You should now have some idea of where you’re going, and when.

Refer back to your airline’s award program rules (which you opened in a separate window earlier) to see how many miles your preferred itinerary would cost.

But how much would such a flight cost in cash? Let’s find out.

On the right side of this page, you should see a search box for Kayak.com. (If you have javascript disabled, or if for any other reason you don’t see the search box, click here to open a new window for a search.)

Search results should open in a new window.

I use and recommend Kayak because they gather their price information from a range of sources — the airlines themselves, consolidators (including some “unpublished” fares), and online travel agencies. It may not cover every single fare that’s out there, but it comes darn close. As an added benefit, if you find a good fare and click through via Kayak, you still get whatever online booking bonuses or other deals you might be eligible for. (Update: Why Kayak, and not another aggregator? For a thorough review of the fare aggegators, click here to read a review in a new window.)

If you have a more complex itinerary (open jaw, stopover, etc.) don’t enter information in the box — just click here to open a new Kayak search window. In that new window, choose “multi-city” and run your search.

Note that the search results (and our discussion of price, generally) will consider US dollars the primary currency.

CLICK HERE when your search has completed.

(image: Chris_J on flickr)