This has been around for a while, hasn't it?

Since 1996, in fact - before most of us even had our own email address - and the design and concept, were beginning to look a little tired.

Remind me.

You picked a destination. The site came up with a long list of prices and travel agents' telephone numbers. You printed it out and rang them up to see if they had any cheap flights on the days you wanted to travel.

Have I ever told you about the time one of those sites crashed and I couldn't find out whether my payment had gone through or not?

Many times. (One useful piece of advice: even if the confirma tion page takes a while to go through, don't click the Confirm button again).

So what's changed?

There's still no booking engine, but you can buy flights via Cheapflights' new partner, Travelselect. The listings have been greatly improved, too, so that rather than calling an agency or searching all over again for a fare on its site, you can sometimes find it directly by clicking on a link. It can also recommend a few discounted business and first class flights.

Still a good site for the novice?

Yes. Cheapflights can make the introductions; but to settle the deal, you'll still have to go elsewhere.