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Old 10-29-2009, 07:51 AM   #1
 
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Default Flexible departures and destinations

I'm getting really frustrated with trying to find flights because I live in a place where not many flights go out of. However, I am willing to find my way to places anywhere that is cheapest/makes sense from where i live.

I haven't found ONE site where you can put flexible departures and destinations in, and I'm sick of checking Toronto, Boston, New York, Ottawa, Montreal, ETC ETC in every single one and going through the process again to find a destination.

Is there anywhere that I can look for something like: Cheapest flights from North America to Europe? Or is that too much to ask?

Sorry, I'm just frustrated.
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Old 10-29-2009, 12:10 PM   #2
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Hey! Since you're trying to go to Ireland, check Aer Lingus website. Their spring fares are on sale now! and usually I find they have the best price. They have departures from NYC, Boston and a few other places in the states. Also here is a link to TravelZoo's European Fare sale page.
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Old 10-29-2009, 04:47 PM   #3
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gewher View Post
Is there anywhere that I can look for something like: Cheapest flights from North America to Europe?
Sort of. There is a search engine on FareCompare that lets you see fares filed for various markets.
Discounted First Class and Flyer Talk Fares
Enter three cities (YYZ, YUL, YOW for example) and check the "Europe" box and that'll give you an idea of the cheapest fares from those cities to certain European cities.

As an alternative, you can also use the ITA search engine. It's the software platform that Orbitz and many other travel search engines use.
ITA Software: Login
Click on "Log in as guest"
Then you can use the month-long search or the specific dates searches to find a good fare. Mind you that the ITA language can be complex and take time to learn.
For example, for an upcoming flight of mine, I wanted to find the best options from NY to LA, preferably on Delta airlines. Because I wanted to have lunch and dinner on the plane, I needed flights that fell within the meal periods. So my search was
JFK :: ATL
LAX
Dec 3 Depart 11:00 AM
By putting ":: ATL" I forced it to make a connecting flight in Atlanta.
There's more things you can do with the routing language, including specifying airlines and even specific flights.
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Old 10-30-2009, 03:20 PM   #4
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Dude, awesome post. ^^^
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Old 10-31-2009, 02:54 PM   #5
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Thanks for the tips, TPunks!
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Old 11-01-2009, 07:53 PM   #6
 
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Originally Posted by Dig View Post
Dude, awesome post. ^^^
Thanks. ITA is probably my most-used travel tool. It's just about the only search engine I use to check airfares and it's a very powerful search tool. It takes time to learn the route language, though, like I said. However they do have a primer:
ITA Software - Help

Once you learn the routing language, you can construct very complicated itineraries of the flights you want. One downside is that you cannot book on the site - however that's easily remedied by using the airline's website (if your travel is all on one airline or codeshares) or by using Orbitz (which uses ITA as its backbone anyway).
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Old 02-02-2012, 10:41 PM   #7
 
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Thanks for the tips...........
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Old 04-06-2013, 04:46 AM   #8
 
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Thanks for sharing this with us.
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Old 04-07-2013, 01:59 PM   #9
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Sky Scanner is OK Cheap flights | Free flight comparison at skyscanner.ca But my advice is to then book with the airlines directly and not go with the 3rd party sites that advertise the fares.
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Old 04-09-2013, 11:55 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by expatben View Post
Sky Scanner is OK Cheap flights | Free flight comparison at skyscanner.ca But my advice is to then book with the airlines directly and not go with the 3rd party sites that advertise the fares.

I always use skyscanner to price out tickets and see their sources. A few times I've purchased using likes from their site going directly to US airways. Those went great.
The last time I used skyscanner I chose a link going to travelgenio (but for a flight on US airways). I purchased the fare but was not issued an electronic ticket. I called us airways and they said there was no ticket for me and that I had to wait until the local travelgenio office opened (madrid) to find out where my ticket was, but I wanted to leave on a flight that left madrid the same time that the office opened. Since I paid with a credit card online, but didn't get a ticket and then checked online and didn't see it debited from the account, I then went directly to usairways online and bought a ticket then headed out to the airport.

Overall, I love skyscanner, but very leery of the links that don't go directly to the airline sites from there.

Proceed with caution
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