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Just a tip Geriatric Pirate but I had a similar experience with finding some flights on ITA that wouldn't return on an airlines website earlier this year (Emirates in this case). I tried every booking agent I could think of to find them but was having no luck. Eventually got the flights booked on Orbitz, after a couple of failed attempts and was over the moon. A few days later got an email from Orbitz saying the flights were cancelled, took another 5 business days after that before I got the money refunded back into my account. So I ended up having to book flights 10 days later than I'd planned at a greater cost than if I'd just gotten the original ones available on the Emirates site. Taught me a lesson anyway....
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Nov 21, 2013 11:52
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I'm going on a two month trip to Europe in May and it's getting down to ticket buying time. I've been looking for the past two weeks at ticket prices and it has remained pretty unchanged. Depart from JFK to PRG around May 1st (very flexible +/- 3 days either way) Return to JFK from TLL around July 1st (very flexible +/- 3 days either way) I'm getting around ~850 on the ITA search and ~950 on Hipmunk. I haven't really seen anything in the way of change over the past two weeks. I don't know that it'll get any better but worth a shot posting here. I'm very flexible and do not mind any amount of stops/layovers. I would like to keep the airports the same mainly because my planned start and ending cities are those two.
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Nov 22, 2013 01:00
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manwithoutskin posted:I'm going on a two month trip to Europe in May and it's getting down to ticket buying time. I've been looking for the past two weeks at ticket prices and it has remained pretty unchanged. I don't see anything dramatically better than that, and I haven't for a while. It's certainly cheaper than what you'd likely pay if you tried to get those tickets in, say, March. When searching, consider both NYC and WAS as departure points (six airports between them) as you can often save money this way. If you want to go to PRG, also look at TXL, MUC, SZG, and VIE as entry points since PRG is easily accessible by train from one of those cities. On the way out, also consider HEL, ARN, RIX, and VNO as potential alternates if the savings warrants.
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Nov 22, 2013 03:01
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Don't forget MUC, LH has really been pushing it as a (Euasian) hub lately.
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Nov 23, 2013 03:09
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Jeoh posted:Don't forget MUC, LH has really been pushing it as a (Euasian) hub lately. Indeed, and UA is starting IAH-MUC next year which I am really happy about. I'd much rather connect in MUC than FRA any day unless the FCT is involved.
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Nov 23, 2013 04:11
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MUC is really convenient transferwise, and I love the sleeping cabins they have if you have a long layover.
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Nov 23, 2013 12:37
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Would love some help with an international flight folks; I'm going on my medical elective next year to the Solomon Islands and need to keep flights cheap so I can take more medical aid for the hospital. Origin - Any London (UK) airport Destination - Henderson Intl Airport Honiara, Solomon Islands Duration of trip with dates 7ish weeks from 23rd June 2014 (not before the 21st June) and returning week of 11th August Flexibility - As above, can't leave before the 21st but then flexible within a week and a half. Returning flexible a week either side of those dates. On the return stretch, I'd like, but not mandate a 2-3 day layover in Australia.
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Nov 23, 2013 16:19
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Do you have any miles saved up with Qantas or Virgin? Best bet is probably booking a ticket to Brisbane and a separate one to Henderson (with Virgin or Solomon).
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Nov 23, 2013 17:07
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Tilda posted:Would love some help with an international flight folks; So the real question here is: how much bullshit are you willing to put up with? Because you can save some money, but it's quite a trip. I looked at fares as a straight round trip to HIR and back, and also as an open-jaw to HIR and back from one of the Australian gateways. Surprisingly enough, it's just about the same price to do the Australian side trip, though you'd also need a separate ticket to get from HIR to Australia. Now for the bad news: HIR is not easy to get to. The cheapest options (£1347 for the return, £1377 for the stop in Australia) require three stops to get down there and three on the way back, and you have to leave from MAN. MAN-AUH-MEL-BNE-HIR on the way out; the first two segments are operated by Etihad and the last two by Virgin Australia. The return is pretty much identical on the round trip. If you do the Australia stop, it leaves from MEL and you can go back to MAN or directly to LHR for the same price, with a plane change in AUH for good measure. If you want to make it all part of one ticket, the price rockets to about £2400, and I think you can easily find a ticket for far less than £800 to get you from HIR to somewhere in Australia. Additionally, if you want to do less plane changes/stops, you're also looking at somewhere around £2000. I didn't do a whole ton of different time frames because the few that I checked all showed very similar fares. So you may want to do some additional intensive searches and see if some magic savings can be had on a particular day. I was looking at a five day stretch on both the departure and return, but like I said, it wasn't exhaustive.
