What is your recommended website or method for buying plane tickets? Especially to international destinations. One that presents reliable information and good pricing. Especially one that provides the ability for flexible date searching.
Over the past decade or so I have used a combination of Orbitz and Expedia, with the majority booked through Orbitz or specific airline websites (e.g. American, Etihad, Japan, etc.) Google Flights is nice to get a feel for prices but I have not been able to book using it. My main issue with Orbitz is that when searching with flexible dates the prices listed on the matrix are often wrong. A couple of years ago I gave up on Orbitz because the data was so bad and I could not manage to complete a booking. Then the next year it worked fine. When I search Orbitz now I see a similar issue where the matrix pricing is as off by 5-10% in some cases though it looks like I could actually complete a purchase. Still the bad data makes comparison searches time consuming and difficult when one has some flexibility in the exact week and destination.
A secondary question would be do any of those last minute booking sites (auctions??) really offer much advantage. Ideally I would make travel plans about 2-3 weeks out but realize booking months in advance is necessary for better pricing. But if I could keep a packed bag and take a last minute flight that would be preferable to planning so far out into the future.
