Now that every other bus wants you to do something lastminute.com, entrust your holiday to Expedia or buy from trrravel.com (domain names are disappearing faster than Alpine snow just now), it's easy to forget that you can still cut out the middleman and buy a flight from the airline.

It's true that big travel agents can often negotiate lower deals for its customers. But they also want a slice of commission. If you're loyal to a particular airline, booking directly makes it easier to take advantage of the benefits that loyalty can bring.

Go and Buzz
For European destinations, Go and Buzz are almost always cheaper than the companies that spawned them - British Airways and KLM respectively.

easyJet and Ryanair
easyJet and Ryanair are also good places to visit if your journey times are flexible and price is important. All these are excellent, easy-to use sites, and most offer discounts of at least £2 for online booking.

British Airways
However, it's also possible to book online at British Airways and all the major US airlines. BA has extended the principle of the business lounge to the web so that members of their Executive Club can benefit from faster booking and additional privileges. Virgin Atlantic's site, which also has a Frequent Flyer section, is rather more sleek.

KLM
Where the online agencies tend to assume that price is the most important criterion - which means that they encourage flexible searches - BA, Virgin and KLM will give the price for a particular flight. This is fine if you're not prepared to switch dates and times, but can be very time-consuming if you aren't. So if you simply want to fly on a well-known airline rather than a charter or no-frills service, you'll save time by searching with Expedia or ebookers.

Cathay Pacific
Long-haul specialist Cathay Pacific has just introduced online booking. Everyone who fills in the online survey has the chance of winning a covetable WAP phone.

Lufthansa
Had the Lufthansa site not crashed my web browser in spectacular fashion - twice - it might have carried off the prize for the best airline website. (Cockpit simulators are still difficult to find online.) Ultimately, though, the budget airlines Go, Buzz and easyJet proved both faster and more attractive than their long-established rivals.