I'm pretty tight in the money department but I want to go visit a friend who lives across the country sometime in February or March for my birthday. Unfortunately the flights are really expensive everywhere I look. I'm assuming it's because of spring break. I'm planning on staying a week, preferably more than that (10-14 days).

Does anyone know some good trustworthy discount travel sites, or even an airline that seems to be less expensive than most that I can check out? The lowest I can find is still pretty pricey and at undesirable travel dates.

Thank you!

Sometimes flights are cheaper if you get a package with a hotel. AA and Southwest are no longer included on www.expedia.com, you have to look them up individually. I would try: http://www.tripadvisor.com where you can check Orbitz, Hotwire, and a site called Smarter Travel and you can set up something called "Get Fare Alerts" which will email you if someone has a sale. Also, if you can keep your dates flexible you can save a lot flying one day instead of another.

I'd set up a fare alert on Kayak.
Also, keep in mind that most airlines discount their online airfare prices on Tuesdays, so Tues is the best day to book.
Kayak lets you compare all sites at once, including discount travel sites, so it's often the fastest way!

I've flown both Northwest and Southwest Airlines, both are similar in prices, I've flown as low as 59 dollars with Southwest, and as much as 89 (holiday times). I prefer Southwest to Northwest. Their "wanna get away" fares are the cheapest, and available on the web only. They don't do assigned seating though, so you have to either pay $10 more to do an advanced checkin to be more likely to get a seat you want (I prepurchased mine two days before and I ended up being the 21st person boarding the plane, so was able to get a window seat). If you don't prepurchase the seating position, you have to check in online within 24 hours of your flight, more time before the flight the better since that will give you a better boarding number.
You also get free softdrink/juice/water/coffee/tea during your flight, and peanuts or pretzels. I enjoy their flights.

I have used priceline with good success, you might also check travelocity or just google cheap flights.

You can set up a free account at airfarewatchdog.com and they notify you when the flight drops to the price you indicate.

Wow, Kayak is a great site. I found a cheap flight with perfect travel dates. I'll definitely use this in the future. Thank you!
Unfortunately I can't use things like Southwest because I have to fly from a small airport hub to a small airport hub with 2 layovers. Nobody wants to have to drive me to and from the nearest major airport.

Yes! Kayak ROCKS. So glad you found one. Don't know how we existed without it. It's also great for hotels and car rentals, should you ever need those.

Glad you found it - I was going to recommend Kayak.

Airline direct websites sometimes have deals that are unlisted. Also American just withdrew from search engines so you could check with them, but it's rare as rubies for them to be the cheapest option