Never flown....are fares really that high?

[TheRatPack]

Okay, so I really really wanted to go to a conference in San Antonio in July. It's about 26 hours away if I drive....so I figured I'd fly. Fares on all the travel sites (Travelocity, Priceline, Orbitz...etc) are saying that flights are around 325.00 for a round trip......WOW, really?

Is that the norm....I mean from someone who's never flown (other than rides in my uncles plane LOL), is that what everyone is paying to fly somewhere LOL

I'm sure it's still cheaper than gas....but gosh if that's per person then there is no way I can afford that trip. Any way to get a more budget flight?

 

[crisi]

It depends on where you fly from and too, but that seems pretty reasonable. I just paid $785 for a round trip ticket to a conference. Sometimes you can get cheap (less than $100) one way fares, but they tend to be fare sale fares where you have to get lucky or be willing to take advantage of it when they occur.

 

[Whistle]

I just took a roundtrip flight from Richmond to New York for a little over a hundred. My boys and I are flying in a week and a half to Disney- roundtrip for all 3 of us was right at $500.00.

It just depends on when and where you are flying.

 

[Swimalie]

I used to be able to fly from Dulles (northern VA) to Atlanta for around $150. At the end of May, I paid $230 and then added $21 on for baggage. Fares have gone up and will probably stay up. Keep trying, though. They might go down. Usually within 3 weeks you need to book because then they usually start going up as the flight gets closer. Oh, and when you are looking at different airlines, don't forget to add in the baggage fees. Some don't charge but others charge quite a bit.

 

[crisi]

By the way, bing travel (www.bing.com) will look at your trip and give you advice on when to buy. That might not be bad, although they are looking at trending and you can still miss the boat if they are wrong.

 

[diskneefamily]

that's really about average anymore. I found an awesome deal to go visit my parents with my kids so I booked, but that's usually what it costs us to go anywhere.

 

[jfulcer]

You have to keep looking. You may be able to find a better deal tomorrow or a week from now. It's a waiting game - you wait too long and it's too close to your trip and it'll cost you more. Wait just a bit and you could possibly save quite a bit.

It's also good to go directly to airline sites as they have website only deals. That's how we booked our upcoming trip to Disney. The regular sites were around $275 per person, we went to the airlines sites and it was slightly cheaper. We waited about a week and it went down to $185 with a fare special on the site. We saved $90 x 4 just by waiting a week.

You also have to work in the baggage cost - each checked bag for nearly every airline will cost you - EACH WAY. So on top of that $325 the airline will charge you about $20 each way to check your bags - so your cost is really about $365. Southwest.com doesn't charge for baggage, so you might want to consider looking to see if they fly from where you are at to where you want to go. Of course, another airline still might be cheaper - even working in the baggage cost.

Good lucK!

 

[Green Tea]

San Antonio is just expensive to fly into. For whatever reasons, they are just a high priced flight.

If you have Airtran, look at their fares. Usually these might be a little lower.

 

[crisi]

San Antonio is just expensive to fly into. For whatever reasons, they are just a high priced flight.

If you have Airtran, look at their fares. Usually these might be a little lower.

We live in Minneapolis, and MSP is another one of those airfares. Its just "more expensive." Our "limited time low airfare" deals on Bing right now are $249 round trip to Vegas. Sometimes you can get to Chicago for less than $200 round trip, but its rare. And it doesn't matter if you are flying Delta or Airtran, this is an expensive airfare town.

 

[caravarela]

I tend to find better fares from the airline's own site than those comparison sites. And for the times I look, the three that are usually cheapest are Jetblue, Airtran, and Southwest. They each fly from a different airport, but all 3 are near enough to us for it not to really matter.

Also.. do you use swagbucks? If you book Jetblue through swagbucks, you get 2 sb for every $1 you spend. Not a big savings, but just a little incentive

If you are flexible AT ALL on your dates, it can be a big savings too. For our next WDW trip, we were wanting to go Sun to Sun. For some reason, flights that first Sunday were like $200 pp! But if we left 2 days earlier, on Friday, flights were $79! HUGE savings for the 4 of us, so we are leaving 2 days earlier!

And I say, if you find a fare you can live with, BOOK IT. Our flights with Jetblue were $79 pp each way when we booked, and now that same flight is selling for $109 pp each way.

Don't forget to factor in baggage fees. Jetblue allows 1 free pp, SW allows 2 free I believe (but their fares have always been higher for us than JB), and Airtran charges $15 for a bag.

Good luck, and I hope you find better rates! I wouldn't pay that much for a roundtrip.

 

[TheRatPack]

Thanks everyone I'll keep checking but being within that month window probably won't get me any cheaper fares...oh well...ya never know

 

[natcat117]

I don't remember on what website, but I was looking for cheap flights out of San Antonio a couple of days ago and I found a special for $169 to Atlanta. Don't know if it also works the other way around. I'll check back here if I find it again.

Just checked right now and yeah, the cheapest I can find is around $325. That's really expensive IMO. We always fly out of SA but our roundtrip flights are always under $230 (our flight to MCO has a connection in ATL, it was $200 even).

Keep checking and you might find a good deal.