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Nov 23, 2013 18:27
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Blut posted:Just a tip Geriatric Pirate but I had a similar experience with finding some flights on ITA that wouldn't return on an airlines website earlier this year (Emirates in this case). I tried every booking agent I could think of to find them but was having no luck. Eventually got the flights booked on Orbitz, after a couple of failed attempts and was over the moon. Yep, heard of this as well but have also heard they mostly cancel only fares that are obviously mistakes (also US DOT and other bodies like that often prevent it), the fare I was looking at was still reasonable for the route, just much cheaper than anything else at the time.
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Nov 24, 2013 22:18
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Thanks Mackieman, really appreciate the help. My family dont travel my plane much so no airmiles anywhere sadly. I managed to find a flight to Bisbane for £830 but then it'll be another £500ish to get to Honoria. Cheers for the help
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Nov 25, 2013 00:10
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Is there a way to search by just times and see the best fares? For example I'm wanting to see when the fares are ok for the morning flights to London heathrow (lhr) out of JFK or Newark (ewr).
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Nov 29, 2013 15:40
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I would use ita matrix and search by 30 day range and then manually sort by what times are acceptable to you.
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Nov 29, 2013 18:36
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So what's the general opinion on internet travel agencies such as Opodo, Expedia, Tripsta, etc.? I'm looking on travelling to Istanbul from Basel around New Years Eve, and while the usual price is around 300-400€, those sites seem to have killer deals about 80-100€ according to Kayak, what gives? Any experience on that? Thanks!
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Dec 1, 2013 11:15
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You should be able to book the fare on the airlines site directly. Can you post an example? Also by booking directly when problems arise you can deal with the airline directly. This is the best option.
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Dec 1, 2013 19:04
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Sometimes 3rd-party sites will have a better search function than the airline pages. This summer I flew San Francisco - Mexico - Chicago and while the AeroMexico homepage wouldn't allow that search, Expedia got it fine for the same price as a usual roundtrip flight. You'll also find flights connecting different airlines.
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Dec 2, 2013 08:26
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True. Some airline sites allow you to broaden your search to that airline, it's partners, and even other airlines so if the majority of your flight is with one airline you can book through them and retain benefits. This won't be enabled by default, of course
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Dec 2, 2013 08:52
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I'm heading home to northern Wisconsin from Chengdu for the Chinese New Year. I'm leaving around January 16th and will return Feb 8th. Is there a way I can search for connections that will take me straight to Rhinelander (RHI)? Or Wausau? Whenever I do searches on big sites it turns up nothing although I know a flight from Chicago to Rhinelander or Wausau would cost very little in the middle of February and I would like to not put my family through a 10 hour round-trip drive to pick me up. Also how do I get a cheap fare bracketing Chinese New Year. Where should I search for a CTU-ORD-RHI flight? Realistically it will be going through Beijing Shanghai or Hong Kong but whatever.
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Dec 9, 2013 07:02
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Ita matrix shows flights to rhi or wau easily. 2 or 3 stops. Looks like around 10700 yuan on delta. a little more for 2 stops. With some adjustment of dates you can get it to 9000 yuan. 7000 if you travel in February exclusively. And there's not much cheap about traveling during Chinese New Year. You waited a long time to book this.
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Dec 9, 2013 07:18
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Is it true that flights are cheaper if booked on Tuesdays, like bought that day? Sounds like it isn't a thing.
