requesting advice

Mm. I'm not terribly experienced at travelish things, so I have a question. Is it a better idea to go to teh airlines directly, use expedia, use priceline, or use hotwire?

Hotwire and priceline both are freaksome about the times thing, and I'm not too sure how I feel about blind flights--on the other hand, when it's running 125 to 150 less than the lowest ticket otherwise, my enthusiasm gets a lot higher for it. Are these reliable?

Any advice would be deeply appreciated. I can deal with a blind-until-purchased flight, but if I can do it *with* times, that would be nice, too.

*hopeful*

Also, yes, fox1013, we are trying *very hard* to make sure the hotel has running water. Why, the last place we looked at? Had some new-fangled indoor thing they call a 'water closet', like an indoor outhouse!

My God, modern technology today!

Comments

[svmadelyn.livejournal.com]

Why, the last place we looked at? Had some new-fangled indoor thing they call a 'water closet', like an indoor outhouse!

Jenn, we keep this up and we're positively going to start *spoiling* people.

[meimur.livejournal.com]

While Priceline, Expedia, and Orbitz will usually get you good deals, whenever I check out airline tickets, I sometimes find better deals through their direct websites (sometimes they'll offer 1-2 day sales, or internet-only sales prices) that the general search engines sometimes don't/won't pick up.

If you pick one of the search engine places, sometimes they'll at least give you what airline you'd be flying on...I suggest taking a peek at the airline's website before you purchase it to see if they're offering it cheaper.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Yeha, I haven't done more than randomly skim the individual airline sites, so bookmarking them for checking would probably be a good idea.

Thanks! *hugs*

[mi-nion.livejournal.com]

At last something that I am good at. Travel

Okay here's the deal Priceline is great when you're flexible. I personally hate Orbitz, I don't think they get good deal AT ALL. Not crazy about Expdia or Hotwire, but I don't hate them like I hate Orbitz.

I use sidestep.com, but I will also go to the airline sites and check for sales and specials. USAIR and Delta are goods sites to register on because they will have web only sales often. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the day that airfares go on sale. Delta has one day only websales from their site only every Tuesday. USAIR's main hub is Pittsburg & Delta's is Atlanta, so if you are going to these places you're more likely to get cheaper fares from them. Depending on where you want to go you may also want to check smaller airlines like Jetblue & Southwest.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Oh, I haven't heard of sidestep.com.

USAIR and Delta are goods sites to register on because they will have web only sales often. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the day that airfares go on sale. Delta has one day only websales from their site only every Tuesday. USAIR's main hub is Pittsburg & Delta's is Atlanta, so if you are going to these places you're more likely to get cheaper fares from them. Depending on where you want to go you may also want to check smaller airlines like Jetblue & Southwest.

Hmm. Let me check the airport and see what flights go out of there, since I've never even heard of Jetblue. I don't mind a few connecting flights if necessary.

Thanks so much!

[mi-nion.livejournal.com]

Jetblue is a small airline out of NY.

[mi-nion.livejournal.com]

took a quick peek. Definitely check tues/wed sales.
fares seem pretty high to me.
also if you can play around with dates, sometimes Fri-mon will be cheaper than thurs-sun.
(don't know why)
I would say if you can get a fare between 250 & 300 BOOK it

[jigofspite.livejournal.com]

You don't know me, I just found your lj through some link or something, but I might be able to help. I am taking a trip to England this summer, and I was stressing out about the ticket prices which were around $800! I signed up for EVERYthing that could possibly find me a deal. After probably less than a week I got an e-mail from Orbitz Deal Detector saying that they had found a price of $440!! It totally worked out, and I bought the tickets. I agree that normally Orbitz sucks a LOT, but this Deal Detector thing saved my life. Anyway, hope I helped. The only other suggestion is to sign up for every travel savings e-mail group there is. Travel Zoo sometimes has deals as well depending on where you are going. Hope you find a good deal!

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I am taking a trip to England this summer, and I was stressing out about the ticket prices which were around $800! I signed up for EVERYthing that could possibly find me a deal. After probably less than a week I got an e-mail from Orbitz Deal Detector saying that they had found a price of $440!! It totally worked out, and I bought the tickets.

Whoa, thats' an amazing deal.

The only other suggestion is to sign up for every travel savings e-mail group there is. Travel Zoo sometimes has deals as well depending on where you are going. Hope you find a good deal!

That may be my best option, espeically considering your expereince. Thanks so much for the advice!

