One website I often use to plan my trips, find and purchase affordable airline tickets, and sometimes find hotels and transportation as well is Expedia.com.

Expedia is easy to navigate, and it can be a huge time-saver when it comes to researching prices. For example, if I want to find the cheapest airline ticket to fly from New York to Rome, I don't have to go to each airline and check their prices - or contact several travel agents and have them quote their rates in order to see which one takes less money for the service. All I have to do is type in my information at Expedia.com - date, destination, return date, number of passengers, round trip or one way, etc. - and click "Search for Flights." Within moments, I will have all the most affordable flights, from all airlines, right there in front of me.

I can book and purchase the tickets right away, online. My detailed itinerary will be e-mailed to me by Expedia right away. I can change my itinerary, too, if my plans change (this costs some money). If I want to find a hotel to stay at my destination, I can do that as well. Arranging a taxi to pick me up at the airport is also possible.

One thing I would advise to remember is that the cheapest flights are usually non-refundable. That means that you cannot return the tickets and get your money back. However, Expedia has a solution that is far better than simply losing your money: if you cancel a flight, they credit your account with the some you had spent, and you can use it to purchase another ticket during one year. You will be limited to the same airlines though.

Expedia's customer service representatives are available 24 hours a day. They are polite and helpful, from my experience. When I needed to make a rather complicated change in my already purchased tickets, the situation was handled very professionally. I had spent over a half hour on the phone with the agent, and the agent patiently and diligently researched all the options and explained them to me.

I would recommend Expedia to anyone for trip-planning, it is a very good and reliable service.