Help with purchasing airline tickets

[floridascgirl]

Please don't laugh, but I'm completely clueless about how to go about buying airline tickets for our family of 3. Thankfully, I've got plenty of time to research the best way to get a good deal. But first I need to some answers to a few basic questions.

I've noticed that on most of the roundtrip flights that I've previewed, 1 leg of the trip will have fairly decent times, but the other leg might have super long layovers and terrible arrival times.

Can I combine offers and take a departure flight from one listing and a return flight from another listing? Or would I have to buy 3 one-way tickets there and 3 one-way tickets back?

Maybe I'm a dummy, but I just find it so confusing and overwhelming when all of the pop-up search engine windows start filling the screen. Surely there's an easier way. I'm hoping that a fellow DISer can advise me!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

First go to a general site such as Orbitz or Kayak and see what airlines provide the service you need; Then go to the airline site and you can book specific flights through them and not have to accept "pre-picked" combinations.

 

[bapawoo]

The best advice I can give you is to use Kayak...
Try it twice (as roundtrip and as one ways...) You might get different results with that. (Be sure to not have any of the "open in new windows" boxes checked off. You don't need that and it's really annoying...)
Find the flights that work the best for you, they may be different airlines going each way.
Then go directly to the airline's website to book. It might be cheaper, and you could find a promotional offer in a google search for that airline to plug in before you book.

Good luck!

 

[Coll0610]

Remember that not all the airlines show up in Orbitz or the other sites. You might have to check Southwest and Airtran and maybe a couple of other separately.

We really prefer to fly out of our local airport, so we almost always fly Airtran and I book on their website, which lets me choose specific flights each way.

Depending on where you live, you may have more than one airport to choose from so make sure you check all of them. Make sure to consider baggage fees, your gas to get to the airport and parking fees, and whether you need a hotel room (because your flight leaves so early or arrives so late). Sometimes the cheapest airfare turns out to not be so cheap because of other costs.

You also might want to ask for help on the transportation board.

 

[floridascgirl]

Thanks for the advice everyone.
I've been to Kayak, etc... before, but I had the "open in new windows" checked and it was information overload! I have not gone to any airline websites directly, so I will try that, too.

 

[kaytieeldr]

If you're going to use Kayak, you can just click through to the airlines' websites to purchase (Kayak gets paid based on click-through buying, they don't sell anything).

A site for information only is itasoftwear.com

 

[nilseks]

I like looking up one-ways on Kayak. We almost always end up flying one airline one way, and another airline the other way, due to cost, schedule, etc.

 

[seashoreCM]

Except for really popular dates you should wait for a sale instead of buying at their everyday low price.

Way passe':
Buying early for the cheapest price.
Buying early for the sake of buying early.

Sometimes if you book one or two seats at a time for your family you will get the first few a little cheaper. When you book the whole family at once and the allotment of cheapest seats isn't enough, then you are quoted the next cheapest for the whole batch.

 

[floridascgirl]

Sorry guys but I'm still not clear on something...For example, on KAYAK:

When the list of available flights came up (round-trip), I liked the departure flight on one roundtrip listing and the return flight on another.

When I hovered my cursor over the flight details on one-way of the roundtrip, it said "Select this departure" or "Select this return".
Does this mean that I can create my own ideal flight by piecing together say the departure flight from one roundtrip and the return flight from another?

Does my question make sense?

PS. I'm asking on this board because once I have this question cleared up, I can then search for the most "economical" flight. If need be, I'll move it to the Transportation board. Thanks!

 

[floridascgirl]

I like looking up one-ways on Kayak. We almost always end up flying one airline one way, and another airline the other way, due to cost, schedule, etc.

Your post came in while I was typing my last one. If I don't find out what I was asking, I'll try your suggestion. Thanks!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Keep in mind that purchasing one way tickets on two different airlines will often be a lot more expensive than a round trip ticket when you are using a legacy airline.

Do a Google search; you'll find a great deal of advice on purchasing tickets.

 

[An_Island_Girl]

On kayak there is an option of the left of the screen once they filter your results that lets you pick your departure time for both flights. It is like a sliding scale that you move earlier and later, and you then have the option to also select an arrival time-frame.
This should let you find the perfect times that work best for your family.

Good Luck!

 

[plutolovr]

OP, I'm going to give you a different route. Go to this site http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ and search for your flights. You can't book on there but it will give you every airline, except for Southwest that will service your route. You can combine airlines or stick with one and it will give you the current price for that itinerary. It will even let you locate flights from other nearby airports. You can't book on there but it's a good research tool and very easy to use. It's actually the same matrix used by Orbitz. I'm a TA and I use this site all the time to get some quick pricing on flights.

I always suggest booking directly through the airline when possible and NEVER research or book on a weekend. Always start researching Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with Tuesday night and Wednesdays usually being the best. Airlines reset their pricing higher on the weekends.

 

[nicki.momof3]

I really like bookingbuddy.com I seem to find great deals there.

 

[njmom47]

I really like bookingbuddy.com I seem to find great deals there.

Plus you can put in your dates and receive emails when your flight prices go down.

 

[mrspopeye]

The day of the week you purchase the tickets and the day of the week you fly also affect the price. Also check nearby airports to and from.

This is an excellent article among many others on this site:

http://www.farecompare.com/travel-advice/tips-from-air-travel-insiders/

If you have some time before you have to buy, sign up for alerts on sites like farecompare or airfarewatchdog, and Southwest's BING. I also like Tom Parson's Best Fares. Sometimes the fare sales are for only hours or days. I had watched Nashville to Orlando all summer, and out of nowhere one afternoon, I got an alert from airfarewatchdog, and got Delta $96 round-trip! The next morning it was back up to $292 RT. It seems that there are good deals to be had around the 60 day mark, prior to your trip.

Good luck!