Looking for better AIRLINE FARES

[Guest jstlooknthx]

Just thought I'd ask the experts. On Monday night I found an airfare on Expedia from LA to Tampa for $117 roundtrip, nonstop! Tuesday my time off was approved at work. I went back on as soon as I got home and the rate had doubled. Today it is climbing higher. So how does this work? I still have about 35 days before the trip. Are the rates just going to get higher and higher as the date approaches, or is there a way to predict a drop in rates again? Just thought some of you middle income, jet setting types might know these things. :*

[seaboy4hire]

You gotta strike while the fires hot. You waited too long and you missed the deal. Chances of airfare going down for you trip is not likely. If you apply for an airline credit card and for their millage program often times you can get a free ticket in Y right off the bat and sometimes a free companion ticket too.

 

Hugs,

Greg

[email protected]

http://seaboy4hire.tripod.com New page for reveiws http://www.daddysreviews.com/newest.php?who=greg_seattle

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/3307/dsc05257be3.jpg[/img][/url]

Manners and class are two things money can not buy!

CHI

[+ deej]

You should have reserved the flight when you found it. (Yeah, I know, too late!) They'll hold a reservation for later purchase for up to 5 days, I think.

 

Your window for cheap flights may have expired. Generally, prices go up for any flight less than a month away. They get more money out of business travelers who don't have a choice about travel dates that way.

 

Sometimes the prices will drop in the days before the flight, if you want to gamble on availability. Also check the airline's website directly. I've often beat Expedia and Travelocity's fares on last minute flights that way.

 

Also take a look at http://www.kayak.com -- I've heard good things about them.

[+ ArVaGuy]

As Greg and Deej have pointed out, you pretty much missed your window for that low fare. Next time put the reservation hold if you can't book it right away. That will give you 24 hours to purchase the ticket. However, the airlines reserve the right to increase the fare so you may not get that great deal you thought you had.

 

I have heard good things about http://www.kayak.com as well so you might want to give them a shot. I use sites like Orbitz and Travelocity to find the fare and then book on the airline's web site to earn the extra points for booking.

 

The airlines are cutting back on seat inventory to increase profits. Don't expect that fare to drop it will likely go higher. :-(

[ted]

Just to be crystal clear on some of the recommendations above. You can reserve the trip but not actually buy the ticket. This will hold the routing and seat availability, but it will not, I repeat, NOT, hold the fare. Particularly on the really good deals when you spot them if at all possible but it right then. I can understand if you are not senior enough to get off whenever you want, however, it makes it tough to get the really low fares. Its best to book well in advance or last minute, but last minute has been getting tougher and tougher. I also usually do my shopping on orbitz, travelocity, or expedia, but have found I can usually equal and often beat those prices on the individual airlines websites. Most these days have a low fare guarantee, so whatever fare appears on the above will be on the website somewhere.

[timothyb]

Good resources for checking for cheap fares:

 

http://www.airfarewatchdog.com

 

http://farecast.com/

 

Both have been useful for finding deals on flights to CA and NYC..

[raulgmanzo]

Airfares are pretty frustrating. The airlines have pretty clever fare rules that seem to make any spontaneity very costly to the traveller.

 

For example for me to attend the hooville dinner on the 21st I'd need to move my flight a day or two earlier. For that they want almost $200 more. And Chicago to L.A. is fairly competitve, a less competitive route and I might have to pay $700 more or something truly ridiculous.

 

Still for the priviledge of escaping even one more day of Chicagos never ending winter AND hanging with the hoovillians I suppose it would be worth it. So the problem becomes can I rearrange my schedule quick enough before the $200 penalty increases even more?

 

Raul

[Epigonos]

One really good thing about http://www.kayak.com is that it provides ALL available flighs for any destination. Additionally kayak isn't in the business of selling tickets, it directs the buyer to one of its multitude of sources. Those sources include the airlines, expedia, tripadvisor, orbitz, etc. etc. At first I found it a little overwhelming but have come to rely on it for virtually all my flight purchases. I am leaving for South America on Sunday and ended up getting an outstanding price from Delta through kayak. When researching a ticket I always start with the airlines first to get a base price and then go from there.

I have learned to avoid priceline simply because to get the best price routing is not always disclosed thus a flight from Los Angeles to New York might go by way of Singapore. That's a joke but sometimes it doesn't seem so.

[seaboy4hire]

For the record you can not hold tickets on sites such as Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity. You might want to become active at http://www.flyertalk.com You will find some great tips from folks that travel for work.

 

Hugs,

Greg

[email protected]

http://seaboy4hire.tripod.com New page for reveiws http://www.daddysreviews.com/newest.php?who=greg_seattle

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/3307/dsc05257be3.jpg[/img][/url]

Manners and class are two things money can not buy!

CHI

[+ ArVaGuy]

>For the record you can not hold tickets on sites such as

>Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity. You might want to become

>active at http://www.flyertalk.com You will find some great tips from

>folks that travel for work.

>

>

 

I agree FT is a great site and often times the posters there know more than the airline employees. There's a forum for practically every airline you can name and information of some pretty arcane stuff.

 

Some great debates about the state of the industry and each airline has their partisans that will defend them to the death from any critic. Hmmmm that sounds like here now that I mention it.

[seaboy4hire]

Now lets not go there LOL There is also a GLBT forum in the thread too. I like to go in there or the west forums and slam Seattle and root for Chicago just to ruffle the feathers of the Seattle folk }(

 

Hugs,

Greg

[email protected]

http://seaboy4hire.tripod.com New page for reveiws http://www.daddysreviews.com/newest.php?who=greg_seattle

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/3307/dsc05257be3.jpg[/img][/url]

Manners and class are two things money can not buy!

