Need CHEAP airfare to Philly - any ideas?

[Adrianna]

Other than the usual, travelocity, orbitz, cheaptickets, even hotwire. Has anyone used Priceline, and if so, how is it? I'm going home to Philly to visit my parents in mid-July, hopefully, and need to go as cheaply as I possibly can. The lowest I've found is in the $360's, but I'm hoping for a miracle, to find it around $300. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[cybrarian]

Where do you live? Philadelphia is an expensive city to fly in and out of. My DH just used Priceline to visit his parents in Minnesota.
He got a flight from DC to MSP through Philly on US Airways for $160.00 including all taxes. Philly is a US Airways hub so you may get a good deal. However, you cannot chose your flight times. His flight out left at 6AM! It was full, by the way.

 

[Zurg]

Yeah look into some of the airports that are a close.

Baltimore BWI - South West is there and drives prices down. Not all that far from Philly.

Atlantic City
Allentown

 

[FOJMO]

My hometown is Allentown and we are flying there from Tampa, FL at Christmastime this coming year for $118/RT. Then we drive from Allentown to Philly to visit DH's family -- it's only about a 45 min to 1 hour drive on the Blue Route.

Don't know where you're coming from, though...

 

[WDWHound]

Try Northwest Airlines. We just recently flew Northwest round trip to Philadelphia from Austin for approx $250 per person.

Unfortuantely, you frequently have to book a few months in advance to get good fares these days. You may not be able to find much this close in. The airlines have really cut back on the number of planes flying in an effort to increase profits, so there are less seats available than before.

 

[dtuleya]

Before you bid on priceline.com, check out www.biddingfortravel.com This site has helped me enormously!

 

[Adrianna]

I checked NW and it's $517!! I don't think I'll find cheaper than $350, especially for so last-minute. I'll try Priceline and see, I don't really care about the times, when I use Hotwire I usually get a flight like that anyway. It's not lookin good, but thanks for the advice.

 

[Adrianna]

I checked NW and it's $517!! I don't think I'll find cheaper than $350, especially for so last-minute. I'll try Priceline and see, I don't really care about the times, when I use Hotwire I usually get a flight like that anyway. It's not lookin good, but thanks for the advice.

 

[WDWHound]

accidental duplicate post (when did delete stop working?).

 

[dtuleya]

I forgot to ask where you are flying from

 

[Adrianna]

Originally posted by dtuleya
I forgot to ask where you are flying from

sorry, from Portland, OR - why is Philly so expensive to fly into, of course I get the luck - I mean, it's not like it's Hawaii or anything, if you've ever been there, there's a certain "smell" to Philly which is less than pleasant, trust me

 

[Towncrier]

Our company routinely flys employees between our facilities in Philadelphia and Cleveland. The funny thing about airfares is that it's cheaper to fly from Cleveland to Baltimore and rent a car to drive to Philly than to fly directly there. Alternately, some people drive to Pittsburgh where you can get a cheap flight to Philadelphia. The difference in price is staggering. Isn't there a train from BWI to Philadelphia? That might be an alternative to the more expensive direct flight for you.

Good luck in your search.

 

[dtuleya]

You could also try flying into MDT (Harrisburg) Probably would be about a 2 hr drive depending on where your parents live in Philly.

Would you mind telling me your dates and if you are flexible leaving a day before or after each date? I'd be glad to do some searching for you. If not, trying searching USAir with flexible travel dates instead.

 

[Adrianna]

Originally posted by dtuleya
You could also try flying into MDT (Harrisburg) Probably would be about a 2 hr drive depending on where your parents live in Philly.

Would you mind telling me your dates and if you are flexible leaving a day before or after each date? I'd be glad to do some searching for you. If not, trying searching USAir with flexible travel dates instead.

Well I was originally looking for either 7/17 or 7/18 (whichever is cheaper) and coming back 7/26. But, unless it's seriously cheap, I'll probably have to wait until August to go, most likely August 8-16.

THANKS FOR THE HELP