November 18, 2004 -- If you're reading this, you probably know to shop around for airfare. As a smart shopper, you compare Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, SideStep, major airline sites and low-fare airlines. Maybe you even dip into Priceline or Hotwire when you're feeling lively.

But how about checking out Opodo or Airstop? Consumer Web Watch, a unit of Consumers Union, teamed up with similar organizations in six European countries to compare the three biggest U.S. travel sites against their European counterparts for international airfares, and found that U.S. and U.K. sites often lag behind Belgian and German online travel agents in finding the lowest fares.

"For Americans wondering if better online travel deals are available outside the U.S., this project demonstrates that the answer is clearly yes," CWW researcher William McGee says in a 58-page report, linked below.

Continued here