|
eviljelly posted:I've got a fairly open-ended schedule and itinerary, so maybe y'all could help me out. Sometimes Royal Brunei can fly you into Brunei and from there you can either get them to go to KUL or whatever, and they fly to Seoul. Thai Airways and Malaysia would be other bets but Brunei is super cheap also. AirAsia is a fairly well reviewed lost cost carrier, hub city is KUL, tickets from Seoul to Bangkok (stop in KUL) are 300-400 USD each way depending on the days throughout september, remember you'd need to add bags and food and whatever else you want. http://www.airasia.com
|
| # ? Jul 25, 2011 13:24 |
|
|
|
| # ? May 21, 2013 10:27 |
|
|
I'd like to give a big gently caress You to Delta this morning. A ticket from Memphis to Cleveland direct was $388 yesterday and the proceeding week. Everyone says "Wait til Tuesday, prices drop!" so I did. This morning, that same flight with the same amount of available seats is $505. What the gently caress
|
| # ? Aug 2, 2011 12:48 |
|
|
Omne posted:I'd like to give a big gently caress You to Delta this morning. A ticket from Memphis to Cleveland direct was $388 yesterday and the proceeding week. Everyone says "Wait til Tuesday, prices drop!" so I did. This morning, that same flight with the same amount of available seats is $505. What the gently caress Why would they drop the price on a tuesday this makes literally no sense, are you sure people weren't telling you to try and fly on a tuesday? Because often flight prices drop if you are flying on a tuesday. This is the thing, unless you get some good last minute deal or a sale, prices never drop and always go up.
|
| # ? Aug 2, 2011 21:00 |
|
|
Omne posted:I'd like to give a big gently caress You to Delta this morning. A ticket from Memphis to Cleveland direct was $388 yesterday and the proceeding week. Everyone says "Wait til Tuesday, prices drop!" so I did. This morning, that same flight with the same amount of available seats is $505. What the gently caress Welcome to Hub Wars 2011. MEM is a hub for Delta; CLE is a hub for Continental. Prices are often nuts between hubs, yet ridiculously cheap other times as one airline tries to steal market share from another. Really, no man knows the ways of the Dark Lords of Airline Revenue Management. Prices often drop on Tuesdays, but by no means is that a hard and fast rule. You got screwed, but it worked out for me as I was able to secure a very cheap fare for SAT-PIT at the end of October. Consider looking around the dates you're searching, and checking for flights into PIT and CAK and see if anything winds up cheaper than direct to CLE.
|
| # ? Aug 2, 2011 21:32 |
|
|
teacup posted:Why would they drop the price on a tuesday this makes literally no sense, are you sure people weren't telling you to try and fly on a tuesday? Because often flight prices drop if you are flying on a tuesday. This isn't really true. It's by no means a scientific evaluation, but there is historical evidence that suggests that fares are most likely to drop on Tuesday or Wednesday. It doesn't happen every time on every route, but it is a regular occurrence. And it often causes other airlines that service the route or city pair to drop (or raise) their prices in accordance. And airfares do not only go up. They fluctuate wildly based on a number of factors. It's almost like playing the lottery sometimes, with a few known constants to keep things interesting.
|
| # ? Aug 2, 2011 21:43 |
|
|
Mackieman posted:This isn't really true. It's by no means a scientific evaluation, but there is historical evidence that suggests that fares are most likely to drop on Tuesday or Wednesday. It doesn't happen every time on every route, but it is a regular occurrence. And it often causes other airlines that service the route or city pair to drop (or raise) their prices in accordance. I'm not saying you're wrong but I just want to expand my knowledge in this area, do you have any links to people who have done and analysis in this area? Maybe it's just because at the moment I'm more looking at international stuff but I've started working in the industry and I have heard this tuesday thing a lot and have seen absolutely zero evidence of it so far- just wondering if maybe it's an American internal sort of thing or what. I'm in Australia if it helps. What I meant by only going up is that an airline will tend to in my experience, set a fare for X date to Y date for Origin-destination flights and the reason they 'only go up' is that the various booking classes will sell out leaving you with only the more expensive seats. Of course various taxes change, and airlines can definitely put on specials, but it really depends.
