airfares

[mjarrels]

looking at purchasing 4 round trip tickets from washington dc area to manila philippines to visit inlaws this christmas (very expensive with current fuel cost). any ideas on how to reduce cost thru an incentive program of some type?

 

[BB_TX]

We do a lot of traveling here at work. Don't know of any incentive program to reduce costs. Mostly it is a matter of shopping around for the lowest cost. However, lowest costs is also often the least convienient. That means the lowest fare may mean extra stops and/or connections, long layovers, odd flying hours, budget airlines that may pack extra seats into a plane leaving less leg room, etc. Sites like Expedia.com, Travelocity.com, etc. is a good place to start for price comparisons. They add a small fee ($5.00 I think) to the ticket price if you purchase thru them. Maybe more for international. A travel agent is also a good way to go for international travel. They charge a fee of around $35 now. Booking direct thru an airline web site does not add an additional fee. I make all of my own reservations for domestic travel. But for overseas travel I would use a travel agent unless I could book a straight thru ticket from a major airline.

 

[BB_TX]

Here is an article that appeared on MSN.com this morning.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/TravelForLess/FindTheCheapestAirfareDeals.aspx

 

[EddieWalker]

I've had good luck with Orbitz. It's a good place to start anyway.

When I went to New Zealand, I was able to save almost a grand off the ticket price by buying one ticket to Sydney, then another to Christchurch. Buying them seperately really made a huge difference.

I just flew to California and found that flying on Saturday was the cheapest day of the week. I checked every day, and all hours. It used to be Tuesday was the cheap day and I was realy suprised that I was able to save $200 by flying on the most convnient day of the week for me.

I used to have a travle agent years ago that was really good at coming up with the lowest fairs. When she moved away, I realized that I'd gotten real lucky with her and that nobody else wanted to put the time into it. I've spent hours online, sometimes days, looking at all options.

She found be a great airfare to Africa one time that went the oposite way around the planet. Big savings, but with allot of airline changes and I was worried about losing my rifle, so we kept looking.

Going direct to the airlines also helps. Just find out what airlines service the location you want to fly into and work your way backwards.

Hawaii is a popular destiation, you might be able to get a really cheap flight there on one of the charters or tourist hops. Then find another flight to the Phillipines.

Just keep checking every option you can imagine,
Eddie

 

[mjarrels]

looks like flying east via the middle east is going to be cheaper then flying west. looks like we are up to 6 tickets now.

 

[rox]

I really like www.Priceline.com
At Priceine you name your price and dates and put out an offer.
Airlines really do use Priceline and offer reduced fares.
The catch is once you put out your offer (and you have to give your credit card number when you make your offer) if an airline takes you up on your offer "You bought it, no going back or cancelling for your money back"
You get to pick your days and airport, but not your times to fly nor any airlines.

I have many times purchsed through Priceline.com when I had the time and flexibility. Doesn't work if say you are going to a wedding and you need to fly out early am because with Priceline they can fly you out anywhere form 6am to 11pm. But again when you are buying tickets for a family of 4 you can save Big money with Priceline. I also booked several hotels, 3 or 4 times now through Priceline and have not been disappointed, not at all. Their star rating system really works, if you put out an offer on a 4 star or 5 star hotel you really do get top of the line hotels. I cna't believe it, one time in Philly I bid for 5 nights at a 4 star hotel and I opnly bid $45 a night and I got it!

I always shopped for the best airfares then I went on Priceline and put out my offer using the best fares as a guide. If nobody takes you up on your offer you can make a new one but I think you ahve to wait a week. They recently changed this. QWhat I would do is put out a bid under my name and Credit Card A, if that didn't work (nobody took my lowball offer) then I would bid again using my hsubands name and a different credit card. Before you used to only be able to bid once and that was it, now I think they let you re-bid but you have to wait a few days. Anyway check the website for thier current rules. I got a 5 star hotel in Barcelona Spain 23rd floor of a 24 story hotel, really really deluxe and I think I bid US Dollars $75 a night. I like to bid on the 4 star and 5 star Hotels and lowball. I ahve been successful almost every time. Not always but the majority yes. We jsut used Priceline in Munich Germany last month, but there I didn't put out an offer, I needed to be in a specific area of Munich to be close to the Olive Oil Expo, so there I just went on their website and booked a specific hotle at the advertised price.

If you are going to Europe Priceline is the way to go. I doubt if you will ahve much success booking around Christmas unless you can leave on or before December 14th. After December 14th I have not been able to get any bargains.

I like Priceline, the first time it is a bit scary making travel arrangements without knowing the carrier or hotel in advance, but so far I have not been disappoited and actually am a big fan. Just got to be willing to leave or arrive at any hour of the day and you can get a good deal through them.

 

[pajoube]

looking at purchasing 4 round trip tickets from washington dc area to manila philippines to visit inlaws this christmas (very expensive with current fuel cost). any ideas on how to reduce cost thru an incentive program of some type?

Domestic travel I would consider using the internet such as Orbitz and so on. All international travel I would use a very good travel agency. You don't want to be overseas and find out there is a glitch in your travel plans. I realize there are some bad travel agencies also out there, you need to shop around and ask questions.
PJ

 

[ByronBob]

Just remember as time gets closer the rates don't go down.

 

[pajoube]

You can also save money if you book the airfare, hotel, car rental, etc. all in one package.
PJ

 

[dieselsmoke1]

cheaptickets.com is also a good site to shop. I've used them many times with no problems.

 

[BB_TX]

Just remember as time gets closer the rates don't go down.

That is the case ALMOST always. Except in the rare case when it is nearing the travel date and a particular plane has a lot of seats left, they will sometimes drop the price to fill seats. But that is a pretty risky venture.
Also, each plane has a certain number of "cheap" seats, a certain number of slightly higher priced seats, a certain number of next higher seats, and so on. The "cheap" seats sell first, then the next higher and so on. I made a reservation on AA.com last month to St Louis by putting the reservation on hold one day. The next day I purchased the ticket and the price dropped by almost $100. The AA explanation was that one of the lower priced seats had opened up since the day before. But that don't happen very often.

 

[mjarrels]

Just bought 5 round trip tickets to Manilla Phillippines (Ninoy Aquino) for $5,665 total. Other prices on the same plane were as high as $16,685 coach. Over $11,000 dollars higher... dang, could buy a new tractor for that. No snow removal this winter for me... just swimming in the South China Sea and cold San Miguel beer.

"Silver and black of medium attack - VA-155"

mark

 

[EddieWalker]

Five tickets for just over a grand each sounds like a steal!!!!

Who did you use to buy the tickets???

Eddie

 

[ultrarunner]

I fly to Germany on occasion and consistently find the best prices with a travel agent that specializes in your destination. You can often find these travel agents advertising in US Newspapers specific to the language of the country you will be visiting.

I just booked San Francisco to Munich, Round Trip, Non Stop, for $400 plus security fees... total $649.

 

[mjarrels]

Eddie

Travelco international... hope I did'nt get screwed. Wife's friend just got back last week from Phillippines and she used this firm. My wife's parents have a house on the beach in a little fishing town of San Felepe.

mark