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Dec 9, 2013 10:16
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I'm having trouble finding a flight to Goa, India from Seoul, Korea (ICN) my dates are December 24 or late (Dec 23) and i have to be back January 2 or super early January 3. Saw flights to Calcutta somewhere for about 600 and there are supposed to be cheap flights domestically in India, but I'm not seeing it. Goal is $900 or under and to maximize vacation time. Any advice? Skyscanner isn't helpful and i can check itamatrix at my computer tomorrow.
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Dec 9, 2013 16:24
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I looked at ita, and China Eastern Airlines has cheap flights to Calcutta, even less than 600, if you are okay with a couple of layovers. And there's a few domestic Indian airlines (Jet Lite and Jet Airways) that can get you to Goa for 4-500.
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Dec 10, 2013 02:59
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Xandu posted:I looked at ita, and China Eastern Airlines has cheap flights to Calcutta, even less than 600, if you are okay with a couple of layovers. And there's a few domestic Indian airlines (Jet Lite and Jet Airways) that can get you to Goa for 4-500. Whoa, why is it so expensive to fly domestically?
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Dec 10, 2013 04:54
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DontAskKant posted:Is it true that flights are cheaper if booked on Tuesdays, like bought that day? Sounds like it isn't a thing. Do you mean buying on the day of the flight? Thats never cheaper
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Dec 10, 2013 20:50
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I assume he means when purchased on any Tuesday. Like buying today would be cheaper than yesterday or tomorrow. I've heard that before but no idea if it's true or not.
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Dec 10, 2013 20:59
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And a question of my own: I know you can sometimes save money by booking a flight with a stop and then just not using the second flight. For this to work your destination would have to be some sort of hub, right? So flying MSP>PIT I couldn't save anything like that because no airline has a hub in PIT. But on the way back maybe I could since MSP is a hub?
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Dec 10, 2013 21:40
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DontAskKant posted:Whoa, why is it so expensive to fly domestically? In this case, Goa is almost as far away from Calcutta as Seoul. It's a big country. You could look at other airports though for a stopover, might be one that's cheaper.
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Dec 11, 2013 01:29
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FISHMANPET posted:And a question of my own: If you don't get on the second part of your flight out your return will be cancelled. If you ignore the last flight on the trip (ex: lax dfw JFK (stop) dfw (stop) lax (miss the flight) you will be fine but technically you are violating fare rules and if you do it often enough for them to notice they can get pissed off. Ignore the hub bit. It's irrelevant.
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Dec 11, 2013 06:54
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Hello, I'm currently in Thailand and I've been looking for a ticket home (the US) for March and April for two people. I was looking at flying out of Bangkok on March 3 or 4 to New York City, and then flying out of San Francisco on April 25 or 26 back to Bangkok. Kayak and every other website showed me China Eastern for about $885 and also Air China for ~$980. I like to book directly with the airline. I chose the Air China flight since it is about 24 hours each way as opposed to 35+ hours with China Eastern. Also, I can't select a multicity itinerary with China Eastern. The problem is I tried booking it on Air China's website about five or six times, each time after I put in my CC information and click Purchase, it says Failure to Authorise, check with your bank. My bank said everything's fine, it must be Air China's website. The only thing that might be a problem is that I have a debit card from Bank of America. I've used it as a credit card for the last ten years (it has a Visa logo on it) but the bank said that the website might not take it for some reason. My questions are: 1) Is Air China's website notorious for being awful? 2) Would a website really differentiate between a credit card and a debit card with credit card capabilities? I've never encountered that in the 10+ years I've been using it that way. 3) If I have to purchase it through a website like Kayak, Expedia, Travelocity, etc., is any one better than the others? I'm really reluctant to buy the ticket, but it might be the only way to save the $500 or so since I have to buy two tickets. Thanks for your help.
