Where is a good place to buy plane tickets?
 

I need to buy a plane ticket for my mother-in-law to come visit us this summer. She will be flying from Naples, Italy to Toronto, Canada. Where can I get the best deal? Should I try online, local travel agency or some last minute place?

Thanks

I go to Travelocity or Expedia to find low fares then go right to the airlines website to book the flight.
Keep in mind you get what you pay for. That's a long flight to be sitting in crappy seats.
That said I almost always travel Airtran Airlines cause I travel a lot and get air miles.

Danny

Well, she's actually Ukrainian, not Italian, so she lived 20 years under Stalin. I think she can survive a few hours in crappy seats!

Thanks

Try kayak.com and kayak.it -- they have always come through for me!

Last minute ticket deal, don't come around so much anymore, not like in the past. Maybe some places are specialized on that.

Ticket prices are pretty constant these days, except at one point before the flight, when the ticket sales wants to fill the planes.

Depending on the route you fly, I'd say usually around 4-3 weeks before the flight the tickets drop to its lowest point. But you can't really rely on it, different airlines have different sales strategies.

Best thing is to monitor the prices from different sources, online and through agencies, or airlines directly.

Usually it is best, to buy the ticket at the place of departure.

mobissimo.com
If she is flexible date wise, try different dates. Sometimes, fares can be several hundred dollars more from one day to the next. Once you have found a good price (with mobissimo or any other travel site) try going to the airline's website directly, and see what kind of price you get with the same dates. Every now and then, you can save even more. Might want to try different airports in Italy too...perhaps Rome, or maybe even take a train to Munich, and fly with LTU from there.

www.farecompare.com does a good job of giving you the history of prices on specific routes. They will also e-mail you as fares drop.

Hope this helps...
 

I always found good deals on http://www.cheapflights.com/ while I was in the military. :)