VERY LAST MINUTE TRAVEL: do prices ever go down?

[Reagan&Co.]

OK, I have been looking for the last day or so at flights and car rental.....it looks like car rental goes down in price but flights go up..

Has anyone had any luck seeing a better price VERY last minute (i.e less than a week before your travel dates)?

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Less than 7 days before travel? No, not for airfare. By the time you reach 14 days prior to departure, the prices go up and they stay there. That's how they stick it to the majority of business travelers.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Less than 7 days before travel? No, not for airfare. By the time you reach 14 days prior to departure, the prices go up and they stay there. That's how they stick it to the majority of business travelers.

I agree that prices are unlikely to go down this close to flight time. Last minute may eb a good time to use FF miles becuase often additional seats are opened up (although there may be additional fees for booking so late). It may also be a good time to bid on priceline if you are flexible in your travel times, but all the issues with Priceline airline booking still exist except that maybe there is a smaller chance you will need to cancel or change your trip. Best of luck -- Suzanne

 

[Lewisc]

OK, I have been looking for the last day or so at flights and car rental.....it looks like car rental goes down in price but flights go up..

Has anyone had any luck seeing a better price VERY last minute (i.e less than a week before your travel dates)?

Rarely. Last minute air fare is typically purchased by passengers who don't have a choice and are willing to pay $$$. Typically business fliers. It could also be someone who got a last minute deal and is willing to pay more to fly. Traditionally $$$ paid by those passengers is what allowed airlines to offer deeply discounted fares used by most of us.

You posted on the transportation board. A couple of us told you last minute fares are $$$. Suggested you book the airfare. Told you most of the discounted fares have at least a 7 day advance purchase requirement. I'm sorry you didn't believe us.

You have to check every airline. Occassionaly an airline will offer a few discounted tickets without a minimum purchase requirement. You're not going to find really low fares.

edited to add Assuming you get (very) lucky and find fares you can live with you have to assume you won't be getting seats together. Good chance you'll get middle seats. GA and FA may be trying to move passengers so an adult can sit next to a young child (under 5). Different airlines have different policies.

edited again to suggest posting your location and dates in the transportation forum. Not a lot of hope but you might get lucky. Some airlines have weekly emails offering discounts for the upcoming weekend. Occassionaly you can get a good deal on a package (airfare and hotel). Sometimes the package deal is much lower then what airfare alone would cost. Some passengers don't bother checking into the hotel.

 

[NotUrsula]

Usually only if it came in an airline subscriber email. I get several of those per week, but the destinations are very random -- whatever has empty seats that week.

As Lewis said, you can sometimes get deals on packages if you are going to a leisure destination. Try lastminute.com

 

[Green Tea]

I bought same day air tickets this summer for a lot less than they had been in advance. Crazy. Never expected that.

 

[librarygal]

I don't know where you are flying from but you can sometimes get amazing last minute deals through packages at lastminute.com. For example, I could leave tonight from Dulles to Orlando and come back on Tuesday for less than $300pp for air and car. Not dirt cheap but not outrageous either. These packages only work for shorter trips.

 

[madelyn]

A few years back I booked a flight for my husband from Austin to Chicago on Hotwire. I was checking through the regular routes and they were way up there. Hotwire showed an acceptable fare so I booked it. Not sure if I would have done that if we were travelling as a family though since the times were very early in the morning. I think Hotwire may show you the flight times and carrier now though. I was trying to book flights for my sister, mom and brother to Chicago for a different funeral a couple of years ago and fares did drop significantly 2 days beforehand. I have no idea why and this does not appear to be typical. I think I was probably using Travelocity or Expedia to check the fares.

 

[Chicago526]

Generally speaking the closer you get to departure, the higher the price goes. You can get lucky, if a flight is half empty the airline could get desperate and off some sweet deals, but if the flights are full you're SOL. Try the airline's home page, many offer last minute deals on empty flights for the weekend comming up, you may get lucky. When doing the search, be sure to ask for the number of tickets that you need, don't use the default of "1" passenger. Often there are only one or two seats left at those low prices, if you need more tickets it could raise the price.

