Besides "clearing house" websites like Orbitz, Travelocity, etc... what's the best way to find cheap airfare?

Hi GD!! =) Depending on where you're travelling, Southwest almost *always* has the cheapest fares if you book them early. Their tickets go on sale about 4 months out, and there's pretty much always a $69 or $99 one-way fare - sometimes cheaper, if you're not going far.

Also, if you use a credit card, get a Capital One card - you can rack up the miles pretty fast, and use them on whatever airline you want...

I've been told "kayak" on this website. And they are pretty good--they find you tickets from al lthe other cheap sites.

kayak.com is amazing. Thanks much.

I used kayak.com just last week to purchase last minute tickets. The site uses a lot of ajax, which makes it easy to use (kinda like this site).

Kayak is great, but it basically aggregrates the Orbitz/Travelocity clearinghouses you're referring to, along with a few other direct airline fares. I've also used sidestep.com and smartfares.com

I've had pretty good experiences with a place called farecast.com. They predict whether your ticket price will go up or down within the next week or so, which can be helpful. They don't directly get you better deals than the mainstream sites, but they can tell you whether you're paying a good price for your ticket or whether you should wait.

I’ve had decent luck with farecast as well. Have never tried kayak before, but will sign up and see how it works.