Tips for Super Last Minute Flights

[pinkcow]

Hi there, we've very unfortunately had a loss in our family. We have two groups of people flying into Boston (Providence is ok too) departing from Orlando and Minneapolis. We would like to arrive on Sunday of this week and depart on Wednesday.

The flights on Kayak, Cheaptickets, Expedia, etc. are out of this world. I called Delta to talk about bereavement rates, and the price was really no different than what they were advertising on their website at the time, $545pp R/T.

I recently booked a flight on Priceline.com which wasn't bad, but we'd prefer to know what we were getting into before booking. However, I realize that beggars can't be choosers!

Anyone have some tips on how to get a great rate at last minute?

Thank you so much in advance!

 

[msmayor]

Short answer...you can't.

Typically, flight prices go UP and remain there within 10-14 days of the flight. Most folks who book at that time are either business travelers whose companies are covering the cost (therefore not as price sensitive) or folks who have no choice but to fly short notice.

 

[budbeerlady]

You are stuck with what you can find.

Sorry for your loss. I had to fly home unexpectedly from a few states over last August. It was too much to fly into my home airport ($625 for a 1 way!) I ended up flying into O'Hare and having someone pick me up and driving the 3 hours home. Maybe check other airports and look into renting a vehicle?

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

What town are you trying to get to? You can also look at Manchester too. But bottom line...bereavement fares are insane. And they make you jump through hoops to get the fare. You are better off just booking the regular fare. $500-something sadly isn't THAT awful for travel to/from Orlando at the last minute.

 

[deerhart]

If at all possible try moving your departure date from Sunday to Monday. I have always found Sunday to be one of the most expensive days to fly.

For example, on southwest to fly from Minn to Logan on the dates you discussed the cost would be about 617 per person. Switching to Monday to Wed drops the price to as low as 329 per person. They aren't the best flight choices, but it is last minute.

 

[BrettS]

I've travel occasionally with my job and it's often at the last minute, so I've had some experience with this. For the most part I've had pretty good luck, but you need to be *very* flexible and ready to book whenever you find something good. I've seen fares be available in the morning, then not available in the afternoon.

Definitely check alternate dates and alternate airports. From Orlando you can check Tampa (about 1.5 hours from MCO) or Daytona (maybe an hour from MCO, but a smaller airport). I'm not sure if there's much else available near MSP.

Finally, particularly if you have a big group of people, do all your searches for one person first. Airlines make their seats available in different fare 'buckets'. They'll have a certain number of seats available at, say $100, and more available at $150, and more available at $200. Once all the $100 seats are gone they'll start selling them at $150 and when those are gone they'll sell them at $200.

However, when you're buying tickets for a group of people they will only sell you tickets from the same bucket. For example, if they have 1 seat left at $100 and 2 seats at $150 and 10 at $200 and you do your search for 4 people then it will present you 4 seats from the $200 bucket. If you search for 1 person then you'll see (and can purchase) the $100 seat.

Unfortunately if can get a little complicated if you're running into this situation because in this case you would need to book things seperately to get the best price. In the above case you would need to book one person alone to get the $100 seat, two people at $150 each, and the last person at $200. But in the end you'd pay much less.

The best thing I've found is to start your search with only 1 person and find the cheapest price, then keep adding additional people until the price jumps up. Then, once you know how many people you can get at the cheap fare, go back and book that, then start again with 1 person and keep adding more until you get the rest of your party in or the price jumps again. Just be very careful doing it this way to make sure that you get everyone on the same flights... it can be very easy to accidently select the wrong ones.

Hopefully this helps,
Brett

 

[PurpleDog]

This is probably of no help, but I have found that the actual airline websites will sell tickets much cheaper than normal if its less than 48 hours until the outbound [first segment] flight leaves. The last thing the airline wants is an empty seat !!

Good luck !!

 

[Mickdeb]

Sorry for your loss.
I agree with considering flying out of MCO on Monday if possible. Jetblue has n/s MCO-BOS 199 for 3/29 and BOS-MCO on 3/31 for 114. The Monday flight is early AM and will get you into BOS at 9:30 AM. Total 334.40.

 

[Traveliz]

Hi there, we've very unfortunately had a loss in our family. We have two groups of people flying into Boston (Providence is ok too) departing from Orlando and Minneapolis. We would like to arrive on Sunday of this week and depart on Wednesday.

The flights on Kayak, Cheaptickets, Expedia, etc. are out of this world. I called Delta to talk about bereavement rates, and the price was really no different than what they were advertising on their website at the time, $545pp R/T.

I recently booked a flight on Priceline.com which wasn't bad, but we'd prefer to know what we were getting into before booking. However, I realize that beggars can't be choosers!

Anyone have some tips on how to get a great rate at last minute?

Thank you so much in advance!

I find that often Airtran has some ok prices at the last minute (at least on my flights). I don't know what is considered good for you - but right now on Airtran you can do Orlando - Boston non stop Saturday return Wed for 114 each way (the Sunday flight is more expensive). If you can get some of the Little Debbie coupons which I think are still available and book the flights each way you can get 10.00 off each flight. I did do that search based on one person. I echo the above suggestion on searching one person, then two, etc.

I don't know what would be a good option for Minneapolis.

Liz

 

[beansmom]

oddly, this morning my son was called by his stepmother that his father was in the hospital with serious heart trouble. he decided to fly from boston to dallas...looking on travelocity, flights were $600 round trip....i went to priceline, bid half of that--$300...the bid was accepted. Both flights on American, non-stop.

