? about airline travel

[taheenee]

Can anyone advise on when, IYO, the best days are to fly on. I'm planning a trip in Oct. and can arrange my work schedule and vacation week assignment such that i could fly on any day, i just need to figure it out ahead of time in order to request to right week and extra days. I'm trying to create a 10 day disney visit out of my week vacation and some extra vacation days and days off tacked on just right to pull it off. I know, what a pain, and my job is kinda unflexible on changing thing at the last minute, proper channels, you know. Anyway any help would sure be appreciated. right now i'm looing at leaving on a monday and coming back on a wed.
TIA!!
heather

 

[Onceler]

If I remember correctly, it is usually less expensive to fly on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Thursdays are often a good bet too. Of course I've seen many examples where this doesn't hold up, but more often than not airfare on these days is cheaper.

 

[Leota]

I just found flying out Tues & returning Mon or Tues was very cheap. I didn't look at returning on Weds or Thurs.....

 

[dcibrando]

I guess it depends on what airport you leave from... some of the bigger airports are more expensive during the week because of business travelers (go figure)
if you're trying to save some money.. you can get $30 off through hotwire.com with one of the entertainment.com books. click on my signature logo to get one. I used it and it paid for itself and then some

 

[Chicago526]

Really, the airlines don't offer cheaper airfare on certain days very much anymore (but you do see it from time to time). What really happens is that the most popular days to travel tend to sell first, and once the cheaper tickets are gone, all that are left are the more expensive ones. The most popular days to travel to Orlando are Friday and Saturday, and home from there is Saturday or Sunday, especially later in the day.

What I would do is price out your ideal dates/times. Then shop around using alternate dates/times and see if it changes the price. If the alternate dates/times are lower, then go for it. If not, or the differance isn't that big, then you may as well go with your ideal dates/times.

Fares tend to go on sale about 2 to 3 months prior to your travel dates. HOWEVER, if you are travling over a holiday when schools are out (I beleive Columbus day is in Oct?) then you need to book ASAP, as dates on or near holidays go so fast, the airlines don't usually have a chance to put them on sale!

 

[taheenee]

Thanks everyone!

 

[tink2dw]

Chicago526 - Have you ever been on the Southest Airline website??
http://www.southwest.com/cgi-bin/buildItinerary2?hps=nb
They have web sale days. Most of the cheaper flights are for Sat, Tue, Wed and sometimes Mon and Thurs. Put in your airport and the MCO and find the cheaper days to fly for your trip!!!

 

[the kabuki]

On Northwest & Expedia sites, you can do a flexible date search, which brings up a table showing 3 days before and 3 days after your chosen date, along with the pricing

 

[Luckymommyx2]

We always fly SWA and the last trip we returned home on a Tuesday with about 20 people total on the entire plane! I talked to the flight attendent and she said Tuesdays are always the best to fly!

 

[Chicago526]

SW only flies out of Midway, and I'm 20 minutes from O'Hare! Any money I'd save would go to pay the cab driver!

There ARE some airlines (like SWA) that offer date/time specific fares, but they are not always offered, or always available.

Airlines have tickets for the same flight set at differant prices, based in part on how restrictive the rules of the ticket are (non-refundable, penalty for changes etc.) and the advance booking requirement (21 days, 14 days, etc.).

So, for a flight with 100 seats, the airline might have 10 differant fares, 10 seats in each fare. So, the first 10 seats are sold at the lowest fare, so all thats left are the next 10 tickets at the next higher fare. As the plane fills up, the tickets get more expensive, until the fares are too expensive for most people to book, or the flight just sells out. That's one of the reasons that if you are flexable on dates/times, your fare may be lower. It's not that the airline offers lower fares for differant dates/times, it's just there are more, cheaper seats available at differant times.

So, to answer the OP's question, if Tuesdays tend to not be busy, your odds of the lowest fare are greater, but it could be because there are plenty of cheap tickets left for sale, not because of a cheaper fare offered on Tuesdays. Either way, it pays to be flexable and look around!

Happy hunting!

 

[funnygarcia]

I found it very easy and worthwhile to use Sidestep to search for airfare- and then purchase the airfare ticket thru the airlines own website to save on the extra service fees (typically about $10 per ticket).
Go to www.sidestep.com
Yu can look up fares there or download the toolbar .. with the toolbar it will automatically set up a search each time you visit a site searching for airfare.

I did save a few more dollars by going thru another site I found in travel section of fat wallet.. it found a fare that was $7 cheaper than any I found on my own on the airline's site or thru Side Step.. it was a few less dollars because of less tax/fees due to no-plane change needed.. just a stop and wait 45 minutes on the same plane/flight number.


Another site for more tips is to try
www.internettraveltips.com some good info on how some airlines /airports are changing, how to go about finding the best deals, tons of links ..

Good luck!

 

[Majkman]

Taheenee,

I'm not sure that they fly out of Maine, but Spirit Air (whom we are flying again in June), their rates couldn't be beaten. The deal they have going now (I'm sorry I didn't get an East/West quote) was fly south M,T,W and the rate was $69pp. Fly North W,TH,FR and the rate again was $69pp. I was thrilled to get $138 r/t from Chicago in June. We've flown Spirit a few times and have been very pleased.

Good luck,

Andy