How to Save on Flights from West Coast?

[Scotch]

How about the alaska airlines visa card which gives you a $99 plus tax companion voucher (buy one ticket and take a companion for $99 plus tax).

Alaska only has redeye flights fro PDX to MCO. I'm not willing to go through that experience with 2 young kids.

 

[Greysword]

How about the alaska airlines visa card which gives you a $99 plus tax companion voucher (buy one ticket and take a companion for $99 plus tax).

Alaska only has redeye flights fro PDX to MCO. I'm not willing to go through that experience with 2 young kids.

You do need to fly in Alaska planes to use the companion fare, but there are other programs to use, too. US Airways, Delta, and Southwest (WN) all have companion fare possibilities (WN is an elite benefit, but the folks at FlyerTalk have a way to get that status with credit card signups). In addition, United has their Explorer card with a 50k mile signup bonus, which is enough for two tickets to paradise.

Greysword has already said this (though not in so many words) but I don't think you'll be doing much better this this from PDX for a straight-cash fare.

Thank you, Brian, and you are correct. $400 is on the low end to Florida from Portland, OR.

 

[natfrac]

We fly out of PDX and the best fare we could find last September was $340 RT on United. We signed up for SWA cards when they were offering 50,000 points, so we flew using those points.

 

[Anal Annie]

We fly out of PDX and the best fare we could find last September was $340 RT on United. We signed up for SWA cards when they were offering 50,000 points, so we flew using those points.

My PLAN last year had been to sign up for a SW credit card in order to get the 2 tickets after using the card once but then they changed their rules to be that you have to make $2,000 in purchases within like 3 months or something like that before qualifying for the free tix so I decided not to apply. I am kicking myself now for waiting to apply. Just not willing to charge $2K on yet another card.

 

[Anal Annie]

First and foremost, don't give up yet! You are quite far away from your travel date, and prices are likely to change between now and then.

Second, set up some searches on yapta or airfarewatchdog for the flights, and they will let you know if the prices drop.

Third, I am able to see several options. Don't forget to click on Nearby (to the left of your search box), which gives you other airports. How about this itinerary:

Ticket one (Departure):

Washington (DCA) to Los Angeles (LAX) - Sat, Aug 3
Delta Washington (DCA) to Detroit (DTW) - Sat, Aug 3
Delta 2045 Dep: 5:15PM Arr: 6:55PM 1h 40m MD-90 Economy (U)
Layover in DTW 0h 45m

Delta Detroit (DTW) to Los Angeles (LAX) - Sat, Aug 3
Delta 1845 Dep: 7:40PM Arr: 9:44PM 5h 4m Boeing 767 Economy (U)

Los Angeles (LAX) to Honolulu (HNL) - Wed, Aug 7
Delta Delta 2365 Dep: 8:40AM Arr: 11:35AM 5h 55m Boeing 767 Economy (U)

Honolulu (HNL) to Kahului (OGG) - Wed, Aug 14
Island Air Island Air 104 Dep: 2:10PM Arr: 2:45PM 0h 35m De Havilland Dash-8 Economy (S)

Cost per passenger (including taxes & fees) $561.56

Provide this information to a travel agent to help them match the fares found.
Make sure to provide the exact booking and fare codes shown.
Fare 1: Carrier DL UA21A0UY WAS to LAX (rules)
Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code U
Covers DCA-DTW (Economy), DTW-LAX (Economy)
$188.83
Fare 2: Carrier DL UA00SONM LAX to HNL (rules)
Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code U
Covers LAX-HNL (Economy)
$251.92
Fare 3: Carrier WP S HNL to OGG (rules)
Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code S
Covers HNL-OGG (Economy)
$58.95
US Transportation Tax (US) $18.66
US September 11th Security Fee (AY) $10.00
US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $9.00
US Flight Segment Tax (ZP) $15.60
US Alaska/Hawaii Departure Tax (US) $8.60

Subtotal per passenger $561.56




Ticket 2 (Return):

