Kayak

It used to be the best way to get to your destination was by plane, train, or automobile !

Now it’s the kayak. Kayak is a travel search engine. Which, according to their website, means they search hundreds of travel sites, provide the information to you in an easy-to-use display, and send you directly to the source to make your purchase. They will help you find the perfect flight, hotel, cruise, or rental car. Once your choice is made, Kayak will link to the travel sites to make your purchase, allowing you to choose which site to purchase from– through an online travel agency or consolidator such as Orbitz.com or Airfare.com.Kayak 's search engine can find all kinds of travel products– from flights and hotels to rental cars and cruises. Their fare alerts and fare history help travelers stay on top of ever-changing travel prices.

The recently launched Kayak.com wants to be the über travel search engines. Using a self-professed Google-meets-Amazon approach, Kayak cherry-picks from aggregator sites (like Sidestep and Mobissimo), agencies, and airline sites, and adds a slew of excellent techie tricks and tools. In short, you control of your travel choices - Kayak searches hundreds of travel websites (including online travel agency sites).

Why bother? Well, here are a few reasons:

1. Listings are totally impartial, without the pay-for-placement arrangements with airlines that is a common industry practice;
2. Searching is fast, and you can watch the progress;
3. Defining your search is as easy as moving the price slider up or down, and the info refreshes without forcing you to wait for a reload; and
   
4. Kayak.com also searches Jet Blue (Southwest only does Southwest).

Kayak was started by founders of Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia who believed in a better online travel experience (in other words, folks who know their way around the infuriating, Byzantine world of online reservations). They hired a crack team of geeky engineers who brought expertise from all over the Web, finagled a couple ducats out of General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners. Along the way, Kayak redefined the way people search and purchase travel online.

Go for it! Available online at kayak.com.