Airlines & Airfare Discounts

[wilburville]

I am already booked with the HRH for February 19-25. Now comes the hard part of trying to find decent rates on the flight!!! I hate this. Everything is so high right now. Can anyone point me in the right direction with tips, tricks, websites or any information to help me. I would be very grateful. I usually book my whole vacation in a package deal so I don't have to worry about these things, but this time I am trying it differently and now I don't know the first thing about booking flights...ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELP ME PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[scootert]

Sign up at Orbitz and/or Travelocity for their "deal locator". At Orbitz, you give them specific dates and a price range you are looking for and they'll email you when the rates hit your price range. Of course, I can never be patient with this and usually check at least once, if not twice a day anyway. If you do that, you'll have a good idea of what would be a good discount. Once I find a fare I like, I usually go to the specific airlines site and book there.

If you live in an area that has regional carriers like Southwest or JetBlue, make sure you check their sites -- these carriers won't show up on Orbitz or Travelocity.

Good luck

 

[Eclpz314]

Also check US Airways site, but do your search by price instead of date. We've done that twice before and end up with tickets on the same flight/time and time but about $50-$60 cheaper........not sure why it works that way. Also, if possible, try to take a very early morning flight. They run cheaper than a mid-morning one. I was a little nervous this time around because I booked our flight online, chose our seats online, and printed out our boarding passes. It all went smoothly. I even received an email noticfication when our return flight was changed by 10 minutes. Don't be afraid to try it!

 

[deelam]

Go to the transportaion board on DIS. You will get allot of advise there.

I'd be a little leary of US Airways. I hope they survive, but I would wait until after the 10/7 hearing regarding them making a large payment into the pension fund of the employees. US air doesn't want to make this payment. If they are forced to the airline could become very shakey.
I have a flight booked with US Air 10/29-11/2, I'm worried that they might start to fall apart before then.

Deneen

 

[wilburville]

i am in shock over the airline prices. southwest just came out with feb. seats yesterday and i checked them like i have been doing everyday for months waiting for new dates. the price from providence, ri to orlando ONE WAY is $185.00 it would cost me almost $1200 to fly...that is more than the HRH. what is up with that??????????????????/ INSANITY!! do you think they will open up more seats at a cheaper price later on? WHat do I do?? like isaid before I usually book the package but i have already booked the hotel.

 

[deelam]

I have to agree, I'm a little shocked at how high Southwest's prices are. It's odd that their fares are high just as people are afraid to book with US air. That's my case anyway. I always fly US air out of Philly. I'm(any many others are) insecure about booking US Air.

Deneen

 

[Eclpz314]

wilburville, I just went to the Southwest site and put in a date in March just to see what came up. The site gives a list of flights and if you click on the price button on right hand side, it brings up a list of "youth", "child", "refundable", etc. w/price for each. At the bottom of that list is one for internet specials. Providence to MCO up until March 5th is listed as $129 one way. It also gives a list of the taxes that would be added, etc. The fares on SW's site are only good until the end of the current schedule...which in this case is March 5th. I'll have to wait a few more months to start checking for our fares from Phillly. We've always used US airways, but I agree w/ the others here.....I would be leary of booking too far in advance w/them right now. Just make sure whichever one you chose, check the fineprint....make sure you can get a refund if something causes your trip to be cancelled. Some of the different places will charge a large fee for changing any details, etc. Good luck!

 

[wilburville]

Eclpz314
thanks for your help but i need the flght for a Feb 19 departure and a feb 25 return. i see that i can get a $79 flight back on the 24th so i might have to cut my vacation short by one day to save $$$. and thanks to all for the advice!