The Price to Fly

[Mystique]

Alright, so is it just me or have airlines prices gone up? The prices were "flyer-friendly" in October and November. Since Christmas, they seem to have gone up. Has anyone else noticed, or is it just me. I think I'll probably have to drive 12+ hours by myself rather than pay $700 to fly the friendly skies.



Oh yeah! Is priceline.com any good? I've never used it before, but I've been typing in what I thought was a reasonable fare, but not a single airline is accepting it.
I've already tried Orbitz and Hotwire. Is there anything else out there that I can try out? <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

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[Ranger Bob]

During the past few years I've saved hundreds of dollars using Priceline. I usually look up the fare on Travelocity and then knock 25-40% off for my Priceline bid. However, Priceline may not be the best option if you're trying to minimize time away from school because they don't let you specify the time of day of the flight.

Another approach is to try flying out of a different airport in your area. Here in Cincinnati, because we're a Delta hub, we get screwed on fares, but by driving 2 hours to Louisville, it's possible to save a lot of money. Perhaps there's something similar in your region. Good luck!

 

[vyc]

you can also try expedia, travelocity, studentuniverse, and cheaptickets.

 

[Wahoo]

I almost always fly on Southwest. They fly to most (but not all) places, it's never more than $200 roundtrip (usually more like $100 roundtrip), and I think they are great.

<a href="http://www.southwest.com" target="_blank">Southwest.com</a>

 

[moo]

Just thank God you're not paying 3000 bucks a flight to the East Coast (living in Canada sucks)... that's what I would be paying if my aunt didn't give me her airmiles (she's a frequent flyer).

 

[SMW]

try flying from Alaska!!

 

[Keith]

lately, i've been booking at orbitz.com. they tend to have better prices than cheaptickets.com, who i used for several trips. travelocity and expedia are usually high. if you set up multi-city trips, the most expensive part of the trip is the one-way flights between states. i can fly coast-to-coast and back for less than some one-way flights between neighboring states. also, don't try to use priceline if you have to leave that same day!!!!!!!!!! their computer automatically books the next day, which did me no good after they had charged my card.

 

[willbeMD]

I travel a lot in my job, and the three that I have found to have the best prices are:

1. Sidestep.com -- they're great b/c they give you rates for the smaller airlines (airtran, southwest) that expedia and orbitz does not pull up.

2. Orbitz

3. Expedia -- allows you to pick different times

I've also tried all the ones mentioned here in the thread, but I've found the three above to be the best so far.
hope this helps.

 

[Mystique]

Ouch, I can't even imagine how much it'd cost to fly from Alaska or Canada!! That bites; i'm sorry!
As far as flying from a nearby airport, I tried to price the flight from Atlanta (5 hours away), and the price is still exhorbitant -- it's $500+.

I've tried all the above mentioned, but I haven't heard of "sidestep" before. I guess I'll give it a shot right now. *Keeping my fingers crossed*

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone.

 

[Doctora Foxy]

Keith, try southwest.com for one-ways....they are usually under 100 dollars, but the cities available are limited