Reuters Money

Air travel is already more expensive and inconvenient than it used to be; now just buying your tickets is going to get more time consuming and annoying. Big name airlines are declaring war on web-based agents like Expedia and Orbitz, and that means travelers will have to spend more time clicking around in the hopes that they’ll be able to find attractive fares.

Expedia has dropped AMR Corp’s American Airlines from its listings, after American removed its flights from Orbitz in December. In mid-December, Delta reportedly pulled its listings off of smaller sites, such as CheapOAir.com and OneTravel.com. Some less expensive airlines, such as popular Southwest, never have been listed on most web-based aggregating sites.

Further complicating fare searches for consumers is the fact that most airlines now charge for myriad add-ons, such as checked luggage, food and even particular seats.

What’s a traveler to do? Here are a few options:

* Check the sites that follow the other sites.  Start a search with Kayak and Sidestep.com, both of which monitor several other airline ticket websites, and see what turns up.

* Surf to individual airline sites for quotes, once you’ve seen the best that the aggregators and online agents are offering.

* Call the airline of your choice and ask them what extra fees would apply before you buy your ticket. Factor that into your decision.

* Join all the frequent flyer programs  and email lists that you can, even if you’re not really a frequent flyer. It’s typically free to join. Airlines trying to gain tighter control of their customer relationships may start offering deals directly to consumers who are already on their list.