Airlines and Airfare SUggestions

[OnaJ]

I don't do a lot of traveling by air and am looking to plan a quick two or three day trip to somewhere (anywhere) during the month of June.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what airlines run specials or how to go about finding cheap fares? I know Priceline does that stuff but I've always been sceptical about that kind of thing.
What airlines are good for promotions,
also how far in advance do you have to book to get cheap rates? I've heard you can get cheap rates either far in advance or last second a day or two before flying. Is there any truth to this?
THank You forum.

 

[wareagle]

Ona, Northwest (nwa.com) is offering a very cheap gettaway to Jamaica valid till june 11th, but you have to travel between august and Nov so it may not apply to you. Here it is: Three nights at Toby's Resort in Montego Bay Jamaica. Round trip plane ticket included leaving from either Memphis, Minn-St Paul, Detroit, Milk, or Chicago for 394$ per person ...No that is a freaking deal. Main stipulation is that you must leave on a Monday and return on thurs. I would find a way to make that work

 

[bjfinste]

There have been times that I've booked a flight ahead of time for $215 that has been at $500 the week leading up to it. But once last December, I came home all drunk at 4:30 AM and my friends convinced me via IM to book a flight to Chicago at 1 PM the next day, and I got a flight for $161 (all taxes and fees included) on travelocity. So I guess it just depends on where you're going and time and all that.

I've used Priceline three times. The last time I got a direct flight from Dallas to Vegas (American) for $215 four days ahead of time when the same flight was going for $385 on travelocity and orbitz. The time before that I got a direct flight from Dallas to Chicago (Delta) two weeks ahead of time for $211. Both decent times, great prices, and direct.

But my first priceline experience was one for the ages. Got a flight from Milwaukee to Las Vegas for $185 on Delta. Sounds great, right? Nope. I was in college at the time, and had to drive from Madison to Milwaukee. Then fly from Milwaukee... to Atlanta... to Phoenix... to Vegas. On the trip home, from Vegas.... to Los Angeles.... to Cincy... to Milwaukee... then drive back to Madison. Interesting for sure, but I would've rather spent the $245 or whatever to fly direct. Our flight got in at 11 PM on Thursday and left at 6 AM on Sunday, since you don't see the times until after you commit. So basically we lost damn near a full day out of our planned Thursday-Sunday vacation.

When you use Priceline, you are certainly rolling the dice, but if you're going out of a major hub like my last two, it can work out. Coming out of a smaller airport though, who knows. You might end up in all four time zones in one day like I did.

I would always check travelocity or orbitz to at least have a chance to see what fares are going for, first.

 

[bjfinste]

Oh yeah, and going with what Wareagle said... always check the actual airlines websites. Being from near Chicago, you should be able to find a lot of good deals. One of my buddies randomly checked one day in March and found a $136 (all taxes and fees included) direct flight to DFW and back out of O'Hare for early May. So sometimes just scoping out the efares on the airline sites can really pay off.

 

[wareagle]

One more thought Ona... I have flown over 100,000 miles in the last year and half, albeit most of it international travel, but still. I find that the online agents: priceline, orbits, travelocity, and expedia some of these dont even offer international travel. I like expedia myself because they will book you almost anywhere. My recommendation is to go through the airline's website whether it be american, delta, northwest, continental, united ect... They offer the best fares.

 

[ryson]

Have to agree with War too, I logged about 100K in air miles last year myself. What I do is go to orbitz, expedia etc and get a sense of what the range of prices are and then go directly to the airline site and book there. They are consistantly cheaper. Keep in mind that those sites do not include southwest. Also I use a combination of airlines, for example for some reason it's rather expensive for me to get to MSP from Houston last minute. I can book a southwest flight to midway and then a round trip from midway on NWA, ATA etc. Make sure you shop granted this can be a pain in the a** taking multiple airlines, but online check in really makes it easy, you don't have to worry about going to the front desk, back thru security etc.

 

[vinnie]

What city are flying out of :shrug:

 

[wareagle]

i would assume O'hare...

 

[fletcher]

i am a cheaptickets.com gold member and they have been very good for me, i have put in lot of flights the last 2 years and all but 1 have been next day flights due to family stuff. I would check midway south west flys out of there and can get some good deals, not much with the flight but the airline is solid, lot of mlb baseball teams use them as their charter. # 1 airline in and out of vegas. not great for a 4 hour + flight, but if under 2.5 hours they are not bad. jet blue is a nice way to go also or mid west express both of those airlines have some great perks.

 

[stomie]

Priceline is only good for hotels IMHO.

Go to Orbitz.com or travelocity.com

Also check southwest.com & jetblue.com because they are not listed in these seach engines

 

[Wineguy]

Also, for last minute getaways, look at travel area for clarkhoward.com Good luck

 

[OnaJ]

What a great forum this is, all of these replies help me and will make this easier. WAR Eagle is correct, O'Hare although MW is always an option.

 

[aubie]

Last two yrs I have had to fly out west every other week. I have found it is much more cost effective to go directly to the airlines website than to use services such as priceline or travelocity.

