The conventional wisdom surrounding purchasing an airline ticket used to be if you saw a cheap airfare, you had to snap it up before the price jumped. Now there is a Web site that helps travelers avoid playing airfare roulette.

With the price of fuel down and the faltering economy making it harder for airlines to fill seats, airline ticket prices should be dropping and Web site yapta.com helps you get that lowest fare.

Virgil and Verna Hodges, arriving in D.C. From Atlanta, say they got a good price on their airline tickets, but with fares falling, they are not sure if they got the best price.

"I wonder about that sometimes, and that worries you a bit, but unfortunately we are procrastinators - we usually don't book that far in advance," said Virgil Hodges, a traveler.

Then there is the Chou family from Melbourne, Fla. who also admit to playing airfare roulette.

"We were just trying to see what was the best fare," said Peggy Chou. " My husband would get off and get back on and see if it was cheaper [but] it actually went up."

In fact, looking at the average price for a flight from D.C. To Las Angeles over the span of three months, the cost to travel has been a roller coaster ride up and down, where a couple of days could mean lost dollars.

"Once I book it's done. My feeling is there's nothing to do about it," said Michael Schnall, a Bethesda resident.

But that is not necessarily true anymore; travel site yapta.com says they offer airline price protection. The site claims they will track your desired trip, alerting you if the ticket price drops. They also claim to then guide you through the process of getting the difference credited back.

For traveler Mark Fielmeier, he welcomes any idea that "saves the budget."

There is a catch, though. Some airlines, including American, Continental, Delta and U.S. Air charge a hefty $150 reissue fee. But there are other airlines that will credit the price difference for little or nothing. Yapta.com claims its users save on average $227

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