Los Angeles - April 20, 2004

Fly Away Home

SideStep Airline Search Engine

Monday you get dumped. Tuesday Mr. Escalade sideswipes your Jetta. (Talk about unfair fights.) Bright and early Wednesday morning the boss gives you a stern talking-to about your, er, “subpar performance.”

Someone needs to get away for the weekend — pronto. If only someone had remembered to save for this rainy day.

Say hello to SideStep, a free online search engine. You download the applet; SideStep does the comparison shopping for you. It culls the sites of major travel agencies (like Orbitz and Expedia) and airlines (like American, Delta, JetBlue) for the best available fares. Current day’s-notice round-trip deals include New York to South Beach for $230, Los Angeles to Nashville for $500.

Because sometimes getting away isn’t an just an extravagance. It’s a necessity.

Available online at sidestep.com.