How to search Expedia for flights

Expedia is an agency: it sells you the ticket and becomes the company you deal with when the flight changes. Good for packages, an extra step when something goes wrong.

What Expedia is good at

• Packages. A flight and hotel booked together are genuinely cheaper, because the hotel rate is hidden inside the bundle and hotels will discount a rate nobody can see.
• One itinerary. Multi-city trips across partner airlines get ticketed together, which is more than most metasearch sites will do for you.
• Member pricing. Free account, small discounts, worth taking if you are buying here anyway.

What to watch for

The ticket is between you and Expedia, not you and the airline. On a cancellation day the airline will frequently decline to rebook a ticket it did not sell, and you will be in Expedia's queue instead of the airline's.

Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, CheapTickets and Hotwire are all the same company. Checking all five is not a comparison.

Use it like this

1. Search the flight alone first, so you know what it costs before a bundle hides it.
2. Then add the hotel and compare the package total against flight plus hotel booked separately. The bundle usually wins, sometimes by a lot.
3. Open the fare rules before you book. Basic economy is heavily represented in the cheap results here and the restrictions are not on the results page.
4. Check the same flight on the airline's own site. If the price matches, buy it there.

Verdict

Buy here for a flight and hotel package. For a plain flight, price it here and then buy from the airline.

Common questions

Who owns Expedia?

Expedia Group.

Does Expedia sell tickets directly?

Yes. It is an online travel agency, so the ticket contract is with them rather than the airline.