|
| # ? Aug 2, 2011 23:53 |
|
|
teacup posted:I'm not saying you're wrong but I just want to expand my knowledge in this area, do you have any links to people who have done and analysis in this area? Maybe it's just because at the moment I'm more looking at international stuff but I've started working in the industry and I have heard this tuesday thing a lot and have seen absolutely zero evidence of it so far- just wondering if maybe it's an American internal sort of thing or what. I'm in Australia if it helps. Ah, yes, that explains a lot.  That, "rule" tends to apply to the American domestic market far more than international markets. Compounding this issue for you specifically is that service to the continental US from Australia specifically is fairly limited, giving few incentives for the carriers that have service to compete on fares. You can still use tools like FareCompare to trend fares over time and get slightly better than anecdotal evidence. But yeah, I wouldn't think you'd see the same sort of thing out of Australia to any place other than maybe southern Asia were there are more carriers offering fares that breed competition.
|
| # ? Aug 3, 2011 14:54 |
|
|
So I have a question about Priceline tickets. I've never used it before, and it almost seems too good to be true. I see that they don't show you the airline or the time you leave (it'll be between 6am and 10pm that day) which is OK with me, but are there any other catches I should know about? More specifically, I was looking for a one way flight from Florida to NYC on Labor Day, and they were pretty expensive. However, I saw on Priceline I could fly on a roundtrip ticket from Florida to NYC leaving on Labor Day for about $80. If I were to buy that ticket just for the first flight from Florida to NYC, would there be any negative consequences to skipping the return flight to Florida?
|
| # ? Aug 21, 2011 23:07 |
|
|
Shnicker posted:So I have a question about Priceline tickets. I've never used it before, and it almost seems too good to be true. I see that they don't show you the airline or the time you leave (it'll be between 6am and 10pm that day) which is OK with me, but are there any other catches I should know about? There is no inherent danger in using Priceline to buy airfare, other than that you'll never know what you're going to get (airlines, times, etc) until you've paid and, in the event of irregular operations, the airline won't touch your ticket in many cases. If you're willing to accept the potential of having some bullshit to deal with if things go tits up in exchange for a cheap ticket, go for it. There is no issue with throwing away the return segment as long as you're not making a regular habit of it. In this case, I'd do it without a second thought.
|
| # ? Aug 22, 2011 14:23 |
|
|
Ok. I have an interesting one. Leaving and Returning from NYC... I need to arrive at Copenhagen CPH on 6/12/2012 I want to return to NYC on 6/24/2012... However, the return flight MUST leave later than 11am. I'm looking to book the flight using my AmEx rewards points by paying for it outright or transferring into a FF program. Oh yeah, I'm also talking Business/First Class here. The best option I've found, for 100,000 points round-trip, has me arriving with no problem, but the return is all hosed up. I'd have to fly to Frankfurt, stay a night, then leave the next morning. Any other suggestions?
|
| # ? Aug 23, 2011 06:58 |
|
|
Mega Boris posted:Ok. I have an interesting one. You've got a couple of issues here. Firstly, availability this far out is likely to be sparse. Looking at the Star Alliance specifically, because that's where the  kids are, getting to CPH is no big deal as you noted, but the only saver level business class award available for a return on 6/24/2012 requires an overnight in BRU or FRA, giving you an arrival of Monday, 6/25/2012.Secondly, most flights to the US leave Europe before 11AM in order to provide enough onward connections from the US gateway airports. Very few if any non-stop options will be available, as Continental is the only US airline that services CPH with a non-stop to NYC (which would be EWR). Anything later than 11AM will require a connection somewhere in Europe, and there's only a few options, such as MUC or FRA, or possibly LHR. It has to be one of the major EU hubs in order to find later afternoon frequencies. Combine that with spotty saver award availability and you're looking at having some issues securing this at this early juncture. I don't have access to the Amex travel interface anymore so I can't see what their engine is returning as options. Both CO and UA are stopping Membership Rewards transfers in September so if you want to move them to an airline, best to be quick about it. If you have a ton of points and aren't concerned, there is plenty of standard availability, but you're looking at 250,000 miles from CO or UA, which is insane. Finally, you can always call the airline's award reservations desk. Agents can see all availability on every partner airline, and that inventory is not always published to the website. Happy hunting.