Kahului (OGG) to Washington (DCA) - Wed, Aug 14
Alaska Airlines Kahului (OGG) to Portland (PDX) - Wed, Aug 14
Alaska Airlines 822 Dep: 9:45PM Arr: 6:08AM 5h 23m Boeing 737 Economy (V)

Layover in PDX Thu, Aug 15 3h 22m

Alaska Airlines Portland (PDX) to Washington (DCA) - Thu, Aug 15
Alaska Airlines 764 Dep: 9:30AM Arr: 5:40PM 5h 10m Boeing 737 Economy (V)

Provide this information to a travel agent to help them match the fares found.
Make sure to provide the exact booking and fare codes shown.
Fare 1: Carrier AS VHASZN4 OGG to WAS (rules)
Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code V
Covers OGG-PDX (Economy), PDX-DCA (Economy)
$387.25
US Transportation Tax (US) $14.75
US September 11th Security Fee (AY) $5.00
US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $9.00
US Flight Segment Tax (ZP) $7.80
US Alaska/Hawaii Departure Tax (US) $8.60

Subtotal per passenger $432.40

All in, $994 per person, and you ride on Delta on the way out and Alaska on the way in (via our great city of Portland ).

Also, there were several options at these price points, including with Island Air.

As for interlining bags, both US Airways and Delta has said they will not interline on seprately tickets trips (like you were suggesting), plus they don't interline with Virgin America (VX) nor JetBlue (B6).

You DO realize you're talking to "Anal Annie" right? There are a couple of things I don't like with this itinerary...But I'll consider some more options. THANKS for putting your time into this scenario!! Now we're hitting the weekend when fares tend to go go up so I doubt I'll be booking anything in the next few days.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

My PLAN last year had been to sign up for a SW credit card in order to get the 2 tickets after using the card once but then they changed their rules to be that you have to make $2,000 in purchases within like 3 months or something like that before qualifying for the free tix so I decided not to apply. I am kicking myself now for waiting to apply. Just not willing to charge $2K on yet another card.

Worst case scenario to meet minimum spend on a credit card: pay yourself on PayPal. The cost is $29 or so per thousand. Other less expensive ways: buy gift cards at the grocery store (especially if you earn a gas or other bonus) or send money via Amazon payments. --Suzanne

 

[Greysword]

Worst case scenario to meet minimum spend on a credit card: pay yourself on PayPal. The cost is $29 or so per thousand. Other less expensive ways: buy gift cards at the grocery store (especially if you earn a gas or other bonus) or send money via Amazon payments. --Suzanne

CAUTION when using these options to meet minimum spend on a credit card for the signup bonus.

While these activities do work, Chase and AMEX are known to watch for them and take adverse actions against the cardholder (in the form of a financial audit or shutting down and blacklisting them from the programs).

If one chooses to use these methods for meeting minimum spend, then do your homework first!!!

 

[Greysword]

You DO realize you're talking to "Anal Annie" right? There are a couple of things I don't like with this itinerary...But I'll consider some more options. THANKS for putting your time into this scenario!! Now we're hitting the weekend when fares tend to go go up so I doubt I'll be booking anything in the next few days.

Yep, I've spent plenty of time with you on the DVC boards to know

...which is also why you likely knew this was a scenario to give you hope! The good news was there were several time and date options available, even with Island Air, so you probably could avoid UA on the trip at a decent price and without rechecking bags mid-trip.

We are going to Anaheim in May, and are just now looking at the tickets, so somewhat the same boat.

My PLAN last year had been to sign up for a SW credit card in order to get the 2 tickets after using the card once but then they changed their rules to be that you have to make $2,000 in purchases within like 3 months or something like that before qualifying for the free tix so I decided not to apply. I am kicking myself now for waiting to apply. Just not willing to charge $2K on yet another card.

Now, if you wanted to look into a credit card option.... there are several good ones out.

The British Airways cards (Chase) generate Avios, which can be used for American Airlines seats (same partner).

American Airlines has a card with Citi bank with a 50,000 signup bonus after spend.

