Cheap flight sites?

[CanadianCouponCollector]

.... I'm looking to fly ( ) to Florida (Melbourne) from Ottawa in the distant future. I've been looking at the tons of travel sites I know of and can find but can't for the life of me remember which site typically gets the best rates. Can you all help by giving me a list of sites to check before my brain disintegrates to mush?

Many thanks.

[lizzie bargain]

I usually use Expedia but you can also look at hotwire, travelocity etc

[JHShim]

I like HipMunk - you can search by agony and includes airbnb results

[blueeyetea]

I've used Expedia.ca. My experience was that the best prices showed up about two months before my preferred date of departure, but I started stalking the site months in advance until I figured out what day of the week the best rates showed up. The window wasn't big. A couple of hours on Tuesday afternoons and then the rates went up again.

[blueeyetea]

CanadianCouponCollector, since you're in Ottawa, it might be worth your while to check out flights to Florida from Syracuse NY. I know some people who do this regularly. (They used JetBlue.) Some hotels in Syracuse will let you park for the week for free and provide a shuttle to and from the airport if you stay one night. And since you're in the US already, there's no hassle of getting to the airport 3 hours ahead or go through customs.

[m170]

All of the websites listed above are good, from my experience... My best advice is: don't forget to clear your cookies each time you go back (I've seen firsthand that it will remember your searches and raise the prices in small increments) and the best time to buy is on Tuesdays and usually about six weeks in advance!

[EvilTofu]

Maybe this is too late, but for future reference.

Try Kayak.com, it's really like Google for cheap travels. It tracks most flight deal sites at one place and offers email alerts. It is especially useful if your date is flexible in distant future. Use +/-3 days to see an array of dates in which you can save more. And when you find the cheap flights that you want, go to your local Flight Centre and ask them to beat that price or use a coupon code. Virgin Mobile customer gets $50 off for domestic flights and $100 off international.

At the end of the day, don't spend too much time looking for cheap flights. Even if you spend weeks on it, you can save $200-300 at most. Time spent looking for cheap hotel offers you far more efficiency. Hotel rates vary so so much more.