Oh I am so sick of looking for airfare

[shelby2001]

I'm so sick of looking for reasonable airfare for our August trip 8-22/2-29. Not like I'm looking for $59 each way but I just don't want to pay $300+ round trip I'm looking for like $225 but I can't even find that out of Boston, Providence or Hartford. As far as Worcester that's a no go my husband looked at the first 2 paragraphs of the term of carriage and said no way. Anyone got any suggestions I just want to book and be done with it. Maybe I'm just not searching correctly. Thanks for any help with this.
Shelby

 

[goofy4tink]

Many have flown Direct Air out of Worcester with great outcomes. I wouldn't do it in the colder, snowier months but summertime? Yep, I would. It would be so nice to fly out of Worcester than to trek to TF Green or even to Logan.
Anyway...keep looking. I ended up paying a total of $240 pp....Jetblue going down and Delta coming home....for 8/14-8/21. But I booked quite awhile ago.

 

[stacieps]

Southwest from MHT is $259 right now for your dates.

 

[pamjb]

I checked sidestep.com for your dates. Delta has a flight for $226. Sidestep.com and kayak.com will search most airlines for your dates and you can customize your search to include nearby airports, departure times, etc. I always check there for ballpark costs when I am flying to unfamiliar territory (anyplace besides MCO)

I usually fly SW and they have flights from Logan to MCO for your dates for $218 (comes to $260 with all the fees) AND they will fly your first 2 checked bags for free. That's something you also have to consider when booking airfare.

 

[beccasmom]

Check out Yapta. Prices range from $224.40 and up for flights with one stop on Delta from Logan. AirTran is around $230.00

 

[seashoreCM]

This is unpatriotic but you could get into a groundswell quasi-boycott movement against those airlines that won't give you a credit for tickets you just bought if they offer a lower fare later (price match themselves; refare). Here's how it goes:

(first sentence only copied from another forum) Wait for a fare sale rather than buy at their everyday low price. Wait for years if need be.

I don't know if this really happens but rumor has it that airline web sites keep track of your shopping history, and that if you "clear your cookies" that wipes out sich a history and you may see lower fares quoted the next time you look.

 

[Missytara]

I feel for ya! You just get to the point where you know it isn't going to go any lower. I finally booked mine yesterday with Airtran.

Here's what I noticed:

1. The prices seem to go up about mid-day on Friday through Monday mid-day. I guess that is when people are at home and book the entire family.

2. The prices seemed to go down Tuesday through Thursday, but change often during the day. I was checking at lunchtime and at the end of my work day and they seemed to kinda bottom out. Yesterday, I got into work a bit early and checked at 6:15 am and it was even lower.

I finally got mine at $170.00 flying roundtrip, non-stop both ways from BWI (leaving on Thanksgiving weekend, no less) and thought it just wasn't going to go any lower than that.

 

[MinnieMe2]

I hear ya! Our dates are 6/28 - 7/7. We were going to drive, but then gas started doing its little thing, so we decided to fly. I was really bummed -- prices were ridiculous, and like you, I tried Manchester, Boston, Providence, and Hartford. Forget Worcester (they really should just shut down). I finally booked last week. Delta out of Boston, $240 each. I was happy with that, compared to what I had been seeing. Trouble is, we don't travel much since DH had a couple of strokes a few years ago. So I hate to book, then go for credit because we probably won't use it anyway. Sucks lemons, but my mother never told me life's fair . Good luck in your quest. I'm the family 'travel agent' and it certainly is one big headache!!!!!!!

 

[serene56]

use a program like yapta and track the flight costs. when it comes down you will get notified.

Have you considered going a day early or a day later?

 

[goofy4tink]

This is unpatriotic but you could get into a groundswell quasi-boycott movement against those airlines that won't give you a credit for tickets you just bought if they offer a lower fare later (price match themselves; refare). Here's how it goes:

(first sentence only copied from another forum) Wait for a fare sale rather than buy at their everyday low price. Wait for years if need be.

I don't know if this really happens but rumor has it that airline web sites keep track of your shopping history, and that if you "clear your cookies" that wipes out sich a history and you may see lower fares quoted the next time you look.

Not to be argumentative, but....I really get annoyed when people book those cheaper non-refundable fares, then complain when the fare goes down a few months later and they want a credit. Is it nice to get a credit? Sure it is. But on the other hand...the fare was non-refundable, and now you want some monies refunded, so to speak. I figure it's okay to expect a credit if the fare goes down, as long as we realize they will have our credit card on file to charge us if the fare increases...fair is fair.