The US Airways card gives 40,000 miles on first spend, a reduction of 5,000 miles in award redemption (thus each low-level award is 20,000 miles vice 25,000 making the 40k signup bonus equivalent to 2 low-level tickets), and a companion certificate good for 2 $99 (+tax) companion fares (just read the terms & conditions to see blackout dates and restrictions). Plus waived annual fee for first year to try it out.

Hawaiian Airlines are partners with Delta (DL), Jet Blue (B6), and Virgin America (VX), thus booking from them may yield a ticket that allows interlining your baggage, plus the Hawaiian Airline card (from BoA and Bank of Hawaii) have signup bonuses that can be used for tickets on these partners, as well.

Alaska Ailines has a BoA card with a signup bonus (25k miles on signup) and an annual coach class companion certificate ($99+tax), which is good for Hawaii flights.

Many of the American Express charge cards provide Membership Rewards points and the Chase Sapphire Preferred & Ink business cards give Ultimate Rewards points, all of which can be used to purchase tickets (or offset the cost) on a $0.01 per mile basis (thus a 40,000 point signup bonus (after spend) can yield $400 off the ticket price.

Finally, AMEX also has the Starwood Preferred Gold (SPG) co-branded cards. As you likely know, Starwood is the parent for Sheraton and Westin, and their points transfer to all of the airlines in question.

Lots of card options beyond WN, if you want to look into saving that way.

ETA, of course if you really wanted to rock the Southwest (WN) option, then some of the more savvy players do this:

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/dealswelike/2012/11/29/getting-the-southwest-companion-pass/

They signup for both the personal and business versions (netting 50,000 miles each after spend), which counts towards the 110,000 milestone for earning a WN companion pass (unlimited free tickets for a companion within the year).

 

[SuzanneSLO]

CAUTION when using these options to meet minimum spend on a credit card for the signup bonus.

While these activities do work, Chase and AMEX are known to watch for them and take adverse actions against the cardholder (in the form of a financial audit or shutting down and blacklisting them from the programs).

If one chooses to use these methods for meeting minimum spend, then do your homework first!!!

Its hard for me to imagine that someone would be shut down by Chase for doing a single $2000 transaction on Paypal, buying gift cards in that amount or doing similar value transactions on Amazon payments. However, your warning is a good one for those who might think there is no risk in scaling such strategies from $2,000 to $200,000 or from the minimum spend on 1 card to 25.

And I beleive that its always a good strategy to put some everyday spending on the card while working towards the minimum spend. -- Suzanne

 

[Anal Annie]

Yep, I've spent plenty of time with you on the DVC boards to know

...which is also why you likely knew this was a scenario to give you hope! The good news was there were several time and date options available, even with Island Air, so you probably could avoid UA on the trip at a decent price and without rechecking bags mid-trip.

We are going to Anaheim in May, and are just now looking at the tickets, so somewhat the same boat.


Now, if you wanted to look into a credit card option.... there are several good ones out.

The British Airways cards (Chase) generate Avios, which can be used for American Airlines seats (same partner).

American Airlines has a card with Citi bank with a 50,000 signup bonus after spend.

The US Airways card gives 40,000 miles on first spend, a reduction of 5,000 miles in award redemption (thus each low-level award is 20,000 miles vice 25,000 making the 40k signup bonus equivalent to 2 low-level tickets), and a companion certificate good for 2 $99 (+tax) companion fares (just read the terms & conditions to see blackout dates and restrictions). Plus waived annual fee for first year to try it out.

Hawaiian Airlines are partners with Delta (DL), Jet Blue (B6), and Virgin America (VX), thus booking from them may yield a ticket that allows interlining your baggage, plus the Hawaiian Airline card (from BoA and Bank of Hawaii) have signup bonuses that can be used for tickets on these partners, as well.

Alaska Ailines has a BoA card with a signup bonus (25k miles on signup) and an annual coach class companion certificate ($99+tax), which is good for Hawaii flights.

Many of the American Express charge cards provide Membership Rewards points and the Chase Sapphire Preferred & Ink business cards give Ultimate Rewards points, all of which can be used to purchase tickets (or offset the cost) on a $0.01 per mile basis (thus a 40,000 point signup bonus (after spend) can yield $400 off the ticket price.

