HELP! What is the best way to get the cheapest airfare?

[cmweinman]

Hi! We would love to book the Wednesday special for our 4th trip to CTI (for our 20th Anniversary and my 40th birthday!), but the airfare/taxes are killing us! We have always done charters before so it was all priced together. What is the best/cheapest day to fly and the best way to get a great deal on airfare from St. Louis in October? Thanks so much for any help or guidance! Mary

[melody]

We are in KC and I booked out two flights separately because it saved us a little. I don't know what time of year is the best time to book for Oct. We go in April and get the airfare in January. At least if you use Orbitz they have the price assurance. It only works if someone actually buys the same flight though. I have found that in general it is cheaper to fly during the week or on Sat because people tend to go places for the week or weekend so Fri and Sun/Mon are the busy days.

[dirtleg]

Hi Mary,

Try this web site out http://itasoftware.com Use the date search options at the top and choose the "Month-Long Search" option. Fill in your other information as directed and it will list multiple flights and airlines along with prices, dates and times.

We too are in St. Louis, seems that nearly all the charters are gone form here now. We used the site and found that US Airways had the best price for us. We have to make a connection through Charlotte NC, but the times worked out pretty good.

Good luck.

[Bruce]

Hi! We would love to book the Wednesday special for our 4th trip to CTI (for our 20th Anniversary and my 40th birthday!), but the airfare/taxes are killing us! We have always done charters before so it was all priced together. What is the best/cheapest day to fly and the best way to get a great deal on airfare from St. Louis in October? Thanks so much for any help or guidance! Mary

Try this site. Click on "search airfares using QPX." Do a month long search. It will return the cheapest day(s) to fly on every airline. You can book through the site, but it's a great tool for researching.

http://www.itasoftware.com

As far as "getting a deal," there is no such thing. You just have to check airfares every day. When you see a price you like, jump on it.

[Vee]

Another great site is YAPTA.com. You put in your search dates, and they send you an email when the rates change.

Don't forget to take into account baggage and seat fees, though. Like for us: Spirit is cheaper on the ticket, but you have to pay for seat assignment and all baggage. Figuring THAT in, AA is actually cheaper for us.

Have a great triP!

V

[Tallman2nd]

I have used a pretty simple site http://www.kayak.com/ with success. I agree that you need to consistently watch fares. Kayak is easy to use, and with cookies will save your travel location & dates, so a quick check every day or so is simple.

[fawnridge]

SideStep checks every airline and gives you quite a few options to limit or expand your search.

[Chris]

As someone noted, there are no real deals for most of us on airfare to the island. If you live near a large hub, and have access to a variety of carriers, then competition is going to pretty much guarantee you a "best" price. Those of us in the hinterlands have to rely on the idiotic feeder system that is the core of the airline route monopolies.

Other thoughts...

Flexibility works best, but that probably only works if you're A) retired; or B) independently wealthy. Beyond that, your best bet is to monitor your options as often as you can, but don't wait too very long. Timing airfare is like timing the stock market. Sometimes you win, but most of the time, not so much.

Whether you travel by air often or not, I would recommend that you join a loyalty (freqent flyer) program with the airline(s) you tend to fly most often. Use the airline's loyalty charge card if you can; or use a card that pays points. Unfortunately, FF programs aren't the goldrush they once were, unless you travel a LOT. I've found on the last few reaches that the best we can do is half off on our flights, but at least its something.

Happy hunting!

[IACouple]

I have found the best deals are found by booking through the airlines websites. We fly northwest/delta because they have by far the best flights for us. I can get bonus miles and usually can find a $100+ off coupon code if I book it all together.

[cmweinman]

Thanks so much everyone!!!! We went ahead and booked last night for that Wed. special-couldn't resist the great price. We will fly US Airways through Charlotte so thanks for the heads up dirtleg! Today the same package is $800 more!!!!!! WooHoo!! Can't wait-224 days!What a great way to spend my 40th and our 20th!

[mstravelbug]

We just booked our airline tickets through Expedia. I searched all the travel sites like a hawk for days. In the end Expedia had the best deal so we booked with them. We are flying out of LAX and got our 2 round trip tickets for $845. I don't find that booking directly with the airline gives you the best deal. Or at least that has been my experience. The same tickets we book on Expedia flying Delta, would have been $300 more if we had book directly through Delta.

[dirtleg]

Glad I was able to help.

Have a great trip!

[jagorham]

Half of the trick to getting a "good deal" is to know what a "normal deal" costs, and that can vary like the wind.

Also, since all airfares are "local," you might consider looking at other nearby airports. Yes, I know you have a perfectly good airport at St. Louis. But I seem to recall folks driving to Memphis because the pricing is a lot better.

From where I live (Richmond VA, and also factoring in DC airports if they're cheap enough), I've seen "good" deals varying from $1000 for the two of us three years ago to $1300 two years ago (we didn't go to Jamaica then!) to $860 as the "best" deal we saw last year.

Once you have an idea what "normal" is, just keep an eye on the airfares (the ITA software listed above is excellent for this purpose). This past weekend it paid off, when American dropped their Dulles-MBJ flight pair to $650 for the two of us, which makes it worth our while to drive there to fly out and back. (I might add, that's the cheapest I've ever seen for a mainline carrier from here to MBJ.) Needless to say, we grabbed it.

And, as mentioned above, see what the airlines are charging for their fees. US Airways, the dominant carrier out of RIC, now charges $23 for that first bag for each of us (although they don't charge for it coming back from Jamaica, go figure), and charges $5 if you want to select (most) seats each way. For some reason, American considers Jamaica to be a non-North America location and doesn't charge for the bag (though they will elsewhere in the States, Canada, PR or the USVI), and they don't charge to pick out the seats ahead of time. So, I always had to add $56 to any USAir fare to compare to American. Those fees add up, make sure to take those into account so that you're comparing apples to apples.

[Beergirl]

I can get bonus miles and usually can find a $100+ off coupon code if I book it all together.

Hey, IACouple,

Any idea where I can come up with a $100+ coupon code out of Des Moines? I'm not familiar with anything like that. Love to save that if I can.

Beergirl

[KandS]

Personally I like farecompare.com to check multiple airlines & sites. You cannot book through them though, you have to then go to the individual airline sites to do your bookings. Also - here is a tip that not a lot of people know. When you are doing a search for airfares on a particular airline, always remember to clear your cache. The cookies the sites send out "remember" that you are looking at a particular time/destination and you may not always see the best available fare. Clear your cache and check again. I check daily when I am looking for a particular flight & date.