I used Hotwire fairly often, until a year and a half ago when I realized that I would rather pay more and get my frequent flyer miles. When you select an itinerary, a price comes up, and you have 30 minutes or something like that to buy it. They only deal with major airlines (the only airlines I've ever gotten on Hotwire are Northwest and US Airways) and you can select the amount of layovers and whether or not you want to take a red-eye. I only had one early morning flight the entire time I used Hotwire--the rest were mid-to late afternoon.
I like it, I just like my frequent flyer miles more.
I used Expedia for my flight to San Diego during spring break. Round Trip ticket for Orlando to San Diego (with a stop in Los Angeles) was only $209 for United Airlines. I purchased the tickets about 6 weeks before the flight and flew during the second week in March. I was really surprised to see such low airfare on Expedia for the major carriers (United, Delta, American Airlines, etc.).
I've used a lot of the sites that y'all have mentioned, and found Orbitz to have the best deals, and the most reliability. I'm signed up to get their email specials, so that might have something to do with it.
Oh, they just redesigned their site, too -- even easier to use now, so if you haven't tried them in awhile, I recommend giving Orbitz a try.
I'm actually shopping for a cheap flight for a trip I'm planning in October. The cheapest I've found is Southwest for $171.50 roundtrip, but only if I take the early morning flights (my return flight would leave at 7:35 in the morning from O'Hare when I'd be staying in NW Indiana!) and I couldn't book the ticket until 3 weeks before my departure date. I looked on Travelocity and found $188 roundtrip on America West if I do the early morning flights, or $253.50 if I take the mid-morning flights, which is more likely to happen.....now to just get the money together to book the flight...
Orbitz is best
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