If you call the airlines dont be afraid to ask if they can discount your rates you will be suprised at how many discount options they have available. Im not a member of any special organizations or anything but Delta would give me 15% off just for being a veteran.

 

[S-Love]

for a quick 2 or 3 day getaway, check out site59.com- often their packages of flight and a rental car are much cheaper than the flights-only fares at most other sites

 

[cisco]

Prices are 1/2 now because its summertime here.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g150793-Puerto_Vallarta_Pacific_Coast-Vacations.html

 

[vinnie]

Travel This Weekend
Departure City Price Arrival City Airline
Chicago, IL (MDW) $220 Denver, CO (DEN) Frontier
Chicago, IL (ORD) $89 Grand Rapids, MI (GRR) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $108 Cincinnati, OH (CVG) Delta
Chicago, IL (ORD) $109 Cincinnati, OH (CVG) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $114 Columbus, OH (CMH) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $118 Cleveland, OH (CLE) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $133 Pittsburgh, PA (PIT) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $139 Albany, NY (ALB) American
Chicago, IL (ORD) $140 Ft. Lauderdale, FL (FLL) Spirit
Chicago, IL (ORD) $140 Orlando, FL (MCO) Spirit
Chicago, IL (ORD) $140 Tampa, FL (TPA) Spirit
Chicago, IL (ORD) $159 Greensboro, NC (GSO) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $159 Harrisburg, PA (MDT) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $172 Philadelphia, PA (PHL) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $178 Salt Lake City, UT (SLC) Delta
Chicago, IL (ORD) $186 Las Vegas, NV (LAS) Spirit
Chicago, IL (ORD) $190 Los Angeles, CA (LAX) Spirit
Chicago, IL (ORD) $194 Ft. Myers, FL (RSW) Spirit




Travel Next Weekend or Beyond
Departure City Price Arrival City Airline
Chicago, IL (ORD) $89 Detroit, MI (DTW) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $89 Grand Rapids, MI (GRR) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $95 Indianapolis, IN (IND) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $98 Rochester, NY (ROC) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $99 Chattanooga, TN (CHA) American
Chicago, IL (ORD) $106 Toronto, ON, Canada (YYZ) American
Chicago, IL (ORD) $109 Cincinnati, OH (CVG) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $114 Columbus, OH (CMH) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $118 Cleveland, OH (CLE) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $118 Des Moines, IA (DSM) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $124 Minneapolis, MN (MSP) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $133 Pittsburgh, PA (PIT) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $138 Dallas, TX (DFW) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $139 Providence, RI (PVD) American
Chicago, IL (ORD) $149 Austin, TX (AUS) American
Chicago, IL (ORD) $149 Toronto, ON, Canada (YYZ) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $158 Newark, NJ (EWR) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $159 Greensboro, NC (GSO) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $159 Harrisburg, PA (MDT) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $159 Washington, DC (DCA) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $161 Charlotte, NC (CLT) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $162 Atlanta, GA (ATL) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $177 Winnipeg, MB, Canada (YWG) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $180 Montreal, QC, Canada (YUL) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $180 New York, NY (JFK) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $201 Denver, CO (DEN) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $207 Houston, TX (IAH) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $209 Mexico City, Mexico (MEX) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $214 Hayden, CO (HDN) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $216 Aspen, CO (ASE) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $230 Calgary, AB, Canada (YYC) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $250 Vancouver, BC, Canada (YVR) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $278 Santa Ana, CA (SNA) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $281 Modesto, CA (MOD) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $284 San Jose, CA (SJC) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $285 Mexico City, Mexico (MEX) Mexicana
Chicago, IL (ORD) $285 Oakland, CA (OAK) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $285 San Francisco, CA (SFO) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $310 Cancun, Mexico (CUN) Mexicana
Chicago, IL (ORD) $329 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (PVR) Mexicana
Chicago, IL (ORD) $336 San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO) Mexicana
Chicago, IL (ORD) $340 Guatemala City, Guatemala (GUA) Mexicana
Chicago, IL (ORD) $350 Ixtapa, Mexico (ZIH) Mexicana
Chicago, IL (ORD) $360 Acapulco, Mexico (ACA) Mexicana
Chicago, IL (ORD) $360 Huatulco, Mexico (HUX) Mexicana
Chicago, IL (ORD) $369 Mazatlan, Mexico (MZT) Mexicana
Chicago, IL (ORD) $375 Los Cabos, Mexico (SJD) Mexicana
Chicago, IL (ORD) $380 San Salvador, El Salvador (SAL) Mexicana
Chicago, IL (ORD) $399 Caracas, Venezuela (CCS) Mexicana
Chicago, IL (ORD) $499 Buenos Aires, Argentina (EZE) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $499 Montevideo, Uruguay (MVD) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $589 Bogota, Colombia (BOG) Mexicana
Chicago, IL (ORD) $599 Sydney, Australia (SYD) United
Chicago, IL (ORD) $649 Melbourne, Australia (MEL) United

www.smarterliving.com

 

[Blitz]

Can not reccomend Jet Blue enough... Great airline...all new planes, leather seats, DirecTV at every seat, friendly people... check it out...