A lesson on travel websites

Seems like it was just yesterday (probably because it was) Priceline.com said it had cut a deal with low-fare airline JetBlue Airways Corp. that will give the bargain-hunting website access to all of JetBlue's published fares, schedules, and inventory.
A little earlier yesterday Travelocity also said it had cut a deal with JetBlue. Likewise Orbitz Worldwide Inc. revealed it had agreed to distribute the discounter carrier's fares through its Orbitz, Cheap Tickets, and Orbitz for Business sites.
OK, now pay attention. This is what the most annoying people you know call “a teachable moment.’’ There will be a pop quiz later. Let's say that on Sunday morning, before clearing the requisite cobwebs from Saturday night or constructing your 17th leftover turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sandwich (light on the mayo), you tried to book a cheap seat online for a flight to sunny Tucson.
You perhaps assumed that the travel site search engine was scanning all possible airlines, including JetBlue (Don't make me repeat that thing your Uncle Henry used to say about why you should never assume). If your favorite site happened to be one of the aforementioned, obviously, you likely would’ve been wrong.
Remember, search engines on travel sites only sift through the fares of airlines the sites have agreements with. What this means is that before you start doing research on the Web for fares you need to look into who has deals with whom. Or at least count on doing a good bit of comparison shopping.
Nuff said. Now, let’s dig into some of Mom’s Thanksgiving chili surprise.