Airplane tickets

[Magius]

I have to ask... Does anyone ever look into AirTran? I flew from Atl to DC and back for $75 each way a couple of years ago. Doing a quick search tonight, because I was curious, they have a web special NYC to ATL Oct 4 @ 6, 7, 10, and 11 a.m. for $99 and return at multiple times Oct 7 from 8am t0 11:13pm for $134. Any of the ALT arrival times would get you here in plenty of time for the Showcase.

Chicago to ATL is only $89 and back is $139

 

[Pellaz]

AirTran rules.

If it weren't for them, Delta would still be fucking Atlanta travelers over on every damned flight...instead of just on the routes that AirTran doesn't (i.e., can't) compete on.

 

[BABS]

My tickets cost me like 220 from Buffalo -> Atlanta in 1 shot.

I've often wondered if I'd get a better deal flying out of Buffalo...

One year I flew on Air Tran and it was a very nice plane and economical. Problem with Air Tran out of Rochester is the limited amount of flights So either some obscene hour of the morning or I'd get in so late that I would miss out on a day's worth of events.

 

[AMBR]

Oh, that was my intention. I have 25k+ FF miles with Delta, but they have changed the way the conduct business in respect to this program. You only get to choose from crappy flights for 25k. You want decent time, decent seats??? You fork over 45k miles.

I went with semi-crappy. 11:25 flight from Newark; 12:18 flight from Atlanta. I dont' care where I sit for a 2-hour flight.

 

[J-Man]

I wish i had it as good as most of you, to get from El Paso to anywhere is an adventure. We have a choice of either American, Delta, Frontier, Continental, or US Airways and with these you have to go somewhere else to get to Atlanta except the 6:30am non-stop Delta from here to Atl, but it will cost you close to $700 roundtrip per person, and I for one refuse to fly US Airways after the misadventure of getting from Atl home in July, and taking a side trip to Denver and Las Vegas and arriving 9 1/2 hours late and with no luggage, it finally showed up 4 days later.

I did get a fair deal on American for $327 roundtrip per person not quite the same as the free trip last year.

 

[sh0kr0k]

My wife and I decided it would be cheaper and less potentially troublesome to drive to Atlanta this year -- even though it's over 800 miles one way.

It is. I've done it. 4 times.

75 South through Kentucky and Tennessee is one of the most beautiful stretches of highway I've ever traveled! The Smoky Mountains are amazing! My advice, go through Cincinnati at night or when you're least tired. It's chaos.

The Grand Rapids airport was recently rated the worst in the nation

Seriously?? I like the GR airport.

So we're driving some 12 hours each way.

Don't be surprised if it takes a few hours longer than that. There always seems to be construction traffic and extremely bad weather! And nap attacks!

 

[booB]

many airlines (such as AirTran) have recurring online sales... you just have to catch them during one of these sales and book your ticket then. I've been flying from Cleveland (Akron) to Atlanta for the past four years at roughly the same $230 round trip cost.

definitely get your tix sooner rather than later. closer to the flight date, prices skyrocket.

 

[sarbah77]

Oh, that was my intention. I have 25k+ FF miles with Delta, but they have changed the way the conduct business in respect to this program. You only get to choose from crappy flights for 25k. You want decent time, decent seats??? You fork over 45k miles.

I'm finding that you REALLY need to book early with frequent flier miles. For a big trip we're taking next June, I was encouraged to look NOW to find flights with my miles. And I did! I got us (effectively) two one-way non-stop tickets for 25k miles each.

So, as soon as you find out when PPIX is, you might be able to cash in your miles now for a decent flight then!

-Sarah

 

[Mosquito]

If I were to purchase plane tickets overseas, when is the best time to book them in advance?

Justin

 

[metropolisimages]

I got my ticket for only $212 out of Houston....

 

[mloanna]

I just got mine. $405.63 non-stop out of L.A. on ATA. That's what I get for being so slow.

 

[urinalcakemix]

I'd like to point you all in the direction of this website: http://www.sidestep.com/ . Its the best discount airline fare site out there. Basically, its a search engine, and what it does, is searches through Orbitz, Expedia, direct airline sites, and a bunch of other sites. It basically just lines up a bunch of airfare listings from all these various websites, and shows you where the best deal to be found is. Its really nice, I've used it before, and has worked out great for me. Hopefully some of you guys will benefit from this too.

 

[mëtålspëd]

If we are throwing sites out there, Id also list www.kayak.com

 

[urinalcakemix]

A quick Search from Thursday-Monday airfare comparing Sidestep and Kayak:

Sidestep - $320 Round Trip
Kayak - $398 Round Trip

A search for the same weekend in November (I clicked the wrong dates on Sidestep first, had me at $220. Looks like 2 months before flyoff = $100 savings. )

 

[Jurakan]

Flying to ATL out of San Juan is outright ludicrous (anywhere between $300 to $400). I'm flying to Orlando (as I did last year) and pulling a road trip with the rest of Caribbean Devastation.

Fare from San Juan to Orlando (in June)? ~$180 w/ taxes and all other charges.
Fare from San Juan to Orlando (two days ago)? ~$180 w/ taxes and all other charges.

 

[kittybeast]

I just got mine. $405.63 non-stop out of L.A. on ATA. That's what I get for being so slow.

what time? I leave at noon. Colleen and Todd on that flight too.

 

[Dustro25]

$140 a person round trip out of Chicago. American Airlines booked on the night of a special maybe a month ago.

 

[yardleybates]

$140 a person round trip out of Chicago. American Airlines booked on the night of a special maybe a month ago.

(This is Yippee38 using Yardley's laptop)

That's a GREAT fare Dusro. Last year we flew out of Bloomington on AirTran. We paid $103 each way ($206 round trip). We did see that they were cheaper, but we missed the sale. We upgrade to business class for $13/each, each way. That was awesome. Flying out of Bloomington is nice. It's about a two hour drive, but parking is free, security is much less stressful (no line to speak of). We were going to do that again this year.

This year it's going to cost me a fortune. I'm flying us down there. It will be about a 4 hour flight each way at about $200/hour. However, we'll have 4 people on board, so it works out to around $400 per person. The upside is that I will be building multi-engine time while in route. It will be fun too.

 

[Stardust2112]

I'm on a million different mailing lists for places like CheapTickets.com, Hotwire.com, etc, and I got lucky because about two months ago, the airlines were having this ridiculous sale and I managed to get flights on Delta out of Newark for $180. Before that, every airport in my area (New York City) wanted about $100 more than that. So sometimes it pays to start looking several months in advance.

~C

 

[BlackRoseMetalHeart]

I'm freaking as I need to get mine!

Anyone on the east coast have an extra seat in their car for me? Ack!

-Metal

We'll be driving down from Baltimore (closest airport is BWI - about 10 or 15 minutes from our house) in a van we'll be renting.
Leaving from Baltimore Wednesday late afternoon/early evening. Then it's off to the Sonata show at Jaxx and then, after the show, off to Atlanta. I can check with my three other traveling buddies and see how they feel about an addition to our van. (I think you've met them all on the Granada porch, so it should be ok.) I still need to find the cost of the van, so I don't know what a 4 or 5-way split on that cost will be yet (plus we all chip in at various points for gas). If this situation sounds doable for you PM me.