Finally, AMEX also has the Starwood Preferred Gold (SPG) co-branded cards. As you likely know, Starwood is the parent for Sheraton and Westin, and their points transfer to all of the airlines in question.

Lots of card options beyond WN, if you want to look into saving that way.

ETA, of course if you really wanted to rock the Southwest (WN) option, then some of the more savvy players do this:

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/dealswelike/2012/11/29/getting-the-southwest-companion-pass/

They signup for both the personal and business versions (netting 50,000 miles each after spend), which counts towards the 110,000 milestone for earning a WN companion pass (unlimited free tickets for a companion within the year).

I think at this point I am looking to book my airfare ASAP and will probably not wait around for the "right" credit card offer. It just sucks that I piddled around on the SW deal and didn't open it last year when there was no minimum purchase amount required to get the 2 free tix. I'm sure there is a saying about hindsight. SW releases more dates on Feb. 4th I think. Not sure if I'll try to hold out for them or not. Right now they don't have our return date out yet.

As far as the Amex Rewards / Starwood points deal I'm already ahead of you on that one. That is how we were able to book our 3 nights at the Westin Ka'anapali Villas on Maui. Fresh out of usable points now.

I DID however start exploring the idea of using DCA & Alaska airline today after your other post. Prior to that I was focused on using either Dulles or BWI because we prefer either of those airports over DCA. Anyway, the scenario I toodled around with that was OK (maybe) came to $1,073 for all flights plus luggage (DCA via Alaska to LAX for $224 / Delta from LAX to HNL for $272 / HA from HNL to OGG for $68 [the inter-island flight options are better to book A La Carte and I prefer HA to IA]. Then finally OGG to DCA via Alaska Air [thru SEA] for $509.) I don't want more than 1 stop if I can avoid it so this was important. I looked at seatguru.com tho and although Alaska Air gets decent reviews they may or may not offer any in-flight entertainment (the key word used was "MAY"). These are long hauls and I would like some sort of movies or something offered. I am going to run this plan by DH this evening after he's had a chance to unwind, have a beer & recover from a snowy Fri. commute home. (NOTE that this scenario does not come up to the same amount if I try entering all of the flights into your matrix at once. I can only get this price if I enter each leg separately (i.e. DCA-LAX done / LAX - HNL done / HNL - OGG done / OGG - DCA done). Thought that was odd.

I believe that parking is limited (and expensive) at DCA so I am trying to get a quote from Super Shuttle - but technically we live outside their service area as they operate by zip code. It's funny - we live on the west side of a fairly major N/S route and so our neighborhood has a zip code that belongs to a little post office out in the woods while the neighborhood directly across this same road has a different zip code and it is within their service area. It's like I would have to drag our bags out in the middle of the night and stand in another neighborhood across the road in order to get picked up. But they don't want to serve me because I can't give them a valid billing address that's within their area. STOOOPID. I've emailed them to see if there's something I can work out. But I've tried to do this with them before and they refused to negotiate a pickup. But figured it was worth trying again. It's been a few years.

Now the questions to be answered ARE do we prefer to use our last choice of airports and a new (to us) airline for 3 long flights (Alaska) VS United and US Airway (also new to us) for $200 less pp? Hummm.

 

[OurDogCisco]

I looked at seatguru.com tho and although Alaska Air gets decent reviews they may or may not offer any in-flight entertainment (the key word used was "MAY"). These are long hauls and I would like some sort of movies or something offered.

Just to let you know Alaskan has never offered "free" movies. You can buy thing similar to an ipad that has movies and tv show preloaded on them. You pay for it of course. Also, Alaskan does not offer meals either so, you really do have plan ahead. You can buy the meals and some of them aren't too bad. Cheese and cracker plate is actually pretty good. We usually buy our food prior to getting to the airport. The reason we use Alaskan Airlines a lot is they offer direct flights to where you want to go. So, usually we can fly Sacramento direct to Maui or Oakland direct to Maui. I know you'll be in Southern CA so, I don't know if they offer the same direct routes.

