Nervous booking flights

[OurLaughingPlace]

Looking to book Southwest Flights for late August on February 19th when they open up. I will be up by 6:00am. With the Canadian dollar plummeting, it's even more important for us to try to get a good deal on our flights. Last year we booked flights with TA (who is awesome), but by 9:30am when her office opened, flights had gone from $109 per person to $134 per person (x round trip, x 4 people, x exchange ). So, this year I am going to try booking them by myself. I am very nervous. Please help me through it as I've never done this before! I will be at my computer no later than 6:00am. I will have all 4 passports ready to go. I will have a credit card with me to pay. What else do I need? What else can I do to make it a quick, smooth process? Do I book one ticket at a time or is it easier to get all four at once? I am also booking early bird check in (I know we probably don't need it, but it's important that we stay together on the trip, so in our minds, it is 'worth it'). We are flying out of Buffalo if that matters. Regardless, it will still be better priced flights than Toronto, so it's worth the 4.5 hour drive. Any advice to make me feel better is appreciated! Thank you so much

 

[disney world dreamer]

take a breath and calm down.
there's really nothing to it.
why would you book 4 separate flights? that would mean you'd have to go through the process 4 times and end up with 4 confirmation codes and it would take that much longer.
book all 4 people at the same time.
its just like buying anything else online.
no need to be nervous.

 

[siskaren]

I'm pretty sure you won't need passports to book flights.

 

[Spunky946]

Nothing to be nervous about. You put the departure and arrival airports in, the dates and how many people are going. Choose your flight times and click buy.

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

I'm pretty sure you won't need passports to book flights.

I thought I might need our travel documents as they appear on our passports (as Canadians)? Not sure though?

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

Nothing to be nervous about. You put the departure and arrival airports in, the dates and how many people are going. Choose your flight times and click buy.

Thank you. Wasn't sure if I needed anything else. I never even shop online lol. Do I need to print something out or do I wait until 24 hours before to get my boarding pass? TIA

 

[nacho113]

You could even do a practice run with some dates that are already up just so that you can see how the site works.
Play around just to get the hang of it, just cancel out before you get to the enter payment screen.
This way you should be more comfortable when its actually time to book your flight

 

[Spunky946]

Thank you. Wasn't sure if I needed anything else. I never even shop online lol. Do I need to print something out or do I wait until 24 hours before to get my boarding pass? TIA

You will get a confirmation number and you will need to have that.

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

You could even do a practice run with some dates that are already up just so that you can see how the site works.
Play around just to get the hang of it, just cancel out before you get to the enter payment screen.
This way you should be more comfortable when its actually time to book your flight

Great idea. I will try this- thanks!

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

You will get a confirmation number and you will need to have that.

Perfect! Thanks for your advice. I feel more prepared

 

[goofy4tink]

It's actually not a bad idea to have all passports there when you book. Your tickets will need to reflect the names as shown on your IDs.....and I would imagine that you will all be using passports. So, when you list each person, their name should be the same as shown on their passport.

It's scary when you first book your own flight. I always had a TA book mine. Then I decided to do my own. Man, you would have thought I was involved in high finance and the state of the economy depended on my success!! Now? I could do it in my sleep. As someone else suggested, go to the site and pretend you're booking. When you get to the payment section just exit out. You'll be surprised just how easy it is.

 

[siskaren]

It's actually not a bad idea to have all passports there when you book. Your tickets will need to reflect the names as shown on your IDs.....and I would imagine that you will all be using passports. So, when you list each person, their name should be the same as shown on their passport.

I didn't think of that. I thought the OP was thinking that she needed to provide proof at the time of purchase that her party was able to enter the US.

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

It's actually not a bad idea to have all passports there when you book. Your tickets will need to reflect the names as shown on your IDs.....and I would imagine that you will all be using passports. So, when you list each person, their name should be the same as shown on their passport.

It's scary when you first book your own flight. I always had a TA book mine. Then I decided to do my own. Man, you would have thought I was involved in high finance and the state of the economy depended on my success!! Now? I could do it in my sleep. As someone else suggested, go to the site and pretend you're booking. When you get to the payment section just exit out. You'll be surprised just how easy it is.

This is EXACTLY how I'm feeling (well, much better now actually that I've received advice on this thread ) LOL... I totally feel like the state of the economy is based on my success! I have 'pretended' to book a flight and it's not nearly so scary now. I'd probably stick with a TA if it wasn't going to cost me a couple of hundred dollars to wait until her office opened! Who knows? I love to plan, so maybe I'll like having control of our flights too! Looking forward to booking February 19th when SW opens up! Thank you to everyone who replied

 

[bumbershoot]

There is no need to use a TA for normal flights. These are domestic US flights, as boring as a flight can be.

You can do it.

Make sure your names match IDs for those 16 and up. But the passports aren't needed in the same way as when you cross the border earlier. Everyone needs them for the border but the under 16s won't need ID for US domestic TSA.

Is everyone signed up for their own rapid rewards accounts? If not, do it! You can add the numbers later after the stress of actually booking missing. But you want everyone to earn their sw points.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

There is no need to use a TA for normal flights. These are domestic US flights, as boring as a flight can be.

You can do it.

Make sure your names match IDs for those 16 and up. But the passports aren't needed in the same way as when you cross the border earlier. Everyone needs them for the border but the under 16s won't need ID for US domestic TSA.

Under 18s don't need ID for US domestic flights, not under 16s.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Without poking around to see where all of the PP live i thought i would offer my 2 cents with the CDN view. Yes, you will already have gone through the process of crossing the border at whichever bridge you cross, but your passports are still the best form of identification to use when flying. Yes, the flight from Buffalo to Orlando is a domestic flight but you are still Canadian and the information on your passport needs to be the same as on your airline ticket.

Like others have said, booking flights on-line is easy-peasy and you shouldn't have any trouble at all. If you haven't yet, you should go to the Canadian Forum since there are lots of Canucks who use SW to avoid the sky-high fees out of Pearson and you will get current answers to the questions regarding ID/tickets. Have fun, & good luck with the fees when they are released. (i still think this lil clown actually has a CDN flag on his tummy)

 

[kandb]

Jacqueline,
I just wanted to share that I think your "joke" about bi-polar disorder on your post is inappropriate. I really don't think there is anything funny
about a mental illness and don't think people with an illness would want to be laughed at. Perhaps you should think about it and remove it.

 

[Donald - my hero]

I'm sorry you feel that way Kandb . I AM bi-polar and have never seen this signature as a "joke" but rather as a way to show how open i am about the fact that i deal with a mental illness on a daily basis. It has been my signature from the day i signed up with DISboards and you are the only person who has responded negatively. In fact, i have had numerous PM's from others THANKING ME for being open.

 

[kandb]

Jacqueline,
My best friend's sister is bi-polar so I am sensitive to the whole issue. When I saw the words bi-polar and then saw Donald laughing, I just
saw it in a different way then perhaps you were trying to get across. No harm, I just took it differently. No hard feelings.

 

[goofy4tink]

Back on topic people.