Airfare help needed

[Lintasare]

That is not how you score a diser gift ticket!

Ding ding ding. We have a winner folks.

 

[undertheradar]

Ummmmm...OP....what kind of "help" can we at the BB possibly offer you, since airfares are highly volatile to begin with, and are priced according to a number of unique factors?

Besides location/airline/schedule, you added the "unaccompanied minor" caveat, which creates new travel situations -- not to mention you are referencing a small airport, where fares are going to be inflated, to begin with (Greensboro).

Best to start doing your own research on this one, since only you know what you'll be up-against...if it were me, I would start with Raleigh-Durham (RDU), since they have a large number of airlines, including discounter Southwest. Piedmont Triad (GSO/Greensboro) is mostly commuter/express airlines, and those are usually priced much higher than their "mainline" counterparts.

 

[Danibelle]

Southwest has r/t for $383.20 (really any dates in July/August, just click on "low fare calendar"). It's not a direct flight, but there are no plane changes for her to deal with.

I think that since she is over age 11 she doesn't have to go as an unaccompanied minor.

Here's what SWA states regarding UM's:

Note:
Children ages five through 11 traveling without an accompanying Passenger age 12 or older must travel as an Unaccompanied Minor (UM) on Southwest Airlines.
For travel booked on or after April 23, 2010, Southwest Airlines will charge $50 each way ($100 roundtrip) in addition to the air fare per child for UMs to travel.
UMs may only travel on nonstop or direct (makes one or more stops but does not require a change of planes or flight number) flights.
Southwest will not transport UMs on flights that may be diverted or cancelled due to inclement weather or other operational abnormalities.

If there are no plane changes, it is considered a direct flight.

I used to live up there. I used both Greensboro (near my house) and Raleigh Durham (further away). Both airports can have high and low fares depending on the destination. I would definitely look into SW out of Raleigh Durham.

 

[scrapquitler]

If OP is looking specifically for SW, she won't find any fares on travel sites.

True. But there is SouthWests own website. I even checked it for her and plugged in dates and told her the fare she could get. (189 for the direct flight on the way down, 199 for the flight with a change at bwi on the the return, if I remember correctly for July 9 & 23).


Honestly, the OP just needs to spend 15 minutes googling and doing the research. I don't understand the hand wringing about just doing it?? You look, you decide if the prices you find are acceptable, and if they are, you book it. If she waits too much longer, she's going to be out of luck, her anytime after July 4th scenario means time can be running out soon, low fares are likely to disappear soon as they sell out (and they WILL sell out in July). Sure she might be able to score something lower at the last minute by bidding on Priceline, but there's no way I would do that for a 14 year old flying alone, she could end up with flights in the middle of the night, unreasonable length layovers and multiple legs to strange cities.

 

[Marionnette]

True. But there is SouthWests own website. I even checked it for her and plugged in dates and told her the fare she could get. (189 for the direct flight on the way down, 199 for the flight with a change at bwi on the the return, if I remember correctly for July 9 & 23).


Honestly, the OP just needs to spend 15 minutes googling and doing the research. I don't understand the hand wringing about just doing it?? You look, you decide if the prices you find are acceptable, and if they are, you book it. If she waits too much longer, she's going to be out of luck, her anytime after July 4th scenario means time can be running out soon, low fares are likely to disappear soon as they sell out (and they WILL sell out in July). Sure she might be able to score something lower at the last minute by bidding on Priceline, but there's no way I would do that for a 14 year old flying alone, she could end up with flights in the middle of the night, unreasonable length layovers and multiple legs to strange cities.

Priceline won't allow you to bid on airline tickets for a passenger under 18 traveling alone. Priceline recommends booking directly with the airline you wish to fly on.

 

[momxx5]

Thank you for those with positive feedback.

It has been several years since I have booked airfare, and back then I usually flew American Airlines and booked via telephone.

My sis called with some awesome news. She & her family will be paying for half of DD's ticket AND DD will be joining them and 3 other families on a week trip to the FL Keys. So exciting.

Yes, I am quite capable of looking up websites, however I thought that just maybe there was some suave flyers who had a few lessons learned that would help us get the best possible rate.

I will be hitting all the sites and entering dates for arrival starting after July1st thru July 6th and then return flights anytime after July 22nd. I was just wondering if those "experts" knew if flying on certain days, either coming or going were more budget friendly, does Saturday stayovers matter anymore, time of day? etc. But, as mentione yes, I CAN DO it by simply spending a few hours at the computer entering the info.