 

[alaska8]

Just to let you know Alaskan has never offered "free" movies. You can buy thing similar to an ipad that has movies and tv show preloaded on them. You pay for it of course. Also, Alaskan does not offer meals either so, you really do have plan ahead. You can buy the meals and some of them aren't too bad. Cheese and cracker plate is actually pretty good. We usually buy our food prior to getting to the airport. The reason we use Alaskan Airlines a lot is they offer direct flights to where you want to go. So, usually we can fly Sacramento direct to Maui or Oakland direct to Maui. I know you'll be in Southern CA so, I don't know if they offer the same direct routes.

Alaska offers on routes over 3 hours inflight entertainment players for rent, blieve they are $10 each (two headsets can be plugged in) They are preloaded with a number of movies, tv programs, documentaries, games, and music. These can be preorderd online. They also offer meals for purchase (a hot meal option and usually cheese/fruit/cracker plate, and snack packs (kids snack pack, northwest deli and med tapas pack)

 

[Anal Annie]

First and foremost, don't give up yet! You are quite far away from your travel date, and prices are likely to change between now and then.

Second, set up some searches on yapta or airfarewatchdog for the flights, and they will let you know if the prices drop.

Third, I am able to see several options. Don't forget to click on Nearby (to the left of your search box), which gives you other airports. How about this itinerary:

Ticket one (Departure):

Washington (DCA) to Los Angeles (LAX) - Sat, Aug 3
Delta Washington (DCA) to Detroit (DTW) - Sat, Aug 3
Delta 2045 Dep: 5:15PM Arr: 6:55PM 1h 40m MD-90 Economy (U)
Layover in DTW 0h 45m

Delta Detroit (DTW) to Los Angeles (LAX) - Sat, Aug 3
Delta 1845 Dep: 7:40PM Arr: 9:44PM 5h 4m Boeing 767 Economy (U)

Los Angeles (LAX) to Honolulu (HNL) - Wed, Aug 7
Delta Delta 2365 Dep: 8:40AM Arr: 11:35AM 5h 55m Boeing 767 Economy (U)

Honolulu (HNL) to Kahului (OGG) - Wed, Aug 14
Island Air Island Air 104 Dep: 2:10PM Arr: 2:45PM 0h 35m De Havilland Dash-8 Economy (S)

Cost per passenger (including taxes & fees) $561.56

Provide this information to a travel agent to help them match the fares found.
Make sure to provide the exact booking and fare codes shown.
Fare 1: Carrier DL UA21A0UY WAS to LAX (rules)
Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code U
Covers DCA-DTW (Economy), DTW-LAX (Economy)
$188.83
Fare 2: Carrier DL UA00SONM LAX to HNL (rules)
Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code U
Covers LAX-HNL (Economy)
$251.92
Fare 3: Carrier WP S HNL to OGG (rules)
Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code S
Covers HNL-OGG (Economy)
$58.95
US Transportation Tax (US) $18.66
US September 11th Security Fee (AY) $10.00
US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $9.00
US Flight Segment Tax (ZP) $15.60
US Alaska/Hawaii Departure Tax (US) $8.60

Subtotal per passenger $561.56




Ticket 2 (Return):

Kahului (OGG) to Washington (DCA) - Wed, Aug 14
Alaska Airlines Kahului (OGG) to Portland (PDX) - Wed, Aug 14
Alaska Airlines 822 Dep: 9:45PM Arr: 6:08AM 5h 23m Boeing 737 Economy (V)

Layover in PDX Thu, Aug 15 3h 22m

Alaska Airlines Portland (PDX) to Washington (DCA) - Thu, Aug 15
Alaska Airlines 764 Dep: 9:30AM Arr: 5:40PM 5h 10m Boeing 737 Economy (V)

Provide this information to a travel agent to help them match the fares found.
Make sure to provide the exact booking and fare codes shown.
Fare 1: Carrier AS VHASZN4 OGG to WAS (rules)
Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code V
Covers OGG-PDX (Economy), PDX-DCA (Economy)
$387.25
US Transportation Tax (US) $14.75
US September 11th Security Fee (AY) $5.00
US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $9.00
US Flight Segment Tax (ZP) $7.80
US Alaska/Hawaii Departure Tax (US) $8.60

Subtotal per passenger $432.40

All in, $994 per person, and you ride on Delta on the way out and Alaska on the way in (via our great city of Portland ).

