Online Travel/Airfare tools question?

[mohave_steve]

I have been using Kayak.com and Priceline.com with very good success to find good travel values for predetermined travel dates. They can provide the lowest fares I have found for a given date of travel.

Here I sit, long on available vacation time a short on budget, and would like to plan a dive trip. I am extremely flexible on travel dates (almost any time from May-October).
I have been plugging random dates and destinations into Kayak and haven't been able to figure when the best values occur to which destinations.

Has anyone found a travel tool that will scout out the best fares to a destination over an extended time frame?

Thanks

Steve

 

[robint]

are you asking about airfare, airfare & hotel packages, or dive travel packages?

 

[mohave_steve]

Primarily airfair, but if there is a tool out there that would let me pick an air/hotel or air/hotel/dive package and let me see what the best deal available over the span of several months that would be great.

 

[robint]

Primarily airfair, but if there is a tool out there that would let me pick an air/hotel or air/hotel/dive package and let me see what the best deal available over the span of several months that would be great.

I don't know of any that you can browse yourself, but you can check the websites for all the major DIVE TRAVEL agencies, and contact them. Caradonna does have a search function on their website now but I don't find it to be very cooperative at times (usually regarding airfare, search works fine when just dive packages).

Island Dreams Travel, diving trips
Caradonna Dive Travel and Vacations
Bay Adventures Dive Vacations
Honduras and Belize Travel Wholesalers
Ultimate Dive Travel

Check out these websites and then e-mail them.
Some dive resorts only deal with agencies (Scuba Club Cozumel, for example! We are going there for a second trip next month and it must be booked through an agent, we used Island Dreams. Another one is Cocoview Resort in Roatan. Once again, we use their preferred agent, Roatan.com)

For airfare, I always look at Expedia, the airlines own websites, and Sidestep or Kayak before I book. Some destinations have good airfare mid-week but that doesn't jibe with the dive packages, so be careful about booking. I never book airfare until I have the dive package lined up and booked, but I always make sure I have the airfare seats available. Its a hard balance, and takes time, but it is worth it in most cases. For many people, just asking one of the Dive Travel agencies to put together a package is the best way... no hassles and usually a price right in line with what you could do yourself.

hope this helps!

robin

 

[Sendero]

Has anyone found a travel tool that will scout out the best fares to a destination over an extended time frame?

Thanks

Steve

Depends on what you mean by 'extended'. Check out ITA Matrix (ITA Software: Login, login as Guest). You put in your origin and destination, how long of a trip you want, and then a start date for the searches. You can also specify airline preferences if you like.

For example, I was looking at Portland to Curacao on American. In the From box I put in "PDX::AA+" (Seattle, on AA, with any number of connections) and in the To Box I put in "CUR::AA+" (Arriving in Curacao, on AA, with any number of connections on the return flight). Great tool to have.