|
| # ? Aug 23, 2011 13:18 |
|
|
Mackieman posted:You've got a couple of issues here. Firstly, availability this far out is likely to be sparse. Looking at the Star Alliance specifically, because that's where the Thanks for the quick reply. As you mentioned and as noted, I'm currently on a return flight that has me leaving CPH in the evening on the 24th, Overnighting in Frankfurt (hey at least the hotel is at the airport), and then leaving first thing on the 25th. The total cost of that ticket roundtrip is 100,000 miles per person using the Saver Award. How are you able to search so well and accurately for these flights? Ive had to become a FF member of every airline and try to search awards flights through their lovely interfaces. its a royal PITA.
|
| # ? Aug 23, 2011 13:24 |
|
|
Mega Boris posted:How are you able to search so well and accurately for these flights? Ive had to become a FF member of every airline and try to search awards flights through their lovely interfaces. its a royal PITA. Knowing where to look. CO's award search is decent but doesn't have all airlines loaded. The best free way to look up Star availability is via ANA. Set up an account there and you can start doing award searches once you put in a city that ANA doesn't serve, thus causing the engine to allow you to search for Star Alliance awards.
|
| # ? Aug 23, 2011 16:16 |
|
|
Alright, I'm planning to fly to ICN from AMS next march. A direct flight would cost me about 1250 euro (indirect is about 700 euro, for reference). However, if I were to fly from LCY to AMS to ICN and back, I would be paying 650 euro. The flight numbers are the exact same. What would happen if I tried to board at Amsterdam and tried to get off at Amsterdam on the return flight? Would my luggage end up in London anyway? Could I even check in my luggage in Amsterdam? For reference, these are the related flight numbers: LCY -> AMS KL2454 AMS -> ICN KL0865 ICN -> AMS KL0866 AMS -> LCY KL2465 Else I wouldn't mind spending a day in London. But obviously unneeded stops are something I'd rather avoid And thanks a lot for the tips. Especially that ITA Matrix thing is loving magic.
|
| # ? Sep 8, 2011 14:08 |
|
|
Jeoh posted:Alright, I'm planning to fly to ICN from AMS next march. A direct flight would cost me about 1250 euro (indirect is about 700 euro, for reference). However, if I were to fly from LCY to AMS to ICN and back, I would be paying 650 euro. Without specific dates, I see 633 Euro between BHX and ICN with a plane change in CDG (Air France). You can do similar things out of LHR and some of the other London-area airports. The fare difference you're seeing when adding segments to the long haul sectors are just that: additional segments. Each segment has its own pricing rules that will affect the total price of the itinerary. And they seem to be cheaper coming out of the UK versus leaving directly from AMS. If you booked the LCY-AMS-ICN route and did not fly LCY-AMS, your entire itinerary will be canceled and its value lost. And if you decide to get off at AMS on the return, you could technically do that without issue except for the baggage. Unless you find a really, really nice agent at ICN, they will not short check your luggage for you to AMS, and it will go to LCY. Personally, I would look at the value of shipping your stuff back from ICN versus what it would cost for you to get from LCY back to AMS.
|
| # ? Sep 11, 2011 13:20 |
|
|
Mackieman posted:Without specific dates, I see 633 Euro between BHX and ICN with a plane change in CDG (Air France). You can do similar things out of LHR and some of the other London-area airports.