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Dec 11, 2013 14:23
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Arglebargle III posted:I'm heading home to northern Wisconsin from Chengdu for the Chinese New Year. I'm leaving around January 16th and will return Feb 8th. Is there a way I can search for connections that will take me straight to Rhinelander (RHI)? Or Wausau? Whenever I do searches on big sites it turns up nothing although I know a flight from Chicago to Rhinelander or Wausau would cost very little in the middle of February and I would like to not put my family through a 10 hour round-trip drive to pick me up. sellouts posted:Ita matrix shows flights to rhi or wau easily. 2 or 3 stops. Looks like around 10700 yuan on delta. a little more for 2 stops. With some adjustment of dates you can get it to 9000 yuan. 7000 if you travel in February exclusively. Sorry for the late reply; I've been traveling (and getting stuck at IAH  ). Any decent search engine is going to show you connections (as many as are required) to get to RHI or WAU. But I would not expect it to be cheap as Chinese New Year is extremely travel heavy. Airlines know it and charge accordingly.Something to consider is checking prices into ORD or MSP and seeing how much it costs to have a separate (and unprotected) ticket from that hub to your destination. I would be willing to bet that it's not anywhere near as cheap as you think its going to be. In almost all cases, small cities with limited service have an inversely proportional relationship to price.
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Dec 12, 2013 15:40
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DontAskKant posted:Is it true that flights are cheaper if booked on Tuesdays, like bought that day? Sounds like it isn't a thing. It actually is a thing. But it's not universal or to be counted upon. Statistically speaking, fares have the highest probability of being at their lowest on a Tuesday. Fares are updated in the various GDS after the weekend'd analysis is done on Monday. But it doesn't always happen as fare pricing is highly dependant upon market, season, and a bunch of other factors that I discuss in the first couple of posts in this thread. The key, as always, is being vigilant: watch fares and when they reach a point you're willing to pay for, buy it.
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Dec 12, 2013 15:47
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DontAskKant posted:I'm having trouble finding a flight to Goa, India from Seoul, Korea (ICN) my dates are December 24 or late (Dec 23) and i have to be back January 2 or super early January 3. Saw flights to Calcutta somewhere for about 600 and there are supposed to be cheap flights domestically in India, but I'm not seeing it. Goal is $900 or under and to maximize vacation time. Any advice? Skyscanner isn't helpful and i can check itamatrix at my computer tomorrow. Xandu posted:I looked at ita, and China Eastern Airlines has cheap flights to Calcutta, even less than 600, if you are okay with a couple of layovers. And there's a few domestic Indian airlines (Jet Lite and Jet Airways) that can get you to Goa for 4-500. Yep, China Eastern is the way to go there. Couple of stops, but not many other options. DontAskKant posted:Whoa, why is it so expensive to fly domestically? Because you waited until like two weeks before you wanted to travel. This is what happens. 
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Dec 12, 2013 15:51
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FISHMANPET posted:And a question of my own: A hub or focus city isn't required in the true sense of the word, but there aren't a ton of onward flights from non-hub or non-focus cities that airlines tend to market very effectively. For example, you could buy SFO-AUS-IAH and throw away the AUS-IAH segment, but it's pretty rare that the airline search engine (UA in this case) will show you that routing. You have to search multi-city itineraries for that sort of thing to happen. I also wouldn't make a habit of doing this as it can piss off the airline if you do it a lot.
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Dec 12, 2013 15:54
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Shnicker posted:Hello, I'm currently in Thailand and I've been looking for a ticket home (the US) for March and April for two people. I was looking at flying out of Bangkok on March 3 or 4 to New York City, and then flying out of San Francisco on April 25 or 26 back to Bangkok. The problem here is that you're using a debit card. Though many merchants allow the use of debit cards as credit transactions, it is not a credit card and when a merchant requires a true credit card, it won't pass muster. That's why the validation is failing on Air China's site. Their site isn't broken; you've not specified valid payment. If you don't have a true credit card and can't get one, you can place the ticket on hold and go to one of their ticketing offices (they likely have one at BKK) and pay for it in cash there. In sum, answer to question one: nope, it works ok. Answer to question two: yep, it can and does. Answer to question three: Nope, they all are pretty much the same. If there is a price difference, go with the cheaper one.
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Dec 12, 2013 16:03
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Mackieman posted:A hub or focus city isn't required in the true sense of the word, but there aren't a ton of onward flights from non-hub or non-focus cities that airlines tend to market very effectively. For example, you could buy SFO-AUS-IAH and throw away the AUS-IAH segment, but it's pretty rare that the airline search engine (UA in this case) will show you that routing. You have to search multi-city itineraries for that sort of thing to happen. I also wouldn't make a habit of doing this as it can piss off the airline if you do it a lot. Delta can get me there and back, non-stop, for $383 round trip. I don't think it's worth pissing off an airline to try and get that any lower.