Also, there were several options at these price points, including with Island Air.

As for interlining bags, both US Airways and Delta has said they will not interline on seprately tickets trips (like you were suggesting), plus they don't interline with Virgin America (VX) nor JetBlue (B6).

OK. Updating. I pulled the trigger and booked everything yesterday. I found that trying to use your ITA Matrix with the multi-city option wasn't necessarily giving me all of the cheapest results. For some reason it was giving priority to Hawaiian Airline over any other carriers between LAX and HNL. The HA flight was about $76 more than using Delta. And if I searched using HA for multi-city they weren't giving me ALL of the still available inter-island flight options for our hop to Maui. It was trying to get me to book times that were outside of my preferred timing - and for more money than if I searched and booked that inter-island flight A La Carte. SOO, I ended up booking Alaska Airline DCA to LAX ($224) and then our ret. from OGG to DCA via SEA ($509) for the return (only 1 stop). Then separately I booked Delta LAX to HNL ($272) and HA from HNL to OGG ($68). Total pp came out to $1,073 pp for all flights. I HAD hoped to get close to that bottom line number out of IAD but all the flights from IAD had gone up too much. An interesting thing I noticed as I was booking was that FIRST CLASS on our ret. from OGG was like $958. That price is actually less than United or American's economy price for that return!!! If I wasn't trying to do this as cheap as possible I would've booked the First Class!! I thought that was pretty funny. Anyway...I'm done but will probably still watch to see if I made the right decision to buy when I did. I am just too anal to not keep watching!!

 

[Greysword]

OK. Updating. I pulled the trigger and booked everything yesterday... Anyway...I'm done but will probably still watch to see if I made the right decision to buy when I did. I am just too anal to not keep watching!!

Excellent job! I really like Alaska Airline (AS), as they have great customer service (for a US based airline).

They are a bit of a maverick, in that they are not in an alliance, but they have many relationships with other airlines. They codeshare with Delta, American, and quite a few international based airlines (Quantas, Cathay Pacific, others): http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mileage-plan/partners/partner-overview.aspx. In addition, they have the whole West coast canvased, so they are a solid airline from CA to WA and through to HI.

As such, you can code your flights with a partner's frequent flier number (such as American or Delta) and earn miles on them instead of AS. The reverse is also true.

As for the flight itself, they do not have in-flight entertainment, but neither does American, United or US Airways, so it isn't like they are missing something. Several of the aircraft (maybe all?) have wifi on-board (http://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/on-board/inflight-wifi.aspx), so that may help with the time (posting to the DIS for 4 hours ).

If you really want all the nitty-gritty info on AS and their flights, you can check out their board on FlyerTalk (the DIS of frequent fliers): http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alaska-airlines-mileage-plan-442/

There is an AS rep on the boards that is very helpful, so if you have any questions about boarding, amenities, SEATAC airport, or anything AS related, you should find it on those boards. Caution: FT is like the DIS Transportation board. Lots of great info, but not as much (if any) fluffy cuddling by the posters.

This is a group that loves Disney, too. Have fun!!!

 

[Anal Annie]

Excellent job! I really like Alaska Airline (AS), as they have great customer service (for a US based airline).

They are a bit of a maverick, in that they are not in an alliance, but they have many relationships with other airlines. They codeshare with Delta, American, and quite a few international based airlines (Quantas, Cathay Pacific, others): http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mileage-plan/partners/partner-overview.aspx. In addition, they have the whole West coast canvased, so they are a solid airline from CA to WA and through to HI.

As such, you can code your flights with a partner's frequent flier number (such as American or Delta) and earn miles on them instead of AS. The reverse is also true.

As for the flight itself, they do not have in-flight entertainment, but neither does American, United or US Airways, so it isn't like they are missing something. Several of the aircraft (maybe all?) have wifi on-board (http://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/on-board/inflight-wifi.aspx), so that may help with the time (posting to the DIS for 4 hours ).