I would DEFINITELY try priceline...start at $100 and increase by $50 increments until accepted. My son is on his way to see his father now.

 

[pinkcow]

Short answer...you can't.

Typically, flight prices go UP and remain there within 10-14 days of the flight. Most folks who book at that time are either business travelers whose companies are covering the cost (therefore not as price sensitive) or folks who have no choice but to fly short notice.

You are stuck with what you can find.

Sorry for your loss. I had to fly home unexpectedly from a few states over last August. It was too much to fly into my home airport ($625 for a 1 way!) I ended up flying into O'Hare and having someone pick me up and driving the 3 hours home. Maybe check other airports and look into renting a vehicle?

Thank you! Right now there is a decent one-way into Westchester County, NY, which would be about a 5 hour drive out, not perfect but would get us there!

What town are you trying to get to? You can also look at Manchester too. But bottom line...bereavement fares are insane. And they make you jump through hoops to get the fare. You are better off just booking the regular fare. $500-something sadly isn't THAT awful for travel to/from Orlando at the last minute.

We're trying to get to the Cape, I will keep checking Manchester too! Thank you for the tip on bereavement fare.

If at all possible try moving your departure date from Sunday to Monday. I have always found Sunday to be one of the most expensive days to fly.

For example, on southwest to fly from Minn to Logan on the dates you discussed the cost would be about 617 per person. Switching to Monday to Wed drops the price to as low as 329 per person. They aren't the best flight choices, but it is last minute.

Thanks! Unfortunately we have services on both Monday and Tuesday. The lower cost options on Monday would get us into Boston after the service that day ended. But, we'll keep trying Saturday too.

I've travel occasionally with my job and it's often at the last minute, so I've had some experience with this. For the most part I've had pretty good luck, but you need to be *very* flexible and ready to book whenever you find something good. I've seen fares be available in the morning, then not available in the afternoon.

Definitely check alternate dates and alternate airports. From Orlando you can check Tampa (about 1.5 hours from MCO) or Daytona (maybe an hour from MCO, but a smaller airport). I'm not sure if there's much else available near MSP.

Finally, particularly if you have a big group of people, do all your searches for one person first. Airlines make their seats available in different fare 'buckets'. They'll have a certain number of seats available at, say $100, and more available at $150, and more available at $200. Once all the $100 seats are gone they'll start selling them at $150 and when those are gone they'll sell them at $200.

However, when you're buying tickets for a group of people they will only sell you tickets from the same bucket. For example, if they have 1 seat left at $100 and 2 seats at $150 and 10 at $200 and you do your search for 4 people then it will present you 4 seats from the $200 bucket. If you search for 1 person then you'll see (and can purchase) the $100 seat.

Unfortunately if can get a little complicated if you're running into this situation because in this case you would need to book things seperately to get the best price. In the above case you would need to book one person alone to get the $100 seat, two people at $150 each, and the last person at $200. But in the end you'd pay much less.

The best thing I've found is to start your search with only 1 person and find the cheapest price, then keep adding additional people until the price jumps up. Then, once you know how many people you can get at the cheap fare, go back and book that, then start again with 1 person and keep adding more until you get the rest of your party in or the price jumps again. Just be very careful doing it this way to make sure that you get everyone on the same flights... it can be very easy to accidently select the wrong ones.

Hopefully this helps,
Brett

Great tips, thank you!! I'll try this for our group.

This is probably of no help, but I have found that the actual airline websites will sell tickets much cheaper than normal if its less than 48 hours until the outbound [first segment] flight leaves. The last thing the airline wants is an empty seat !!

Good luck !!

I'll keep my eye out, thank you!

Sorry for your loss.
I agree with considering flying out of MCO on Monday if possible. Jetblue has n/s MCO-BOS 199 for 3/29 and BOS-MCO on 3/31 for 114. The Monday flight is early AM and will get you into BOS at 9:30 AM. Total 334.40.

Thank you. Our Orlando crew plans to def. use the 3/31 flight for $114; we're trying to get cheaper if possible on the outbound, and unfortunately Monday won't work. I believe we were going to see if we could get a one-way on Priceline, or an alternate airport.

I find that often Airtran has some ok prices at the last minute (at least on my flights). I don't know what is considered good for you - but right now on Airtran you can do Orlando - Boston non stop Saturday return Wed for 114 each way (the Sunday flight is more expensive). If you can get some of the Little Debbie coupons which I think are still available and book the flights each way you can get 10.00 off each flight. I did do that search based on one person. I echo the above suggestion on searching one person, then two, etc.

I don't know what would be a good option for Minneapolis.

Liz

Thanks! For some reason I couldn't get those prices to show up, but that's a great tip on Little Debbie! Mmm.. Some chocolate cake would be good right now....

oddly, this morning my son was called by his stepmother that his father was in the hospital with serious heart trouble. he decided to fly from boston to dallas...looking on travelocity, flights were $600 round trip....i went to priceline, bid half of that--$300...the bid was accepted. Both flights on American, non-stop.

I would DEFINITELY try priceline...start at $100 and increase by $50 increments until accepted. My son is on his way to see his father now.

I'm so sorry, I will definitely keep your son's father in my prayers.

The next step for me is to get some bidding going on Priceline, particularly now that I have a baseline on the cheapest flights. I'll let you all know what we can come up with.



Thank you everyone for the great info and condolences