Airline tickets

I have been trying to find some reasonable airline tickets from L'ville to either Albany, NY or Hartford, CT. Has anybody bought tickets lately? I am shocked at the price of tickets today! I have American airline miles for a free ticket, but my granddaughter is going to go with me and it is almost $500 for her to fly....and I also have a gift cert. for Southwest airlines, but again, the other ticket is out of this world. I plan to travel in two months. Any ideas?

:) Kathy

I flew recently and I went from Salt Lake City, Utah to Portland, Oregon for $345. We usually fly Southwest Airlines, though.

I plan a trip, go to Orbitz.com, and look nearly every day. I found last year searching for a Christmas ticket to PA, the days I went mattered, and the prices cycled up & down throughout the week days & weekends.

There are certain days of the week if you travel, it costs more. I think the "off days" are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and something else... I think.

Search several times a day. It's tedious, but it works.

Ask if anyone near you has a SW expired ticket. Only cost $50 to reinstate it. Just gave one of mine to our son to fly to Orlando. Sure beat the $500 it would have cost.

Thank you :) I have found SWA to be the most expensive, which surprises me as they were always the cheapest. I do have the choice of 2 different airports, so that helps and I'm finding to Albany is cheaper, but I am still shocked at the price. Do you think sometimes they have cheaper flights closer to departure date?

:) Kathy

Unless you're willing to take the risk of buying at the absolute last minute (priceline or something similar), don't wait...

For example... in 2006 I procrastinated buying Christmas tickets until November... Cost to PA from Houston? $600

In 2007 I had Christmas tickets in my hand by mid-September.. from a little rinky county airport to Houston, to Pa? $460 (it was $250 from Houston to Pa, but I chose from the county to save on gas & tolls)

check out www.skybus.com

They have limited flights but I think they are expanding. The price is sure right! They guarantee to have 10 seats on every flight for $10.

This message was edited Feb 1, 2008 10:30 PM

Did you ever get your tickets?

Yes, I ended up buying the ones that were $181 apiece. Everyone said to get them because it was only going to get worse. Thanks, for asking.

:) Kathy

I ended up with Northwest and have to leave on a Monday instead of a Saturday, but it's okay.

Okay. I was curious. A pretty good deal but you didn't get to use your miles.

No, I've still got them and because I canceled my flight I had with them, I have a year to use them. I also have a gift certificate for SW, but the prices were out of this world. I'll save that too, it will never expire, they told me.

:) Kathy

We fly Southwest any time we can. Not only have we found their prices to be reasonable, but we just love their staff....they are so funny.

I know, Southwest, used to be the one with the lowest prices....but they actually had the highest prices when I was looking. I was shocked. And almost all of the airlines are now adding a $40+ security fee to your ticket.

I think your going to see more of this type of charge in the U.S..
Airlines here tend to package all the fees up in a nice and tidy package, and travelers have no idea that 3/4's of the ticket is really fees and taxes that include fuel charge tax, airport landing fees, gate fees, security fees, departure tax...and it goes on! The airlines are the most taxed companies in the transportation industry, I know, I work for CO at headquarters here in Houston.
Rj

I do quite a bit of travel, all on Northwest Airlines. Since 911 and with fuel charges they have gotten really high and there doesn't seem to be any relief in sight.

So many airlines have gone out of business over the years, I am just thankful that I can still fly out of our little airport 20 miles away - beats driving 3 hours + to larger airports . . . so inconvenient.

The best travel days for NWA are Tue and Thur for the most part and stay over one Sat night - 14 day advance (if there are any tickets left).

I monitor their sales and pick up tickets immediately; if I find the price lower at a later time they issue a credit voucher for the difference.