Why does nobody talk about booking flights on the airline's own site instead of the big search engines

Ben Gibson · 2026-09-25T20:00:03.896506+00:00

I always used the big travel search sites to find cheap flights, thinking they were pulling the best prices from everywhere. Last Tuesday I was looking at a flight from Chicago to Phoenix and the search site showed $218, so out of boredom I checked the airline's site directly and it was $164. Same flight, same seat, just 54 bucks cheaper because I skipped the middleman. Now I check both every time and the airline site wins more often than not. Has anyone else noticed the search sites tacking on fees like this, or did I just get lucky that day?

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Why does nobody talk about booking flights on the airline's own site instead of the big search engines | Budget Travel Hacks - Guest Forum