[mi-nion.livejournal.com]

I know way too uch about this. Priceline has 2 ways of booking travel now.

1.The old blind way which means you are pretty much guaranteed at least one layover and sometimes two. SO you have to factor in the increased travel time for going up and down as opposed to a direct flight.

2. They have the same sytem Expedia and other sites have where you can punch in specific times, layovers etc.... Not as cheap as the blind way.

Where do you need to go and what dates? I may be able to help.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

1.The old blind way which means you are pretty much guaranteed at least one layover and sometimes two. SO you have to factor in the increased travel time for going up and down as opposed to a direct flight.

*nod* Yeah, I was vaguely alarmed about that. I'm relaly not the most experienced in flying ever.

Where do you need to go and what dates? I may be able to help.

For the fannish Sleepover (did you consider going? *g* I never stop pimping it!), October 21-25, round trip to New York, leaving from Austin.

If you can give me any advice or pointers, I'd be eternally grateful. *hugs*

[mi-nion.livejournal.com]

I can't make it. AUstin I would definirtely check Southwest and Jetblue. I think Jetblue flies into JFK, but you can cab it or catch the Metro to anywhere in the city. You can also use Sidestep for hotels. I've have real good success using Priceline for hotels, nut I've heard horror stories about hotel.com.

[viggorlijah.livejournal.com]

Real Simple or one of my lazyass magazines had a good bit on this comparing services and basically concluded that if you were ONLY doing airline tickets somewhere pretty popular and straightforward, you could get cheaper deals online, but that travel agents for just about everything else got better deals. Call up an agent in your town and ask them. I used priceline and got United which was the worst airline I've ever flown, but the ticket buying was fine - the cost was only a little cheaper than a travel agent,a nd I regretted it later because it was inflexible - I wanted to leave earlier, and couldn't.

And don't forget your travel insurance!

[joesther.livejournal.com]

I've had good experience with Expedia, but only for domestic travel. For international, I'd really recommend going through a travel agent.

[fox1013.livejournal.com]

Eek!

Next thing I hear, you'll have that electricity whositmawhatski. I've heard that with that, you can have light when it's DARK OUTSIDE.

[chance1562.livejournal.com]

I'd recommend doing a search on Expedia for dates and times and then hit the airlines with the times and prices you like to see if they're offering a deal that month or something. Its what I do and normally at least $5 will come off the price...that of course being what Expedia would charge in the first place <g>

Still, it's not a bad way to get a running average on how much it will cost.

Another travel tale

[margeauxmay.livejournal.com]

This is probably going to sound repetitive, but...

I just flew Chicago-NYC for $200 last minute via Hotwire (my first time using it). It was harrowing to not be able to pick the times, but it wasn't too outrageous. They quote you and then give you 2 hours to acutally purchase the tix so you do one last comparision. I recommend you check which airlines the hotwire/travelzoo/whatever troll; depending on what's available, you'll be able to check those airlines and get an idea of what kinds of flights/times you'd probably be awarded. Also, once you get your tickets and flights, you can manipulate the system directly with the airline. My flight was for 8p, but I called Friday morning and found out that there were 40 empty seats on the 2p and so I flew standby and arrived 6 hours earlier. There was no extra charge, which was a bonus (and pretty standard, I believe).

You might want to wait a bit; it's still early for the 'deals' in October. Also pay attention to what's happening to the price of fuel and air traffic issues; if you're flying multiple legs, you could be seriously delayed because of it. Just make sure to list the *maximum* number of connections you're willing to deal with. If you spend 14 hours getting *to* the sleepover, it might take some of the fun out of the weekend!

I hope this helps you out a bit.

[trinityl7.livejournal.com]

Hi, Ok, I came across this in random surfing today. Although I am familiar with your work, (God, I loved Three Impossible things, Handful of Dust, Somewhere I have Never Traveled, and the list of excellent fic goes on and on), and thought I'd throw my two cents in. I traveled for around $530.00 from Chicago to Paris with a deal I found on travelnow.com, (Granted that was off season), but I really like them. They let you compare and contrast and look at layovers and lack thereof, as well as carriers. www.flyted.com, a branch of United, has competitive fares too. Also www.airfareplanet.com has good selections. Hope this is helpful.



Good Luck!

[fyrdrakken]

I think I agree with much of the comments above, although I notice no one mentioned Travelocity and they're who I usually use. (Or are they an Expedia affiliate? I can't recall...)