 

[crashbb]

Not to be argumentative, but....I really get annoyed when people book those cheaper non-refundable fares, then complain when the fare goes down a few months later and they want a credit. Is it nice to get a credit? Sure it is. But on the other hand...the fare was non-refundable, and now you want some monies refunded, so to speak. I figure it's okay to expect a credit if the fare goes down, as long as we realize they will have our credit card on file to charge us if the fare increases...fair is fair.

I agree.

I'm also thinking that a strategy that involves waiting YEARS for a seat sale, may not be that effective for most people.

 

[dioxide45]

Not to be argumentative, but....I really get annoyed when people book those cheaper non-refundable fares, then complain when the fare goes down a few months later and they want a credit. Is it nice to get a credit? Sure it is. But on the other hand...the fare was non-refundable, and now you want some monies refunded, so to speak. I figure it's okay to expect a credit if the fare goes down, as long as we realize they will have our credit card on file to charge us if the fare increases...fair is fair.

I agree. I buy our tickets but still check the prices every few weeks. While I may get a little annoyed at myself if the price drops, I have no one to blame but myself. I have to calculate my risk. It is just as likely the prices will go up and not come back down. I don't let it bother me, I feel I paid what I was willing to pay for our flights. I never feel that I overpaid if the price drops.

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

I don't know if this really happens but rumor has it that airline web sites keep track of your shopping history, and that if you "clear your cookies" that wipes out sich a history and you may see lower fares quoted the next time you look.

This is indeed true. If you go back to a website to start a fresh search and your prior search is still listed (i.e. your origin city and destination city and possibly even dates are already displayed), then you need to clear your data/cookies because it's quite likely its just going to redisplay the prior lousy fare it gave you and not display newer lower fares.

BobK/Orlando

 

[dioxide45]

This is indeed true. If you go back to a website to start a fresh search and your prior search is still listed (i.e. your origin city and destination city and possibly even dates are already displayed), then you need to clear your data/cookies because it's quite likely its just going to redisplay the prior lousy fare it gave you and not display newer lower fares.

BobK/Orlando

While they do use cookies to keep your prior search so future searches are easier, I have found no evidence that AirTran keeps giving high fares. We always use the same computer to do our searches and there doesn't appear to be any evidence of this. Clearing the cookies doesn't automatically give me better fares.

 

[crashbb]

This is indeed true. If you go back to a website to start a fresh search and your prior search is still listed (i.e. your origin city and destination city and possibly even dates are already displayed), then you need to clear your data/cookies because it's quite likely its just going to redisplay the prior lousy fare it gave you and not display newer lower fares.

BobK/Orlando

I buy tickets a lot and have found no evidence of this being true. Many times I've checked airfares from a number of different computers (often two or more of us are looking on our own computers at the same time) and have never seen different prices even though the number of searches done on each computer differs. If this phenomenon which actually true, the different computers would be showing different prices (since, for example, I had done 10+ searches on my computer and my brother had never done a search at all - this example occurred this morning.).

Now, not all airlines are the same, but I have seen no actual evidence of any airline having a system that gives worse fares to those that look for the flights more often. The airlines I've looked at also have automatic logouts (usually around 10 minutes) so searches are always "fresh", even if the cities are still shown on the search screens.

 

[shelby2001]

I'm done I found flight that were good for us and great time on Air-Tran, they added a Direct Flight down. Total was $209 each so I'm really happy. They are now showing at $219 which is still good. I picked my seats and for some reason no charge came up but I do have a confirmation listing our seats but no charge.

 

[pamjb]

Make sure you keep an eye on your flight times. AirTran has a tendancy to change direct flights to non-direct. Just so you keep watch on it.

 

[poohbear8]

Make sure you keep an eye on your flight times. AirTran has a tendancy to change direct flights to non-direct. Just so you keep watch on it.

Ditto! They did this to me last October. They tried to move me from a late afternoon flight to an early flight with a layover in Atlanta.

 

[johnnyr]

Ditto! They did this to me last October. They tried to move me from a late afternoon flight to an early flight with a layover in Atlanta.

What happens when they do this? Can you call and request to be switched back to the original flight or do they get you for the change fee?

 

[shelby2001]

Thanks for the info I will keep watch of my flights for any changes.