American Airlines’ DealFinder desktop tool

If you’ve already enjoyed finding out about super deals and getting under-the-radar sales alerts from Southwest Airlines’ desktop deal tool, Ding!, try American Airlines’ DealFinder. AA’s free, all-in-one desktop tool offers many delivery options for sending you updated airfare information whenever and however you want it, whether via RSS feeds, a desktop ticker, message alerts or other customizable options. While you’re online, DealFinder attempts to find lower fares for your saved searches several times daily, then alerts you when a better airfare is found. You’ll also get personalized alerts about promotional offers that are only available to DealFinder users.

Deal: I’m headed to Vancouver in mid-October, and I had been thinking about taking Amtrak instead of flying because airfares were so high. The cheapest airfares that Kayak or SideStep could find for a round-trip flight (LAX–YVR) were over $350 (via Orbitz). Once I downloaded DealFinder, though, the desktop tool immediately found a cheaper fare on American Airlines ($315.40, including taxes and fees).

Have you tried Ding! or DealFinder yet? Tell us about your success stories or technical glitches by posting in the Comments section below.

More…details: Unfortunately, the DealFinder parameters for saved searches don’t allow you the flexibility to check surrounding airports, which means that you’ll need to create separate searches for all possible flight combinations (in my case, flying out of Long Beach or Burbank). After searching the American Airlines website, I found cheaper code-share flights with Alaska Airlines. I ended up paying $258.10 for a round-trip flight with Alaska Airlines from Long Beach (LGB) to Bellingham, WA (BLI). The cheapest airfare that AA.com could find for the same flights was $311, which is 20% more expensive. From Bellingham airport, a Quick Shuttle bus ride to Vancouver will cost $39.90 round trip, for a grand total of $298.

Caveat: American Airlines’ DealFinder requires using a computer equipped with Internet Explorer and a Microsoft Windows operating system.

Why Use It: You can install AA’s free all-in-one desktop tool in just a few minutes with a high-speed Internet connection. Although I’ve had trouble getting Ding! to work on my new Windows Vista laptop, DealFinder has been running flawlessly for a few days now.

Why Not: DealFinder alerts cannot be sent to your cell phone or PDA.

Critique: Hopefully, American Airlines will add DealFinder tools for Mac users and others who don’t have a computer with a Windows operating systems or Internet Explorer.

Contact: American Airlines, (800) 433-7300
Alaska Airlines, (800) 252-7522

Related Los Angeles Times links:
American Airlines caters to female travelers
American Airlines: Short-hop flights, less miles
Airport sanity: $50 day pass to Admiral’s Club

– Sara Benson, L.A. Times Travel Deal Detective

[Photo credit: Courtesy of American Airlines]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 at 7:38 am by Sara Benson and is filed under Business Travel, Frequent Flier, Global, Los Angeles, News, Tips & Advice, Western Canada. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.