|
| # ? Sep 11, 2011 13:29 |
|
|
Any tricks for multi-city bookings? I'm looking at something like Incheon -> Shanghai -> Hanoi -> Incheon in January. Ideally would be flying back to Incheon from Phnom Penh instead of Hanoi, but whatever. Haven't gotten firm dates on when I can go yet but what I'm hoping for is Shanghai from 9 - 12, then to Hanoi on the 12th, and back to Korea on the 23rd.
|
| # ? Nov 2, 2011 11:51 |
|
|
Grand Fromage posted:Any tricks for multi-city bookings? I'm looking at something like Incheon -> Shanghai -> Hanoi -> Incheon in January. Ideally would be flying back to Incheon from Phnom Penh instead of Hanoi, but whatever. Haven't gotten firm dates on when I can go yet but what I'm hoping for is Shanghai from 9 - 12, then to Hanoi on the 12th, and back to Korea on the 23rd. China Southern is offering $548 USD for that trip as specified. To and from HAN will require a plane change in CAN. Doing the same thing but changing the return to leave from PHN is $595, and with a plane change in CAN both ways.
|
| # ? Nov 2, 2011 16:17 |
|
|
I have to get to Toronto in the end of June for a wedding. I'm in Sydney. A while away at the moment but I'm just planning how I should do it. I notice I'm going to be stopping on the west coast no matter what so most likely Vancouver. Will it be worth it to go Vancouver (stay a day or two) > Toronto > New York > Make my way to the west coast of the USA and fly out to Sydney via San Fran of LA? Also any specific holidays or something I'm going to be hitting then?
|
| # ? Nov 3, 2011 12:33 |
|
|
Fists Up posted:I have to get to Toronto in the end of June for a wedding. I'm in Sydney. A while away at the moment but I'm just planning how I should do it. Air Canada, SYD-YVR-YYZ is your best bet for the inbound, as you won't have to mess with US security. Alternate options include SYD-HKG/NRT/SIN-YYZ, but only if you really want to route through Asia. For the return, you can take essentially the same route, for $2528 AUD. You can save about $10 by leaving out of YTZ (Toronto City) and connecting through such scenic locales as Montreal. This would keep you out of the US and having to deal with the dumpster fire that is our Department of Homeland Security. If you want to go through the US you can, but all those flight options are more expensive at the moment. The only holiday you're close to is July 4, Independence Day in America. It is not a major travel holiday so there shouldn't be an issue if you decide to transit the US.
|
| # ? Nov 3, 2011 13:37 |
|
|
Mackieman posted:There is no inherent danger in using Priceline to buy airfare, other than that you'll never know what you're going to get (airlines, times, etc) until you've paid and, in the event of irregular operations, the airline won't touch your ticket in many cases. If you're willing to accept the potential of having some bullshit to deal with if things go tits up in exchange for a cheap ticket, go for it. I had one flight through priceline which went on Spirit air as a domestic US flight. It was a great price ($54 incl taxes/fees) but when I checked in, I realized that this included NO baggage and NO carry-on. They wanted an extra $30 for a carry-on bag, and an extra $40 for a luggage.
|
| # ? Nov 3, 2011 16:32 |
|
|
Ahz posted:I had one flight through priceline which went on Spirit air as a domestic US flight. It was a great price ($54 incl taxes/fees) but when I checked in, I realized that this included NO baggage and NO carry-on. They wanted an extra $30 for a carry-on bag, and an extra $40 for a luggage. A fantastic example of why I make the personal choice of not booking through priceline for airfare. I'm sure $54 was near the fare you could find on the Spirit website, but woe unto thee if you actually get stuck on one of their aircraft.
|
| # ? Nov 4, 2011 15:58 |
|
|
What would be the recommended timeline for checking out flights from PDX to NRT (or really any major airport in Japan) for September 2012? We are really early, but from what I am already seeing the cost is at least twice what i paid back in 2005 when NWA had a special going on for non-stops from PDX. I can see that happening of course but drat what a bummer... :/
|
| # ? Nov 6, 2011 04:19 |
|
|
Anybody have tips on a cheap flight to kuala lumpur? I would leave for it between January 2-8th, and I can return anytime between march 6th and may 24th. Best deal I've found for round trip so far is $1036 Canadian. I can depart from Vancouver or Seattle. Any help would be appreciated I've never booked a flight before, let alone an international one!