And I agree about the seats, unless the flight is really empty (hence the last minute good deal) you won't be sitting together. The flight attendants will do their best to have people switch, but it's up to the other passengers.

 

[Reagan&Co.]

Thanks everyone!

Please do not be offended if I did not take your advice. I did read it, but did not need it. I simply asked for opinions/similar experiences.

I was able to find great tickets under $100 per person round trip, taxes included. This is five days before my vacation. It is my first time flying since well before 9/11, so I have not kept up with the transportation trends. Now I will know for future travels!

 

[Lewisc]

Thanks everyone!

Please do not be offended if I did not take your advice. I did read it, but did not need it. I simply asked for opinions/similar experiences.

I was able to find great tickets under $100 per person round trip, taxes included. This is five days before my vacation. It is my first time flying since well before 9/11, so I have not kept up with the transportation trends. Now I will know for future travels!

It might help others if you would share the airline, method of purchase (airline website, Priceline, Expedia etc.) and what airports you're flying from/to.

 

[Lewisc]

Internet boards are about sharing information. It would help others knowing what airline and what airports you booked.

There is at least one airline that isn't following the norm and is slashing fares to fill any remaining seats.

 

[Reagan&Co.]

I can't post when little eyes might see what I write....the plane trip is a SURPRISE!

I used Allegiant Air. Tickets as low as $29 one way! The airports were TriCities/Orlando Samford/Knoxville.You may book online (for a fee), use the call center (for a fee), or go in person to the airport and purchase tickets (no charge for this). We ended up doing all three ways! The final purchase was made by calling, so I had to pay $14.00 per ticket for this "privelege"....

What I learned, if you are watching your pennies:

Prices fluctuate, big time. I had been doing my research and saw prices change four times in one day, both up and down in price.

They charge for checked bags, $15 for the first bag, and more for extras. If you need to add a bag last minute, you have until 4 hours before your flight to do so, or they charge you even more than the original $15.

Online they ask you for your seat choices, and I had to fiddle around before I figured out all the extra charges they had tacked on. When I called the center (on another matter), she told me you do not have to choose. The booking folks will assign you, and they do not split up parents from children, so we are okay there. If you DO choose your seats, the prices range from $10 and up per seat. See how fast all this can add up??!!

Something to keep in mind: the local airport sold all of their $29 seats, so I simply picked the next closest airport that had $29 seats. This makes us fly out of one and arrive home at another. As this is no longer a round-trip flight, there were....surprise, surprise....additional segment fees! Which I would have had to pay online, but were waived when I used the call center.

Taxes add up. Airfare was $215(4 tickets) Fed, 911, PFC fees were another $62.

Allegiant does not fly to MCO, so you cannot use Magical Express transportation. But I found some good last minute rental deals. I have not booked this yet, but so far it looks like $135 for a midsize for a week. There are some codes out there, too, that I have not tried applying.

I will post when I get back and let everyone know how it went with the airline.

 

[crashbb]

Online they ask you for your seat choices, and I had to fiddle around before I figured out all the extra charges they had tacked on. When I called the center (on another matter), she told me you do not have to choose. The booking folks will assign you, and they do not split up parents from children, so we are okay there. If you DO choose your seats, the prices range from $10 and up per seat. See how fast all this can add up??!!

Just a warning. They will only assign seats at the 24 hour mark (i.e. when check-in opens). This is after everyone who paid for their seats is able to choose their seats. So, though the system tries to keep parties together, if there are not 4 seats let together, they will split you up. At the 24 hour, you can move your seats (and people do), so I'd check in as close to 24 hours as possible to try to ensure that you are seated together.

 

[Lewisc]

Rental agencies, generally, don't have cancellation penalties or charge a deposit when you make your reservation.

A good strategy is to book the best rate you find lock in a price then keep looking for a better deal.

 

[mamalle]

I havent found any great deals for dh who was trying to go for a NFL football game next month.. the closer it gets to the 11th- the higher the price is going up.. guess he wont be going..