How to Find Best & Cheap Airline Tickets

For Domestic Airline Tickets within USA (Travel within United States or Canada):Follow the options in the sequence given below.

(1) Sidestep.com: Dont forget to select nearby airports checkbox. Also, do not specify any time of departure or arrival in the initial search as you can filter them in the results
http://www.sidestep.com

(2) PRICELINE.com: If you are really flexible about timing of the day and do not care if your flight departs/arrives very early in the morning like 6am or late evening then PRICELINE is your best option. I have used this a few times for my air travel and you get great deals. Some times even 50% or even lesser than the cheapest ticket you could get elsewhere.
http://www.priceline.com

(3) Hotwire: Their concept is similar to priceline and thus becomes my immediate next choice after Priceline. Based on my 10 years of experience with Priceline, I still rate the bargains I got from Priceline much better. But, if you had not got the tickets for the price you are looking for by now then you should certainly give Hotwire a try.
http://www.hotwire.com

(4) Orbitz: Orbitz is good especially if you like to go on a tour or make multiple stops at different places. Even for roundtrip travel it may sometimes work out to be good. But, I personally would recommend this option for multiple-stop travel.
http://www.orbitz.com

(5) Expedia: Expedia is more popular ....but in my opinion most of the times you get better results with Sidestep. But, if you have time to shop on the web and have tried all the above options then I would recommend giving Expedia a try.
http://www.expedia.com

NOTE: Some people have never tried priceline and initially in a dillemma to use it or not. In my opinion, the shortest and sweetest way to explain this is Priceline and also Hotwire work with the unsold seats the airlines have which would otherwise go unsold and offer its customer at a much cheaper price. Well! Then you would think why would airline give the tickets at lower rates. Say better get something rather than nothing on seats that would otherwise go vacant. It's like a lost revenue.

PS: In my opinion, if you are collecting airline frequent flyer miles, the best choice is to use them when all the above options are not working within your budget or retain them for a time when you have to book personal travel tickets at a very short notice when the airline fares turn out to be very expensive.