If you really want all the nitty-gritty info on AS and their flights, you can check out their board on FlyerTalk (the DIS of frequent fliers): http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alaska-airlines-mileage-plan-442/

There is an AS rep on the boards that is very helpful, so if you have any questions about boarding, amenities, SEATAC airport, or anything AS related, you should find it on those boards. Caution: FT is like the DIS Transportation board. Lots of great info, but not as much (if any) fluffy cuddling by the posters.

This is a group that loves Disney, too. Have fun!!!

I saw their Disney themed planes on their website - cute. And I discovered their relationship with other airlines when I booked and ended up using our Amer. Airlines member #'s when I booked. I think there was another airline that we had #'s for too but I figured American was the one we'd most likely use again sooner rather than later. I'm not going to worry about the entertainment thing. DS and DH both have iPads so they can entertain themselves. I will just be sure to have some books loaded on my Kindle.

 

[Scotch]

SOO, I ended up booking Alaska Airline DCA to LAX ($224) and then our ret. from OGG to DCA via SEA ($509) for the return (only 1 stop). Then separately I booked Delta LAX to HNL ($272) and HA from HNL to OGG ($68). Total pp came out to $1,073 pp for all flights. I HAD hoped to get close to that bottom line number out of IAD but all the flights from IAD had gone up too much. An interesting thing I noticed as I was booking was that FIRST CLASS on our ret. from OGG was like $958. That price is actually less than United or American's economy price for that return!!! If I wasn't trying to do this as cheap as possible I would've booked the First Class!! I thought that was pretty funny. Anyway...I'm done but will probably still watch to see if I made the right decision to buy when I did. I am just too anal to not keep watching!!

Alaska is one of the few airlines with a good price drop return-credit policy. If you haven't already done so, put in a fare drop watch on yapta.com now. Last year I bought 4 one-way tickets on Alaska from HNL to PDX for 12/29/12. (We flew to HNL on DFIL's AA frequent flyer miles -- bad experience with AA.) The fare on the Alaska tickets were originally ~ $500 (and crept up during the 8+ months I was watching the fare). During the fall, the price on our flights temporarily dropped twice -- I got a refund (in form of $ credit toward future flights) twice, and the final price of the fare was ~$350. But those fare drops come and go, and often only a limited number of tickets get the lower rates. So definitely keep an eye out!

 

[Anal Annie]

Alaska is one of the few airlines with a good price drop return-credit policy. If you haven't already done so, put in a fare drop watch on yapta.com now. Last year I bought 4 one-way tickets on Alaska from HNL to PDX for 12/29/12. (We flew to HNL on DFIL's AA frequent flyer miles -- bad experience with AA.) The fare on the Alaska tickets were originally ~ $500 (and crept up during the 8+ months I was watching the fare). During the fall, the price on our flights temporarily dropped twice -- I got a refund (in form of $ credit toward future flights) twice, and the final price of the fare was ~$350. But those fare drops come and go, and often only a limited number of tickets get the lower rates. So definitely keep an eye out!

I did not know that!! THANK YOU!! I will definitely do that!! I thought SW was one of the last ones around who still give credits for fare drops!!

 

[Scotch]

I did not know that!! THANK YOU!! I will definitely do that!! I thought SW was one of the last ones around who still give credits for fare drops!!

Happy to help! In addition to SW and Alaska, Jet Blue also gives credit for fare drops without any fee/penalty. I believe some of the other big carriers also supposedly give credit for fare drops, but they only do so after some ridiculous fee like $150 (UA?) or something, so the policy is effectively meaningless for almost all travelers. Yapta has info on the various airline policies; it doesn't include SW because SW won't allow a third party to search its fares so you need to do that manually.

 

[Greysword]

Great catch, Scotch! I thought of that but got myself distracted with the pretty plane pictures .

 

[Greysword]

Annie, while it is still early, I was hoping you would come back to the Transportation board and give us a review/TR of you flights and any issues you encountered.