[Willbegone]

HELP!! I've never flown thus I've never booked air fare. My DH has flown but always for military purposes or business so someone else booked his flights. What is the best way to book airfare and to research pricing? Do you book now or wait and see if the rates drop? Do you use the discount sites like travelocity or cheap tickets?


ANY AND ALL ADVICE IS WELCOME!

[anaheimboy]

I dont know much on the rates but try to Fly Delta. I have had great experiences with them! For rates and stuff you could try www.expedai.com or www.priceline.com (flying on that site?) I know theres other travel sites like expedia but my mind went blank and I cant think of another, sorry!

[lopo]

JetBlue is my airline choice; Southwest is second. The prices are generally better than the "Big" airlines and the customer service is certainly better (imo). I have heard that Song (www.flysong.com), a Delta affiliate, is good, too.

RE: prices I always use the search engines to get an idea of the prices for the dates I need. However, once I have an idea of what I want, I usually book directly on the company's website. It is often less expensive than the lowest price quoted on the search engines (Orbitz, Expedia, etc.) However, if the prices are the same, I do book my tickets at the search engine site because I feel that I 'owe' it to them (since they make $ on each booking and I utilize the services available.)

If you do book early, check out the terms outlined wherever you book. For instance, if the fare does go down, can you get a refund (or a credit for a future flight, at least) for the difference without paying fees, etc.

[anaheimboy]

Jet Blue airlines? Never heard of them. Im guessing their a good airline I presume. Do they fly out of most of the International Airports (LAX, SFO, etc..)? I think Ill go to their web site and check them out, sounds cool. :-)

[anaheimboy]

Oh dern, they dont fly out of SFO or LAX . But they do fly out of other big international airports. Im sure in the future they will fly out of SFO and LAX.

[mickey]

I use orbitz to look up prices. Then, as lopo said, go directly to the airline as it is usually cheaper (though not always). Some airlines like Southwest and JetBlue will not appear on any of the sites like orbitz. You have to go directly to them to book.

Where are you flying from/to?

PS. Minnie works for JetBlue. Great airline, I have been on them several times before she started working there. DirectTV, leather seats and nice planes. They do fly in and out of Long Beach in LA. I think they fly to Salt Lake, Oakland and NY from Long Beach. They are taking delivery of like 30 planes this year, and I have heard that Long Beach is one of their priorities.

[anaheimboy]

They also fly out of San Diego International, which is a pretty big airpor as well. :-) JetBlue seems like a pretty good/nice airline. I went to the site and checked out a little info on them.

[EmpressJenny]

If you're going to Disney from SC, why bother flying? Just drive!

[Willbegone]

We've always driven but it is an 8-9 hour drive compared to a 1 1/2 hour flight with a 4 year old and my dad terrifies me when he is driving! We are limited in the airline availabilty from GSP (Greenville-Spartanburg) they do have Delta straight flight and it is $188 right now. We haven't absolutely set it in stone that we are flying but we are leaning that way. Thanks for all the advice!

[EmpressJenny]

I'd check Continental...I almost always find the lowest fare with them...that is, when I book for other people.

[JOANN]

Always book our flights on line or I just call the airline.
In May I thought I would be flying out of Chicago to Orlando on ATA. Infact, we have our tickets. Well, this week I just found out that ATA no longer flies out of Chicago Midway to Orlando. They fly from Chicago to Indianapolis, then to Orlando. I am not a good flyer, so once up for me is more than I can handle. So, ATA reaccomadated us on Southwest.
They were offering refunds, but I re-booked our flights on Southwest. The only thing I worry about is Southwest has no seat assignments. Everyone says not to worry, but I still do. I just want my daughter, husband , and myself to be all seated together. Plus, being I originally bought our tickets with ATA, I cannot get our boarding pass till I get to the airport that morning. Plus, ATA has to send me paper tickets to bring to the ticket counter at Southwest. Because I was told that if I do not have paper tickets, I would first have to go to the ATA ticket counter to get them, and then go on to Southwest ticket area before we actually go to our gate.
Southwest Airlines were very nice. Infact, when I told her our trip was not till May, she had said they were not booking that far yet. But talked to a supervisor , and was able to make all our reservations. Infact, the times were just like we originally had with ATA.
I do hear alot of good things about Southwest, just hoping they are all true. JOANN

[WDWaddict]

I used Cheaptickets this last time and got a great fare w/ them. We flew out of Orlando Dec 21st and back on Jan. 1, 2005. It was only $228 a person(taxes included) to fly roundtrip from Orlando to Portland Oregon. It does take some work and you need to be flexible. Change the times, dates, and even airports on there a few times and sometimes it makes a world of difference in the price quoted.

One thing that ticked me off is we used Cheaptickets and flew American Airlines..they COMPLETELY changed our seats from the ones I picked on the internet when I booked the tickets.(Not sure whose fault that was..Cheaptickets or AA??) So that was a pain to fix and we still didn't get to all sit together..so that really chapped my hide that they messed up the seating I picked.

[Huakai]

When I start planning a trip, I look at Orbitz, Expedia, and then the individual airlines to get an idea of what is out there. I also set up a fare watcher on Travelocity and Hotwire. If you aren't familiar with Fare Watcher, you can set when you want to be notified of fares....like if it drops by $25 or goes below a certain price. Many times you have to act quickly on these because the seats reserved for the special fare go quickly. Sometimes they are really unbelievable rates, so you need to be aware of the average cost to recognize how good a deal it is.
On a freq flyer email that I got yesterday I found this information:
American Airlines has enhanced its own recently announced simplified and lower price structure with a “lowest fare guarantee” on its www.aa.com Web site. Here’s how it works: If you buy a ticket online and find an American Airline flight on any other Web site with the same exact itinerary that’s $5 lower, the carrier will refund the difference and give you a $50 travel voucher. Savvy PR since any ticket sales American can generate through its own site saves it up to 75% in fees and commissions it would pay a global distribution system like Sabre, WorldCom or a third party website like Expedia, Orbitz or Travelocity. The offer isn’t groundbreaking, nor does it offer the biggest reward. Book online with Continental, find a fare $10 lower and you get $100 voucher. Northwest pays $50 for $5 lower. Still, American is adding features to its Web site to woo shoppers. A good one: reserve any flight online and put in hold for 24 hours just as if you were booking it live through a reservationist. If you don’t confirm it, the reservation automatically expires.
Click here to go to the webpage for more info.