Most you've ever spent on an airline ticket?

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JRG

JRG

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So I just received my first interview invite of the season with 9 days notice and being in Montana I have to fly. Got an airline ticket for the cheapest I could and confirmed it with a friend who's a travel agent: $650 :eek:

I can't believe this, even with such short notice I never expected it to cost this much. Just wondering what the most you've ever spent on a round trip ticket to an interview was.
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I'd say $350 for a roundtrip ticket from CA to NY. $650?! Are you flying out of a major airport?
 
EBTrailRunner said:
I'd say $350 for a roundtrip ticket from CA to NY. $650?! Are you flying out of a major airport?
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Eh, not really. Missoula, Montana (semi-big regional airport) to Reno, NV. Just sucks that I could almost fly to Europe and back for that price but I guess it's hard to put a price tag on getting into a school.
 
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About $400. I'm not too surprised, OP - flying in and out of regional airports (since Reno isn't exactly a hub either) can be disturbingly expensive.
 
JRG said:
Eh, not really. Missoula, Montana (semi-big regional airport) to Reno, NV. Just sucks that I could almost fly to Europe and back for that price but I guess it's hard to put a price tag on getting into a school.
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delay your interview for a few months if you have others? that's what i would do.
 
latrala2300 said:
delay your interview for a few months if you have others? that's what i would do.
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It's JRG's only interview so far...

I doubt that delaying the interview would affect the price that much, so I would just suck it up and pay. With 9 days notice, I am wondering if someone pulled out of their interview after an acceptance elsewhere and that's why there is an opening that soon.
 
JRG said:
So I just received my first interview invite of the season with 9 days notice and being in Montana I have to fly. Got an airline ticket for the cheapest I could and confirmed it with a friend who's a travel agent: $650 :eek:

I can't believe this, even with such short notice I never expected it to cost this much. Just wondering what the most you've ever spent on a round trip ticket to an interview was.
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Sorry OP, that really sucks. I had a similar issue going to Cincinnati (another hub-less airport), but elected to drive instead because it was a 5 hr trip. Nate Silver wrote a really great article on his NYT blog summarizing his analysis of comparative airfares:

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/which-airports-have-the-most-unfair-fares/
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/which-airports-have-the-most-unfair-fares/
Also, people have recommended looking at buses and trains as alternatives. I don't know if that's an option for you, but just wanted to put that out there. Good luck on your interview!
 
dpsPanda said:
Totally agree with using bus and trains. I was surprised they had buses going from Cleveland to the East Coast. If I had known that a few months earlier my trip there would've been so much easier!
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Yea, sometimes delays in flights (and the time needed to go through security, etc.) can make buses or trains a faster and cheaper option. I am not sure how great the public transit is in Montana and how much of a time crunch you are on, but see if you can figure out an alternate route to go. You can possibly even take a train to a larger airport nearby.
 
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idf27 said:
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/which-airports-have-the-most-unfair-fares/
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/which-airports-have-the-most-unfair-fares/
Also, people have recommended looking at buses and trains as alternatives. I don't know if that's an option for you, but just wanted to put that out there. Good luck on your interview!
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Interesting article! Thanks for posting that! Yeah unfortunately the trans. that Montana has is of little use to the places I'm applying. Between trains, busses etc. the shortest trip to any of my schools is greater than 20 hours (with the exception of Oregon, where I can get to by train in 12 hours). With school flying is the only feasible choice.

penguinism said:
It's JRG's only interview so far...

I doubt that delaying the interview would affect the price that much, so I would just suck it up and pay. With 9 days notice, I am wondering if someone pulled out of their interview after an acceptance elsewhere and that's why there is an opening that soon.
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Well what happened is Reno had some issues with their secondary and they didn't even release it until two weeks ago. So I don't know if they already had interview days lined up or what but when I got the email the furtherest date they offered me was two weeks from that day and unfortunately when I went to sign up it was already full. But that's beyond the point because I'm ecstatic to get an interview invite!
 
dermocrat88 said:
1,800 Going to Nepal for a month
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OP is talking about a ticket to go to a med school interview, not pleasure. Otherwise, I have spent around that much to go to India on several occasions.
 
Due to bad planning and bad luck, I probably ended up paying close to 1200 for my flight to go to Case Western. This flight included a 1 day stop at New York (interview at Mt. Sinai, which I missed)
 
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JRG said:
So I just received my first interview invite of the season with 9 days notice and being in Montana I have to fly. Got an airline ticket for the cheapest I could and confirmed it with a friend who's a travel agent: $650 :eek:

I can't believe this, even with such short notice I never expected it to cost this much. Just wondering what the most you've ever spent on a round trip ticket to an interview was.
Click to expand...

travel agents still exist?
 
I spent about $500 for one of my flights. I intended to book a flight to Baltimore (airport code BWI) but accidentally typed in BMI, which goes to Bloomington, IL, when I made the reservation. I didn't notice until a few days before I was schedule to leave, so it was pretty pricey to book the new flight.

Major bummer.
 
NickNaylor said:
I spent about $500 for one of my flights. I intended to book a flight to Baltimore (airport code BWI) but accidentally typed in BMI, which goes to Bloomington, IL, when I made the reservation. I didn't notice until a few days before I was schedule to leave, so it was pretty pricey to book the new flight.

Major bummer.
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Bloomington Illinois??

Middle of nowhere in Illinois, I assume. That sucks.
 
Huh.

$875 or so for my round-trip to Cedar Rapids.
 
~$750 for Dartmouth ticket, including hiring a pilot to fly a Cessna into Hanover
 
centrigeugle said:
Huh.

$875 or so for my round-trip to Cedar Rapids.
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Huh suddenly my $650 doesn't seem so bad... Geez that's terrible! I suppose you can't put a price on the chance at an acceptance though
 
$1550 round trip from Toronto to St. Louis :eek:

my wallet is bleeding
 
Interview...about $600 but included an extra leg to go see my wife. I fly from upstate NY to Georgia twice a month to see wife & kids. It added about $200 to stop along the way.

For perspective I used to spend $6500 a pop for business class from Atlanta to Tokyo.
 
I think I've spent around $800-1000 on a plane ticket from Arizona to Alaska.
My flight from Arizona to Asia on Cathay Pacific was also around $900-1200.

You can get a roundtrip ticket to Europe for $650?! Now that's what call cheap..
 
JRG said:
Eh, not really. Missoula, Montana (semi-big regional airport) to Reno, NV. Just sucks that I could almost fly to Europe and back for that price but I guess it's hard to put a price tag on getting into a school.
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Check studentuniverse next time. I'm not sure how the dates you needed affect your price, but i'm seeing prices for your stated itinerary from $510 and most of them from $545
 
Euryeury said:
$1550 round trip from Toronto to St. Louis :eek:

my wallet is bleeding
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check travel cuts next time (www.travelcuts.ca) fares for toronto-albany are usually around $800 but on travel cuts (for students) it's usually around 350-400$. I have found much cheaper fares from Toronto to many US cities on this site.
 
I got burned on a last minute ticket to San Diego for an interview.

The ticket was sold out for coach seating, so I ended up paying through the nose for first class seats. Fortunately I was able to make up for it with loads of "free" champagne on the way back...
 
Oh thanks for the tip, will check it out for the next one
 
~$500 was the most.

average ~$300 per round trip. although i did waste $300 dollars rescheduling 2 trips. (damn continental and their $150 cancellation fee)
 
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