Cheap flights help

[ironpig70]

I would like to visit the parks a little more than every 2-4 years but its a 14 hour drive from Eugene Oregon. Seen a few folks from up here wit AP's so I know it can be done. More than likely we will need to fly from Portland(PDX). So anybody have tips, tricks or anything that will help us out.

As of now its cheaper to take time off work, fuel, food and an extra day than flying. But did I mention its 14 hours and I just cannot handle it anymore.

 

[Lynzer Torte]

We fly either Jet Blue or SW. Jet Blue fares were $69 each way, SW is usually about the same.

Sign up for SW Airlines "DING!" fares and they'll alert you daily of deals.

Also sign up for Jet Blue emails and they'll send emails when the have sales.

 

[deejdigsdis]

Are you familiar with Allegiant? I just learned about them yesterday. They tend to fly into/out of smaller areas mostly, with a few larger areas thrown in. Eugene, Medford, and Redmond/Bend are the Oregon places that I noticed. My sister was telling me about some friends who regularly fly into Redmond/Bend from Las Vegas for $10 each way! Their trick is to book 4 months in advance and actually go to the airport to purchase their tickets. A fee is added on (I think $14.99) to each ticket that is purchased online or over the phone. Flights are scheduled only a few days/week, so you also need to work around that. For some cities you are limited to where you can fly. From Eugene you can fly to 5 different places, Los Angeles being one of them. The $10 thing sounded a little crazy to me so I went to the website and picked random dates and random cities. Didn't ever see $10 but I did see some $23.99 and $26.99 fares (each way). Might be worth looking into!

 

[ironpig70]

Looked at Aligent and its either fly monday or friday. They leave out of Eugene on Monday or Friday and only 1 flight.

Example

Monday 28th Feb 7:05 dept 9:15 arrival
Friday 4th March 4:15pm 6:25 arrival

So basically a 3 day hopper nice part is they are $41 each way

Can go up to $75 a day which is not bad when I figure Portland is a 2 hour drive and then you need to be there 2 hours prior.

Looked at Medford and many months has 3 days to fly sun, tues and thurs. and am flights which make doing DL an afternoon thing so 1/2 a day but it makes coming home nice.



Now I need to graduate and get a job that has vacation time. At current rates an AP is roughly 2 3 day trips so if I do 2 trips a year it pays for its self only downside is saturdays are blocked out.

Thanks

 

[FlameGirl]

I'm a major anti-advocate for Allegiant. I'll never give them my money again.

My tips are to sign up with Kayak price alerts, as well as airfarewatchdog.com, and any airlines that fly out of your desired airport. When you check flights into the LA area, check the "nearby airports" box.

I'm always scouting out airfare deals.

 

[dalepool]

I am thinking from Eugene you could fly into San Fran on say Horizon. If the price is right you can also back track to PDX then fly to SNA. There may even be a flight direct out of Eugene with Alaska Air. When you have time look for Alaska air on line. Go to the deals and click on web specials. You can at times get rt pdx to sna for 130 +tax. Usually a 100 dollar saving per ticket.

14 hours seems like a long time but time If needed for getting to airport , security and registering on time might not be to bad 14 hours V the other time constraints.

Not sure how far San Fran is from you but say even San Jose airport, drive there and fly rest of way.

Train might even be nice if time is not critical.

I go to expedia dot com to check on fares. It will also show you who is charging what. There are lots of other sites that can do same. Spend some time getting familiar for when you would like to make plans.

Remember you can reserve flight and seats with Alaska Air. Should you need to cancel within 24 hours there is no change or cancel fee. But you only have 24 hours for this option. I use this to schedule room -- so I know trip matches fight and room stay.

Patty

 

[ironpig70]

San Fran, Sacramento, San Jose are 9 hour drives.

Problem with oregon is lack of Major airports. Portland is 2 hours from here. Aligent flies from either Eugene or Medford(also 2 hours).


When I get closer I will sign up for air fare websites for deals. Just gotta be flexible with work.

 

[dptabrown]

I agree.... Airfarewatchdog.com! Sign up for emails!
I recently got rt tix from Seattle to SNA on Alaska for $138 each. ($159 w/ taxes) hope that helps!

