Top Sites: Sidestep

Sidestep is a USA based site and primarily I use it for finding flights rather than for my package holiday needs, but it deals with flights from any destination to any destination so even if you live outside the US it’s ideal. Where Sidestep grabs me is the way it displays the information in a really easy-to-use format with a “sidebar” containing filters that allow you to fine-tune the search once you’ve done it.

There are two other really useful facets of Sidestep. Firstly, and this is one of my major gripes with many sites, it remembers your holiday dates and the search criteria you put in, even if you go away and come back a few days later. The other service I use is their email alert messaging system. For example, as mentioned elsewhere I have recently been looking for flights to Hong Kong. I have a month or two to plan, so I entered two sets of potential dates I can go, did a search for each and set up daily alerts. Once a day, I now receive an email with the best flight deals to HK on the dates I entered. A nice touch is that it not only breaks them down into “direct” and “non-direct” flights in a neat table, but also tells you which airlines compare. It even mixes and matches different airlines on the outbound and inbound flights to get the best prices.

You have to use it to grasp the concept so here’s the link to check it out: Sidestep.

One oddity of Sidesetp is that it is an affiliate of several other travel affiliates. What this basically means is that it searches a range of other sides to get it’s info. These are not only the airlines themselves, but other price comparison sites like Orbitz. It’s a clever system and I have to admit, I wish it was mine ‘cos it must earn a small fortune in referral fees! But when you see how it works, you can’t begrudge them a cut.