plane tickets

[calbears84]

sorry for asking such a stupid question, where do you guys go to book your plane tickets?

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[gogiants]

I do a lot of internet searching for the cheapest. Expedia and Travelocity are the best. But since your from California I would try Southwest too, they always have great deals. Another helpful hint is that leaving Saturday rather than Sunday saves money.

 

[athena21]

orbitz.com!!!! also, check southwest as well cuz it doesn't send info to orbitz.

 

[S.c. Cdc28p]

hotwire.com

 

[Random Access]

Also try airlines' sites. Sometimes you'll catch some breaks (and/or save $5-10 and maybe even get more convenient flight times). And make sure you check JetBlue/AirTran/Spirit/etc (the low fare airlines) because you can get some amazing deals.

 

[Woots32]

I've flown for free to all of my interviews using my dad's frequent flyer miles. Try sucking up to parents or generous relatives that travel alot. Otherwise, you can try getting bumped off an overbooked flight, assuming that you don't mind getting to wherever you're going a little later. If your flight is oversold they will sometimes offer a free ticket, hotels, or meals to someone willing to take a later flight. (My roommate did this and got $400 worth of flights anywhere in the continental US.) Just make sure that you get a guarantee that you will have a seat on the next flight.

 

[Street Philosopher]

go to a travel agent near your school. i go to STA travel in Westwood. they've been getting me some pretty good deals.

 

[gooloogooloo]

ok, u r asking a professional here. there are advises better than others, and my job is to tell you which advise is the best.

1. travelocity and priceline will give you the cheapest price available. note, in priceline you need to give credit card information and set a base amount of the price. just type in a extraodinarily unreasonable low amount, let's say $5, it will eventually give up and tell u what is the lowest fare it will offer you. if you don't know what i am talking about, once u go to priceline u will understand. priceline.com

2. southwest is an unique airline. it has lots cheap fares on its site b/t city pairs. go for it. its aircrafts are all new too.

3. that's it! no more. lots ppl just want to tell you what are ALL the method you can book flight.... travel agent, orbitz, airline site.... no kidding. if you want the cheapest way, well, there are not that many! go for the above two you will be fine. of course, sometimes u have to pay more for it.

4. orbitz and expedia and airline site are both expensive than travelocity and priceline.

5. STA is very expensive. they book full fare ticket most of the time. travel agency might be cheap if u have one u consult consistently and you know them well. but usually online is cheaper. if u have one agent that u know for sure is great, you wouldn't post this thread anyway.

6. frequent flyer miles and overbooking trick are both too impractical. unless you have such resource or extraodinary experience like gooloogooloo, don't even think about it.

 

[Nefertari]

Don't know if it's still the same as before, but if you're a student, Council Travel in most college towns have good deals.

Also, my experience w/ Expedia (& other online sites)--Don't book directly thru them, since if you need to cancel/make changes, it's a nightmare b/c they'll bounce you back & forth between the airline & the online broker. The best thing is to use the internet to research the lowest fares, then call those airlines directly to book.

If you have a mileage accounts that are near the award limit, switch to MCI long distance & they'll give you up to 10,000 bonus miles on any airline. This has helped me to get a few mileage tickets this past year.

 

[Yogi Bear]

Originally posted by gooloogooloo
ok, u r asking a professional here. there are advises better than others, and my job is to tell you which advise is the best.

1. travelocity and priceline will give you the cheapest price available. note, in priceline you need to give credit card information and set a base amount of the price. just type in a extraodinarily unreasonable low amount, let's say $5, it will eventually give up and tell u what is the lowest fare it will offer you. if you don't know what i am talking about, once u go to priceline u will understand. priceline.com

2. southwest is an unique airline. it has lots cheap fares on its site b/t city pairs. go for it. its aircrafts are all new too.

3. that's it! no more. lots ppl just want to tell you what are ALL the method you can book flight.... travel agent, orbitz, airline site.... no kidding. if you want the cheapest way, well, there are not that many! go for the above two you will be fine. of course, sometimes u have to pay more for it.

4. orbitz and expedia and airline site are both expensive than travelocity and priceline.

5. STA is very expensive. they book full fare ticket most of the time. travel agency might be cheap if u have one u consult consistently and you know them well. but usually online is cheaper. if u have one agent that u know for sure is great, you wouldn't post this thread anyway.

