re German.) I could write a book on how much I hate flying – or more accurately, airports and layovers – but I’ll spare everyone the diatribe. Plus Michelle says I complain too much. This will just be an update on airfare pricing in general and how we can work as a team to find the best deals out there.

Just an FYI – we’re not going through a travel agent for the trip. While they can be extremely helpful – as my successful courting of Michelle in Ireland can attest to – they do add overhead costs to any trip. Luckily there are websites that act as partial substitutes for a travel agent (plus you don’t have to interact with humans!) and I’ve listed below a few sites that I highly recommend as we all (yes, even you, Brad) conduct research in the hopes of finding the best possible deals.

www.kayak.com - this site compares airfare from a variety of other travel sites, such as Orbitz, Expedia, etc and shows you who offers the best deal. Once you’ve made your selection it forwards you to that site. I used this for booking airfare to Costa Rica – a great resource.

www.farecompare.com - this site (see image) allows you to compare the rates from a variety of dates. Since we don’t have our dates set in stone, I’m thinking this will come in handy. Don’t bother trying it yet – it only shows through April 2010.