|
| # ? Nov 6, 2011 16:11 |
|
|
AquaDame posted:What would be the recommended timeline for checking out flights from PDX to NRT (or really any major airport in Japan) for September 2012? We are really early, but from what I am already seeing the cost is at least twice what i paid back in 2005 when NWA had a special going on for non-stops from PDX. I can see that happening of course but drat what a bummer... :/ Without specific dates, I see $1037 out of SFO with a stop in ICN for shits and giggles. PDX is no longer a really strong TPAC departure point thanks to Delta pulling out of the market for the most part. United will run $1250 or so out of SEA, again with the stop in ICN. This fare will likely vary widely given that you're 300+ days out. I would check weekly and see what happens. Kayak will give you daily or weekly fare alerts.
|
| # ? Nov 6, 2011 23:11 |
|
|
Mezzanon posted:Anybody have tips on a cheap flight to kuala lumpur? $1036 is the cheapest I see out of YVR; SEA is more expensive on all the dates I checked. I'd jump on that as it's really not a bad fare given where you're going.
|
| # ? Nov 6, 2011 23:18 |
|
|
Mackieman posted:China Southern is offering $548 USD for that trip as specified. To and from HAN will require a plane change in CAN. Doing the same thing but changing the return to leave from PHN is $595, and with a plane change in CAN both ways. Okay, I got my vacation schedule. My ideal trip is ICN (or PUS, but ICN seems cheaper) -> PVG January 15th, PVG -> HAN the 18th, and PNH -> ICN (or PUS again) the 30th. I also know Air Asia is discount as hell and would be willing to go ICN -> Kuala Lumpur -> Pnomh Penh, then Hanoi -> Shanghai -> ICN. But their website is kind of a clusterfuck and I don't see listings anywhere else. It also smells like an airline that's going to fee me to death. Anyway, I found my ideal one for $700ish and am wondering if you can see a cheaper one, cuz that's out of my budget. I could move my departure to the 14th or 16th, and return to the 31st if I can get a decent discount that way.
|
| # ? Nov 11, 2011 07:33 |
|
|
Grand Fromage posted:Okay, I got my vacation schedule. My ideal trip is ICN (or PUS, but ICN seems cheaper) -> PVG January 15th, PVG -> HAN the 18th, and PNH -> ICN (or PUS again) the 30th. I also know Air Asia is discount as hell and would be willing to go ICN -> Kuala Lumpur -> Pnomh Penh, then Hanoi -> Shanghai -> ICN. But their website is kind of a clusterfuck and I don't see listings anywhere else. It also smells like an airline that's going to fee me to death. I don't see anything cheaper than about $728 for that itinerary. I played with dates, tried to find favorable fare rules for open jaws, and priced one-way segments (not recommended due to lack of protection on connections). Nothing helped, and was significantly more expensive in most cases. If you skip PVG you can head down to HAN for about $570.
|
| # ? Nov 11, 2011 14:41 |
|
|
Mackieman posted:I don't see anything cheaper than about $728 for that itinerary. I played with dates, tried to find favorable fare rules for open jaws, and priced one-way segments (not recommended due to lack of protection on connections). Nothing helped, and was significantly more expensive in most cases. If you skip PVG you can head down to HAN for about $570. All right, hate to waste my last entry on my China visa but can't be helped. Is 570 ICN -> HAN/PNH -> ICN or just round trip to Hanoi?
|
| # ? Nov 12, 2011 13:14 |
|
|
Grand Fromage posted:All right, hate to waste my last entry on my China visa but can't be helped. Is 570 ICN -> HAN/PNH -> ICN or just round trip to Hanoi? Just round trip to HAN. Throwing PNH in there and trying to get back to ICN puts you over $900.