6. frequent flyer miles and overbooking trick are both too impractical. unless you have such resource or extraodinary experience like gooloogooloo, don't even think about it.

could you describe one or two ticket purchases in detail from pricline?

i.e "I typed in $5, couple of hours later, they said it was too low. then they.... i had 2 connections, trip to x hours to complete....i ended up paying $x while the best price on orbitz was like $800...etc."

 

[Street Philosopher]

priceline is only good if you book for your arrival and return with at least a one day cushion. otherwise, they might give you times leaving before your interview ends, etc. that's why i never use priceline.

 

[exigente chica]

1. Cheaptickets
2. Southwest ARilines
3. United Airlines
4. Delta
5. Airtran

I usually go to these sites every week, click under special and select ur city, there are some good deals, u just have to look at least every 2 weeks!

Happy hunting

 

[Neuronix]

I just got a GREAT deal to my Duke interview at http://www.studentuniverse.com/

They have alot of student/faculty only fares. They're not competitive if you're booking way in advance, but if you're not (like me, booking 8 days in advance) it seems like they have some great deals. A non-stop trip from Philly to Raleigh-Durham was gonna cost $800 (yeah right, I was gonna fly out of Baltimore with connections or drive). On Studentuniverse it cost me about $265. Duke is reimbursing me up to $300 for travel expenses to the MSTP interview, so everything worked out cool.

 

[BananaSplit]

<<Duke is reimbursing me up to $300 for travel expenses to the MSTP interview, so everything worked out cool.>>

Oh my goodness! Do schools actually do this? How nice of them! I thought they were all just $$$ vaccums. Nice to know there is a soul somewhere.


BananaSplit

 

[lola]

i really don't think there is a set rule about which sites are cheaper. on occasion, orbitz is cheaper than both expedia and travelocity. sometimes it is even cheaper than airline sites. it just depends. i recommend searching a number of sites and comparing.

 

[jesco]

Jumping in with my first post.... I have to agree with Iola. Orbitz.com has hooked up some cheap flights for me. Make sure you check airports in the 50 mile radius around your destination cause an hour drive can be worth the bucks you can save. Hope this helps.

 

[Neuronix]

Originally posted by BananaSplit

Oh my goodness! Do schools actually do this? How nice of them! I thought they were all just $$$ vaccums. Nice to know there is a soul somewhere.

Only for MSTP applicants and only at certain schools. Alot fewer schools than I originally thought when I went this way...

 

[Random Access]

I wonder why some schools reimburse MSTP applicants. I mean, it's not like they need incentive to come to your school to interview.

-RA

 

[Neuronix]

Originally posted by Random Access
I wonder why some schools reimburse MSTP applicants. I mean, it's not like they need incentive to come to your school to interview.

-RA

There's a number of reasons:

--High level of competition for qualified applicants. Unlike MD admissions, there's no location considerations and most of the application process is fairly objective. The most competitive MSTP applicants get alot of invites and alot of acceptances, so it is really key to fight for them as a med school.

--Graduate schools usually pay for this sort of thing, and half of the time is in a graduate program. During this period you are more or less cheap/free labor for the school.

--There's still that idea that MD/PhDs aren't going to make as much in their career, so it's another way to cut back on their expenses.

 

[doc4sure]

Depending where you are going, the Northwest coupons (get them in the mail) may be the best. You have to stay a Saturday, but these babies are cheap

 

[NVWolfPack]

<<Duke is reimbursing me up to $300 for travel expenses to the MSTP interview, so everything worked out cool.>>

Oh my goodness! Do schools actually do this? How nice of them! I thought they were all just $$$ vaccums. Nice to know there is a soul somewhere.



BananaSplit

You cracked me up!!!! I agree.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

You cracked me up!!!! I agree.

YOU cracked ME up! You bumped a nine-year old thread. Heading towards puberty, this one is.

 

[Neuronix]

studentuniverse is no good anymore at least for me.

Kayak is cool, just don't forget that the search engines don't list Southwest fares (Southwest's doing). Southwest does have the advantage of free bags and no change fees, so I try to book with them when possible.

 

[juliedi]

I always start with Bing Travel. They look at prices from a bunch of different sites, and they advise you on whether to book a flight now or wait, based on the chances that prices will go up or down.