The irony is, the friggin Internet SHOULD be making this airfare-purchasing process so much easier, user-friendly, logical and transparent ... yet it tends to run by blind chaos governed by total luck. All of the old rules (eg, buy as early as possible, never go to a travel agent, deal directly with the airline and ask for specials, etc) no longer apply. I've been ROOTED to this chair since LATE JUNE trying to find decent airfare to the Balkans, and I've watched the fare on the same flights soar one day, plummet the next, then soar again. I'm convinced that there is no rhyme or reason to any of this. I finally abandoned the White Whale of "I want to fly there AS CHEAPLY AS I CAN" and, instead, decided just how expensive of a ticket I was willing to buy ... and then I pounced on whatever I could find that fell below that number. Sure, there are a lot of last-minute deals ... if you've got the stomach and the schedule flexibility to play that game. If I were you, I would come up with that threshold amount that you are WILLING and ABLE to spend (not HAPPY, just WILLING), and then hit all of those online cheap-fare websites. In the end, I liked ebookers, skyscanner and opodo ... I've never had any luck with the big ones (expedia, kayak, etc). Good luck.