CHI

[Guest novabear22031]

Thx to all for the great links for one that loves travel.....

[seaboy4hire]

>Thx to all for the great links for one that loves

>travel.....

 

You are mighty welcome :*

 

Hugs,

Greg

 

[email protected]

http://seaboy4hire.tripod.com New page for reveiws http://www.daddysreviews.com/newest.php?who=greg_seattle

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/3307/dsc05257be3.jpg[/img][/url]

Manners and class are two things money can not buy!

CHI

[+ cougar]

Of all the places on God's green earth.....why would you want to come to Tampa Bay? I live here, Just curious.

 

Seriously though, check out http://www.tripstalker.com I have never used this site, but as the name implies, you select the price you are willing to pay and it will notify you when they find a fare that is within your price.I believe this will search all airlines.

[+ ArVaGuy]

>Thx to all for the great links for one that loves

>travel.....

 

 

I've been traveling so much for work lately the love went out of it a long time ago. Weather permitting I am on another flight out of IAD tomorrow to YVR. Nearly 40,000 miles this year and its only mid March, ugh. :-(

 

Here's a few more to look into as well as a link to a previous thread from about three weeks ago.

 

http://www.seatguru.com

Find out about seat configs on major arlines. You can learn if you have a bad seat on just about any equipment type by airline.

 

http://www.flightstats.com

Consolidator site for flight status. This site will really tell you if it's a weather delay or if the airline (usually NWA) is lying to you.

 

http://www.travelskills.com/ticket.htm.

AKA The Ticket. This is a weblog forum that is somewhat Delta centric but has information on the entire industry.

 

http://www.frequentflier.com

The Frequent Flier Crier is another blog that offers information on the industry and inside information on how to work the airlines.

 

http://m4m.m4m-forum.org/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=4&topic_id=108640&mesg_id=108640&listing_type=search

Previous discussion about airline issues in recent weeks.

[seaboy4hire]

Although not flier related it is travel related: http://consumerist.com/consumer/enterprise/9-confessions-from-a-former-enterprise-rental-salesman-243325.php

 

Hugs,

Greg

[email protected]

http://seaboy4hire.tripod.com New page for reveiws http://www.daddysreviews.com/newest.php?who=greg_seattle

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/3307/dsc05257be3.jpg[/img][/url]

Manners and class are two things money can not buy!

CHI

[seaboy4hire]

I am using Kayak right now Deej and WOW! I am really impressed with how well it works compared to when it was in beta testing. Also one might want to check out http://www.travelaxe.com. It is a program that you would need to download but it works nicely too. I use it often when I look for hotels when I go out of town. Also when checking hotels also check their websites. Some offer to knock off a nights charge or match the lower price and then lower it another 10%. The Hotel Indigo in Chicago did the latter. Oh nice hotel too btw! Loved the nice beach theme they had going through out the entire hotel.

 

Hugs,

Greg

[email protected]

http://seaboy4hire.tripod.com New page for reveiws http://www.daddysreviews.com/newest.php?who=greg_seattle

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/3307/dsc05257be3.jpg[/img][/url]

Manners and class are two things money can not buy!

CHI

[Guest jstlooknthx]

Thank you so much guys. I knew I could count on you. Loving this Kayak site. Also loved that Enterprise article Greg. Good stuff.

 

Why go to Tampa? That made me laugh. I lived there for a long time. Got lifelong friends, family. Miss those beautiful beaches south of St. Pete. They make the LA beaches out here look like sewage. Though I got to say it was kind of sad to see how much traffic there is in Tampa now. Last time I was there the main streets were so congested.

 

Looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet and pay full price for airfare. Might be saving on Enterprise care rental though!

[larbord]

Another site to look at for fares is http://www.farecompare.com/

[rickinoc]

The website I would recommend is itasoftware.com. It is what is used by major carriers. Log in as a guest. You cant buy your ticket on it; but if you find the fare you need print out the iternary and use it with a travel agent or on online

 

Rickinoc

[+ Axiom2001]

Check out http://www.BestFares.com, http://www.SmartFares.com, and http://www.Consolidatedfares.com. I perused these sites for some of my impending trips, and the rates were palapable to my debit account. Look at http://www.hotwire.com as well as http://www.priceline.com and http://www.cheaptickets.com. I hope they are all "com's!" Best travels to you!

Axiom :-)

[+ Tom Isern]

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet, but it also seems that fares on these discount sites are lower on weekends than they are during the business week.

[Guest n2colour]

There have been some great sites recommended here - thanks guys! I added a few bookmarks and already find Kayak quite valuable.

 

I was thinking that your best bet once you pass the sweet spot for discounts may be to go to priceline or hotwire and bid the price you were originally quoted for a seat. I've been told that they end up with a lot of the unsold seats, but I'm not sure if this is true. Perhaps someone reading the thread knows for sure.

[PoppedRice]

There are 3 things that I check when looking for cheap airfares:

http://farechase.yahoo.com

http://www.kayak.com

http://www.southwest.com

 

The first two sites basically trawl all sites out there - from airline specific sites like United or Jet Blue, to travel sites like Orbitz or expedia. They mash up all the results to you to show you the best possible deal. All you have to do is make the selection and they redirect you to the site that has it.

 

The last, of course, is Southwest - apparently - their site is locked down, and so it can't be trawled by either.

 

Doing this saves me a lot of time going from site to site. Using them gets all my bases covered, but more often than not, the farechase.yahoo.com site gets me the better deal.

 

And they have this for hotels, car rentals, cruises, etc.

 

Also - from what I've read in the SF Chronicle's Tech section a while back, it seems that 12 midnight Central time is when all the websites release the new cheap fares for the week. I have found more often than not the best deals between 12 am and 12:30 am CST.

 

-PoppedRice