Thanks again for those offering support. This is such a great opportunity for DD and a trip she surely will remember for a very long time.

 

[undertheradar]

Thank you for those with positive feedback.

It has been several years since I have booked airfare, and back then I usually flew American Airlines and booked via telephone.

My sis called with some awesome news. She & her family will be paying for half of DD's ticket AND DD will be joining them and 3 other families on a week trip to the FL Keys. So exciting.

Yes, I am quite capable of looking up websites, however I thought that just maybe there was some suave flyers who had a few lessons learned that would help us get the best possible rate.

I will be hitting all the sites and entering dates for arrival starting after July1st thru July 6th and then return flights anytime after July 22nd. I was just wondering if those "experts" knew if flying on certain days, either coming or going were more budget friendly, does Saturday stayovers matter anymore, time of day? etc. But, as mentione yes, I CAN DO it by simply spending a few hours at the computer entering the info.

Thanks again for those offering support. This is such a great opportunity for DD and a trip she surely will remember for a very long time.

Perhaps you should look at the information on the transportation board.

 

[Swan4Me]

I use Delta's site a lot - I find late arriving flights are always cheaper- and very short and unreasonable layovers are cheaper

 

[carebee21]

Thank you for those with positive feedback.

It has been several years since I have booked airfare, and back then I usually flew American Airlines and booked via telephone.

My sis called with some awesome news. She & her family will be paying for half of DD's ticket AND DD will be joining them and 3 other families on a week trip to the FL Keys. So exciting.

Yes, I am quite capable of looking up websites, however I thought that just maybe there was some suave flyers who had a few lessons learned that would help us get the best possible rate.

I will be hitting all the sites and entering dates for arrival starting after July1st thru July 6th and then return flights anytime after July 22nd. I was just wondering if those "experts" knew if flying on certain days, either coming or going were more budget friendly, does Saturday stayovers matter anymore, time of day? etc. But, as mentione yes, I CAN DO it by simply spending a few hours at the computer entering the info.

Thanks again for those offering support. This is such a great opportunity for DD and a trip she surely will remember for a very long time.

Go search on kayak.com. Enter your dates and then find the flexible dates button. It lets you search up to three days before or three days after your date. So if you put in July 4, it will search for the cheapest dates between July 1-7. They even have a button that lets you search for fares at other nearby airports. So it really is the best option for finding the cheapest rate.

Then search on Southwest (they don't participate in Kayak). And there's a feature on there that says cheap fare finder and it lets you see fares for the month, showing you what days are the cheapest.

As others have told you, you really need to be booking now. Fares raise a lot 7-14 days before the flight date and you're quickly approaching that date...

 

[JB2K]

Honestly, the OP just needs to spend 15 minutes googling and doing the research.

As I always say -- "Google is your friend..."

I don't understand the hand wringing about just doing it?? You look, you decide if the prices you find are acceptable, and if they are, you book it.

It's a pretty easy process (especially on Southwest), plus, they take all forms of plastic to make it happen! Don't have plastic? Southwest (and a couple of others) sell gift cards at the usual food/drug retail outlets.

Speaking of plastic, I am beginning to smell something "beyond the ordinary", here -- for those BB regulars who are familiar with OP, she seems to have a particular method as to how things roll (more often than not, the end result will involve an "angel" fronting her some funding, or at the very least, perhaps a left-over SWA gift card with double-digit excess funds which weren't going to be used, anyway).

There have already been two seperate threads on the BB concerning this particular trip -- one thread said it was daughter's "band camp", while the other was daughter "vacationing with other relatives" -- hence, my little red flags.

If she waits too much longer, she's going to be out of luck, her anytime after July 4th scenario means time can be running out soon, low fares are likely to disappear soon as they sell out (and they WILL sell out in July).

Exactly! But maybe by then, the "angel" thing will have come into play?

Sure she might be able to score something lower at the last minute by bidding on Priceline, but there's no way I would do that for a 14 year old flying alone, she could end up with flights in the middle of the night, unreasonable length layovers and multiple legs to strange cities.

According to Priceline's rules, you cannot do the "name your own price" thing with unaccompanied minors travel (since that, in itself involves extra fees, etc.) -- plus, if daughter could travel via Priceline's NYOP, any of their usual travel scenarios could be too dicey for any reasonably-minded parent to stomach...