Best New Airline Web Sites

Whether you’re looking for the next airfare finder or trip-planning tool, here are seven sites we love.

TripIt

Best For: Organizing Travel Details

A tidy, paperless way to keep track of everything from flight reservations to OpenTable dinner plans, this site extracts travel details from the booking confirmations that you forward by e-mail, then organizes them all on a private Web page. Bonus: it automatically adds trip-specific SeatGuru tips, weather reports, and Google Maps.

Momondo

Best For: Searching Far and Wide—fast

When the price tag is paramount, try this Denmark-based aggregator, which swiftly scours more than 450 sites—including major booking engines, national carriers, and no-frills airlines—to unearth cheap flights to destinations around the world.

Tripology

Best For: Arranging Tricky Itineraries

This matchmaking service assesses your wants, needs, and interests with an online questionnaire, then matches you with a savvy travel agent. It scans a global network of more than 6,000 independent experts to find three who’ll be able to coordinate your complex route.

ExpertFlyer

Best For: Getting the Inside Scoop

With real-time seat maps for more than 100 carriers, this site will help you find what’s available the next time a cancellation leaves you stranded at the airport. (Basic subscription is $4.99 per month.)

Yapta

Best For: Watching for Price Drops (and Scoring Refunds)

This site keeps tabs on fare fluctuations before and after you book your flight, so you can get any applicable credits or even cash back from the airline if the price drops. Caveat: Refund policies apply only if you book directly with the airline.

Mile Maven

Best For: Maxing out Your Miles

Updated every day, this simple but comprehensive database links to limited-time offers for bonus miles. Covering hundreds of carriers and millions of different routes, it’s easy to search by airline, frequent-flier program, or city.

OrbitzTLC Traveler Update

Best For: Checking Flight Status and Delays