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Dec 12, 2013 18:09
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Mackieman posted:The problem here is that you're using a debit card. Though many merchants allow the use of debit cards as credit transactions, it is not a credit card and when a merchant requires a true credit card, it won't pass muster. That's why the validation is failing on Air China's site. Their site isn't broken; you've not specified valid payment. If you don't have a true credit card and can't get one, you can place the ticket on hold and go to one of their ticketing offices (they likely have one at BKK) and pay for it in cash there. In sum, answer to question one: nope, it works ok. Answer to question two: yep, it can and does. Ah, that's so frustrating. I've bought tickets the same way on Singapore, Qantas, Cathay, Air Asia, Swiss, etc with my debit/credit card without any problems at all. I'm already in contact with the US Air China office, so hopefully I can buy it through them that way. They also seem to have the stipulation that the traveler needs to carry the credit card used to purchase the ticket. Anyway, thanks for your help.
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Dec 13, 2013 02:08
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I'm trying to get from Los Angeles (LAX most likely) to DC (probably needs to be DCI) on the 2nd of Jan until the 5th of Jan, and prices seem pretty hosed up right now. Is it best to try and get it asap for $450-500 or wait a little longer and see if it goes down? Goal is $300-400 round trip. I need to be in DC as early in the afternoon on Thurs as possible and leave as late on Sun as possible. I'm OK with taking flights that leave at like midnight on Wed/Sun and have overnight layovers into thurs/mon if it will bring down the cost a lot, but it doesn't seem like any site that searches has enough customization to accommodate those options.
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Dec 13, 2013 17:51
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BabyRyoga posted:I'm trying to get from Los Angeles (LAX most likely) to DC (probably needs to be DCI) on the 2nd of Jan until the 5th of Jan, and prices seem pretty hosed up right now. Is it best to try and get it asap for $450-500 or wait a little longer and see if it goes down? Goal is $300-400 round trip. SAN-BOS-BWI on the way out, IAD-LGB on the way back. $344.20 on JetBlue (B6). If you can get down to SAN cheap enough and don't mind the 20 minute Amtrak ride to get into DC from BWI and the cab or bus to get out to IAD, it's not a bad way to go. You get in early on the 2nd and leave early on the 6th. If you want to leave out of somewhere around LA, it's $415 to depart LGB.
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Dec 13, 2013 18:03
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Mackieman posted:SAN-BOS-BWI on the way out, IAD-LGB on the way back. $344.20 on JetBlue (B6). If you can get down to SAN cheap enough and don't mind the 20 minute Amtrak ride to get into DC from BWI and the cab or bus to get out to IAD, it's not a bad way to go. You get in early on the 2nd and leave early on the 6th. If you want to leave out of somewhere around LA, it's $415 to depart LGB. This might be the cheapest way, but if you can catch a flight straight into and out of DCA for a little more I'd do it. Amtrak from BWI to Union Station is $25+ each way, and you still need to shuttle to the BWI Amtrack station. MARC can be a cheap option to get to DC from BWI, but it doesn't run very regularly. Another option is the B30 bus from BWI to Greenbelt Metro station. That's super cheap and pretty convenient, but it can get crowded near holidays. Dealing with additional travel on arrival and departure for both LA and DC will likely kill any cost savings and certainly be an inconvenience.
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Dec 13, 2013 18:22
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Hmm, SAN might be a problem, but LGB is an acceptable option. I would probably have to work my week around being in San Diego for New Years and hanging out with area friends in order for that to work. I don't know anything about the transit systems in DC, but anything that is doable by bus sounds cheap and would work. I would want to avoid Taxis, and Amtrak sounds like it would bump costs up quite a bit. Is the general opinion that I should try to resolve this ASAP, or is it worth waiting till the last minute to try and scoop up cheaper flights?
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Dec 13, 2013 18:39
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