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Travelers with complex travel plans may have noticed, however, that the search results aren’t necessarily consistent. This has created a business opportunity for Flightfox, a start-up company based in Mountain View, Calif., which uses a contest format to come up with the best fare that the crowd — all Flightfox-approved users — can find.

A traveler goes to Flightfox.com and sets up a competition, supplying information about the desired itinerary and clarifying a few preferences, like a willingness to “fly on any airline to save money” or a tolerance of “long layovers to save money.” Once Flightfox posts the contest, the crowd is invited to go to work and submit fares.....................

............Travelers’ savings can be considerable. In a contest for a long, complex trip that began in Sydney, passed through Barcelona and then many South American destinations before returning to Sydney, the difference between the lowest fare, $6,538 a person, and the third-lowest was about $1,400.

Read the article http://goo.gl/jV9Kr

Bookmarked for my future flights.

Another form of a travel agent with prettier lipstick. Quoted me $100 more than Kayak quotes dealing direct.

I doubt NY TImes gives it stamp of approval that easily, just be faulted with one search. I would trust their lip stick

"travel agent with prettier lipstick" LOL! Good one!