Cheap Airfare...How do you get it?

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

I'm looking for airfare for 8 people. I'm hoping to get some sort of deal somewhere.
Where have you gotten your best deals? From airlines? From online sites like priceline? TA?
HELP!

 

[xkwisit]

I've always found the best deal right thru the airline's website. I could never find lower rates thru any of the travel sites like travelocity, expedia etc. And many times if you book directly thru the airline, and the price drops you can call them & they will honor the new price. You can't do that thru any of the travel sites.

We are going in a couple weeks, I booked our flight going down on Jet Blue for $69 pp & coming back on Southwest for $59 pp.

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

I've always found the best deal right thru the airline's website. I could never find lower rates thru any of the travel sites like travelocity, expedia etc. And many times if you book directly thru the airline, and the price drops you can call them & they will honor the new price. You can't do that thru any of the travel sites.

We are going in a couple weeks, I booked our flight going down on Jet Blue for $69 pp & coming back on Southwest for $59 pp.

Obviously, you got a great deal booking with different airlines too-I didn't think of that! Thanks!

Anyone else?

 

[beccasmom]

First, it helps to have an idea of what a good fare is for your area if you don't already know that. I usually check the airline websites first as well. I do check out Travelocity, Orbitz, etc., just to make sure I am not missing a deal. But I usually wind up booking directly with the airline.

For my area, the two major players to Orlando are SWA and USAirways. Their fares are usually the same, although USAirways has many more non-stop flights. We also have AirTran, but we have not flown with them. Delta has a few flights to Orlando, but generally they are not the cheapest in our market. Sign up for email alerts, too.

Check out other airports in your area that may be offering better deals. It could be worth an extra trip. Buy quickly if a fare comes along that meets your critera - it probably will not be available for long and seats may go quickly.

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

For my area, the two major players to Orlando are SWA and USAirways. Their fares are usually the same, although USAirways has many more non-stop flights. We also have AirTran, but we have not flown with them. Delta has a few flights to Orlando, but generally they are not the cheapest in our market. Sign up for email alerts, too.

Check out other airports in your area that may be offering better deals. It could be worth an extra trip. Buy quickly if a fare comes along that meets your critera - it probably will not be available for long and seats may go quickly.

SWA has an hub aobut an hour away...
I didn't think about USAir...
We usually fly with JB...
We have flown with Delta-but it was ok.
I haven't signed up for email alerts-I'll go do that now...
We always buy quickly-I'm a bit over the top with that...

 

[Mimas]

I like to use kayak.com because their search encompasses the airlines' databases as well as travel sites' databases. Kayak doesn't sell the tickets, they provide a list of best prices from your departure point to your destination.

I have noticed that the airlines always have better pricing than the travel sites as well.

 

[Alexander]

As far as calling the airline if the price goes down, the ONLY airlines that I know of that do that are Southwest and JetBlue. The others charge a rebooking fee in the area of $100/person, so unless the flight price drops a substantial amount......

Look early and look often. You probably are best not to search for seats for all 8 people at the same time. I know if you search for 8 on JetBlue and they only have 5 or 6 seats left at the bottom price, they won't even show that to you. Play around, try looking for 4 people at a time.

I use Kayak and Cheapair to search a broad range of airlines and online places like Expedia, etc. This gives me a really good sense of what's out there. They do not search Southwest however, you'll have to search that one directly.

If you have more than one airport you can fly from, Kayak will search nearby airports for you. You are probably looking to fly directly into Orlando, oftentimes Tampa is cheaper, but personally, I don't like to deal with the drive.

I have GREAT rates for our Aug/Sept flights $62/person going to MCO on Jetblue and $59/person coming back on AirTran. Lately I have been VERY open to flying down one airline and coming back on another! Just look for one-way tickets. However, I am still in the limbo game for our April flights. The big carriers have pretty high rates, and JB and AT don't have rates out yet. So here I sit waiting.

 

[beccasmom]

SWA has an hub aobut an hour away...
I didn't think about USAir...
We usually fly with JB...
We have flown with Delta-but it was ok.
I haven't signed up for email alerts-I'll go do that now...
We always buy quickly-I'm a bit over the top with that...

I love Jet Blue, but they don't fly from PHL ----

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

Thansk for the insight...especially checking different groups of people at different times. Makes sense...and I didn't think of it...That's why I love this board!

 

[flyguychi]

I share all the recommendations of the posters above, but with some additions.

I use the site Bing.com (run by MSN i think) where they have a "fare predictor" thing that tells you whether the price will go up or down in the future.

I have used Priceline in the past and got REALLY cheap seats, however you don't know what time your flights leave (I only had a 4 day trip, flight left really late the first day, and came back really early the last day. so basically made it a 2 day trip. wasn't very happy about that, but I got what I paid for)

Also, keep in mind any additional charges when figuring price ($15 bag charges, AirTran charges to choose your seats, etc)

ALSO, keep in mind, anything under $120 one way anymore really is CHEAP. Pretty sure the airlines aren't making anything off you at that price to begin with. So don't stress too much... Good luck searching!

 

[tinkmom2]

The lesson I learned is to have patience. When I booked my WDW vacay I thought it necessary to book my airfare right away. I paid about $900.00 for the four of us round trip. Then this summer Southwest was offering $35.00 flights out of Milwaukee. If I would have waited I could have saved us $500.00! Check around on travel sites and directly with the airline. If your travel dates are flexible you can also save more money. Also check around here and look to see what deals others are getting.

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]