Tips for getting cheap airfare is to either use Travelocity or Yahoo!s travel section. Enter your cities and check the button "my dates are flexible". The fares usually are best at 30 days prior. For example, I was checking say 45-50 days prior from San Diego and it was $550. At 30 days it was $409, and 25 days it is $484. This was on Continental Airlines (they also had United and TACA), and you can pick your flights and seats, but usually requires travel on the weekdays. Just keep on checking. I booked a few times through them and never had a problem. The system they use for travel is SABRE, same one travel agents use.