Internet Air Fare May Not Save Cash

The online travel booking services would have you believe the “lowest air fares are just a click away.”

This is, of course, baloney. If you really must shave that last $50 or $100 from a fare, the Web can help, but it’ll cost you.

So the first step is to read through the following tips and decide whether the several hours of “education” you’re about to endure are worth the money you stand to save. If not, call a travel agent.

If you’re determined to bend the Net to your will, clear your datebook, disable the “call waiting” on the phone line your modem will use, put on a pot of coffee and gather up something to do while waiting for information to wriggle down your phone line and appear on your computer screen.

Have your credit card handy, if you plan to actually book online. And follow these tips:

Feed your fare and itinerary queries to at least three of the electronic booking sites listed below.

This will require registering with each of them - typically a five-minute process - and writing down your logon name and password for each. Your passwords and logons might have to be different for each service.

Start by using each service’s “low fare” feature. Each is different but designed to give you a snapshot of what a low fare to your chosen destination might be.

Write down these three numbers; they’ll serve as benchmarks in your search for rock-bottom fares.

Now it’s time to use each service’s “travel agent” or “flight wizard” feature to specify the particulars of your trip and see the price of each itinerary it suggests.

Don’t use a service’s multi-airport feature such as Expedia’s - these queries often provide lower-quality results than single-airport ones. Feed in optional airports for your destination city, too (Newark for New York, Oakland or San Jose for San Francisco, Midway for Chicago, etc.).

Feed in morning, afternoon and evening times for all trip configurations; often low-fare seats are available only on scattered flights during less popular (i.e., not business-day-commuting) times.

One of the enduring frustrations of these online tools is that none of them permits you to ask for the lowest-priced fares “any time of day”; each requires you to specify a time or range.

Remember that better deals are likely with 21-day (or at least 14-day) advance purchase, or trips that involve a Saturday-night stay. If possible, feed in these options.

Once you have what appears to be the lowest fare, feed the flight numbers or at least the date/time/airline into each of the other two services again.

You’ll be surprised how often different services cough out different prices for the same flight.

Go to http://www.southwest.com and determine if Southwest flies to your destination. If so, use the simple Web page to make sure Southwest can’t beat your lowest fare.

When you’re ready to accept a fare, you can now book your trip online or call a travel agent to see if he or she can offer a better deal.

If you find a really low fare, don’t sit on your hands. Low fares are a highly perishable commodity and can disappear from specific flights - or Web sites - in minutes.

Web sites: Here are the Internet addresses for the top travel booking sites:

Travelocity: http://www.travelocity .com

Microsoft Expedia: http://www.expedia.msn.com

Preview Travel: http://www .previewtravel.com

Internet Travel Network: http://www.itn.net

The Trip: http://www.thetrip.com