 

[purplecrush]

Wow! What great information!!! I live in Portland, OR, and the only airfares I see are very spendy! We always drive, cuz its always been cheaper (so I thought!!) Im going to have to do some more research on fights now

 

[FlameGirl]

Wow! What great information!!! I live in Portland, OR, and the only airfares I see are very spendy! We always drive, cuz its always been cheaper (so I thought!!) Im going to have to do some more research on fights now

You should definitely sign up for email alerts through Alaska - I see great prices via Portland all the time. And don't be afraid to consider one way tickets if the price is right. We've been known to fly into SNA and out of LGB.

 

[mystic_path]

Many times I have used this site and have found some good deals.

http://www.cheapoair.com/

 

[ironpig70]

You should definitely sign up for email alerts through Alaska - I see great prices via Portland all the time. And don't be afraid to consider one way tickets if the price is right. We've been known to fly into SNA and out of LGB.

I had that idea last night. Rent a car and do a one way out of Medford on sunday and then a one way home on friday into Eugene. This would give us 4 + days in the parks.


Going to sign up for watchdog as the wifey now wants to go to the tropics this year.

 

[purplecrush]

Wow! What great information!!! I live in Portland, OR, and the only airfares I see are very spendy! We always drive, cuz its always been cheaper (so I thought!!) Im going to have to do some more research on fights now

 

[mystic_path]

I want to mention as well that if you purchase flight and hotel packages together, the more people to a room, the cheaper your flight and hotel package. Sometimes is so much cheaper to purchase a flight and hotel package together then it is seperate.

I use getawaytoday.com, Orbitz.com, travelocity.com, alligentair.com

Also it seems that every year from January to April, kids (Not sure age range) fly free.

 

[DnA2010]

I used allegiant last year (from Bellingham) for Vegas and was happy with it, and have booked our trip in february from Bellingham to Long Beach, 3 nights at the Castle Inn was $180 per person so a total of $560 for the 3 of us....

I'm an allegiant fan!

 

[mystic_path]

I used allegiant last year (from Bellingham) for Vegas and was happy with it, and have booked our trip in february from Bellingham to Long Beach, 3 nights at the Castle Inn was $180 per person so a total of $560 for the 3 of us....

I'm an allegiant fan!

Yeah I just recently purchased a package from Allegiant air from Bellingham to Vegas for the end of March. As well a package from Bellingham to Cali. I live in Canada but only 40 minutes at best to the border crossing, so its easy to go across. I just realized that flying out of the states (Especially if your flying within the USA) is way cheaper then flying out of Canada. Ive saved myself hundreds. Allegiant air seems to have a lot of options in the way of package deals too which is nice.

 

[jtown]

I go to expedia dot com to check on fares. It will also show you who is charging what. There are lots of other sites that can do same. Spend some time getting familiar for when you would like to make plans.

Not all airlines list their prices with Expedia (or similar sites). Southwest and Hawaiian Airlines, for example, aren't going to show up there. Hawaiian Airlines is about $400 RT to Oahu from here but the best I can find on Expedia is over $700. (And I'm rounding HA up and Expedia down. The actual price difference is about $350 with taxes and fees included.)

The day when the comparison sites got you the best deal is long gone. Now they're really only useful if you're in a bind and need to get an okay price fast and you don't have 4 or 5 hours to spend checking prices from individual companies.

 

[ironpig70]

I want to mention as well that if you purchase flight and hotel packages together, the more people to a room, the cheaper your flight and hotel package. Sometimes is so much cheaper to purchase a flight and hotel package together then it is seperate.

I use getawaytoday.com, Orbitz.com, travelocity.com, alligentair.com

Also it seems that every year from January to April, kids (Not sure age range) fly free.

Problem I sometimes find is with 5 hotels are not so easy. Even across from Disneyland the hotels have an occupancy of 4. But I'll keep searching. Its fun

 

[mystic_path]

Problem I sometimes find is with 5 hotels are not so easy. Even across from Disneyland the hotels have an occupancy of 4. But I'll keep searching. Its fun

Well alright, searching is half the fun for sure. Best to keep your options open. All I can say is give the hotels a call. They might surprise you and allow you to get a cot for a 5th, if there are five of you. If you are willing to get two rooms, depending if your party size is larger, then I am gonna suggest asking the Tropicana. We had a party of 6 last year, got two rooms, but the rooms had an interior attaching door so we could walk in and out of each others rooms without having to go outside and knock. It was lovely. It wasnt a suite, just two rooms with an attaching door.

 

[karelle]

We got in on Alaska Air's sale they had a month or so ago. $100 rt from PDX to SNA. We'll be there March 1-5!