External Resources

ExpertFlyer.com
A great subscription-based website that lets you see what the airline reservation agents see – both for paid tickets and, importantly, award tickets and upgrades.  This site is a great tool for planning trips; with its information, I make my plans before I call the carriers.  The website includes most US-based carriers and many leading global carriers.  It also has email notifications – if a particular flight becomes available for a low-miles award seat (or upgrade) – EF will email you right away.  It also lets you electronically monitor your favorite seat – if it opens up, you’ll be notified right away.  The site costs $100 a year for unlimited searches; I find it money extremely well spent.  EF also allows new users a free trial for a few days; try it and you’ll probably be hooked!
http://www.ExpertFlyer.com

Detailed Airfare Searching
A free version of ExpertFlyer.com (but covers only paid tickets, not awards/upgrades, and has fewer airlines).
http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

Miles and Points Conversions
Do you have points on American Airlines (OneWorld) that you absolutely want to use on a United (Star Alliance) flight?  Use InsiderFlyer’s conversion tool to evaluate conversion options.  Beware:  Many transfers end up eating a lot of points through unfavorable conversion ratios.  Before making a conversion, check the value of the net miles you would be ending up with and see if a conversion is really is worth it.
http://www.insideflyer.com/tools/mileage_converter/index.php

Greg Fischer’s Airline Fare School
A very good ‘deep dive’ into airfares – how to really understand them – and in a few cases, how to add an extra city to your trip for free.  This ‘school’ is not for novices.
http://www.planestrainsandrunning.com/p/old-posts-airline-fare-school.html

The Old Course (St Andrews)
This group is a great way to arrange golf at the home of golf.
http://caddiegolftours.com/index.htm

Off And Away
This is a unique travel bidding site with some particularly good values.  The bidding format is a little unusual.  Generally very good properties are featured.
http://offandaway.com