|
| # ? Nov 12, 2011 14:53 |
|
|
loving hell, it was $600 plus the stop in Shanghai when I was just idly browsing a couple weeks ago. Hopefully it doesn't go up another thousand bucks between now and when I can actually buy the ticket at the end of the month.
|
| # ? Nov 12, 2011 18:36 |
|
|
Is that Bing Price Predictor for flights that they push so much in the commercials actually reliable at all?
|
| # ? Nov 16, 2011 22:00 |
|
|
MrChupon posted:Is that Bing Price Predictor for flights that they push so much in the commercials actually reliable at all? It's the same thing FareCompare.Com does; they keep a running total of what people are searching for and the fares that are returned. It's not a terrible indicator, but it's not going to show you some zomg super awesome deal in most cases either. It's just another tool that is useful for historical trending purposes, and not necessarily for predicting future prices.
|
| # ? Nov 16, 2011 22:54 |
|
|
Hi guys, a couple of friends and I are planning a trip to Liverpool for the end of March. I went through Priceline and a trip leaving El Paso (ELP) on 3/29/2011 and returning 4-4-2011 with hotel included is coming up at $999. Is that the best price we can expect? Of course the days are flexible but we would like to spend a weekend over there.
|
| # ? Nov 20, 2011 04:53 |
|
|
BigStu posted:Hi guys, a couple of friends and I are planning a trip to Liverpool for the end of March. I went through Priceline and a trip leaving El Paso (ELP) on 3/29/2011 and returning 4-4-2011 with hotel included is coming up at $999. Is that the best price we can expect? Of course the days are flexible but we would like to spend a weekend over there. That depends entirely upon the hotel. I see airfare for about $750 into LHR around those dates and $792 into MAN. If the hotel is decent, located in a good place for transit, and near whatever you want to do, then it seems like a decent deal to me.
|
| # ? Nov 20, 2011 12:54 |
|
|
Mackieman posted:That depends entirely upon the hotel. I see airfare for about $750 into LHR around those dates and $792 into MAN. If the hotel is decent, located in a good place for transit, and near whatever you want to do, then it seems like a decent deal to me. Yeah it's a Hampton by Hilton in Liverpool City Centre. It is near alot of the things we want to do, so I guess we are getting a good deal. Thanks bro.
|
| # ? Nov 20, 2011 15:32 |
|
|
I'm surprised there isn't more talk about collecting airline miles in here. IMO that's the best way to save money on airline tickets, assuming that you have some flexibility with scheduling. I just recently booked two one-way flights from Washington DC to Toronto during the week of Thanksgiving for 20,000 Continental miles and $5.00 in taxes. Sure beats the $600 the tickets would have cost out of pocket.
|
| # ? Nov 20, 2011 19:44 |
|
|
NoDamage posted:I'm surprised there isn't more talk about collecting airline miles in here. IMO that's the best way to save money on airline tickets, assuming that you have some flexibility with scheduling. Canada is often a fantastic use of CO miles. More than Toronto even, some of the really out there places like Yellowknife where the airlines only sell full-Y fares due to lack of competition. 25,000 miles is way better than $1400.
|
| # ? Nov 20, 2011 20:53 |
|
|
Trying to get 5 of us from St. Louis to Seattle April 4 through April 7. Kayak is telling me 279$ a pop on Alaska Airlines. Any thoughts on how to shave some off of that?
|
| # ? Nov 21, 2011 01:29 |
|
|
|
| # ? May 21, 2013 10:27 |
|
|
Slo-Tek posted:Trying to get 5 of us from St. Louis to Seattle April 4 through April 7. Not really; $279 is a pretty decent fare given overall prices these days, especially when you don't have a Saturday stay. Watch it in early January and see if it goes down, but I doubt it. That is prime spring break travel season.
|
| # ? Nov 21, 2011 14:09 |
|
