monique

Last Tuesday I found fantastic airfare on AA or United, BOS-SFO $167 inc tax, direct flights in May. Of course I waited until the next day to book and it was gone. Since then, America West has been offering $216 for direct service. Should I just stop waiting and book it? I know I should learn from my mistake last week not to wait, but I keep thinking that maybe someone will lower their fare if I wait a few more days...a few more days... But I know $216 is still a fantastic fare. Advice?

Flyboy

Book your trip now and don't look back (just like you wish you would have done yesterday.) You could easily end up spending another $150 or more waiting for that lost $49 to re-resurface.

AAFrequentFlyer

$167 to go across the country and back?

What did you think was going to happen? The airlines paying you to fly?

People, BE reasonable. The pilots, FA's, the GA's, the TA's, the AIRLINE have to pay the bills just like you and me.

Start thinking LOGICALLY!!!! PLEASE!!!

You don't want to work for $5 per hour, but you expect everybody else to do that? WHAT? I don't get it.

$75 to get you clear across the continent and you thought, WHAT? If it comes down to $50 I will bite?

I don't feel sorry for you at ALL.

Sorry if you think my comments are rough, but I'm speaking my mind. Wake up people!!!

rjw_lgb_ca

Monday night I booked an AA flight LGB-FLL (via DFW) for a quite-reasonable $266.40 round-trip. Although it's stayed that rate a couple of days, I know it will go up again soon (last year for the same route I paid $455-- booking around the same time). My advice: Book the America West flight (direct service through PHX?) and cut your losses. United or American MAY offer another fare special, but you can't count on it.

And if you're not using the Fare Watcher feature on websites like aa.com or travelocity, start. It can be very handy!

mrwunrfl

I think, AAFF, that it may have been the case that monique just needed some time to decide whether to take the trip. She faces the possibility of buying the ticket and then seeing the price drop back to where she could have had it in the first place.

monique

Mrwunrfl has it right; I just needed time to decide about the trip before booking. The Fare Watcher I got from Travelocity last week with that unbelievable fare sparked the idea of the trip. We're all set to go now, and I'm going to go book it right now! So excited!

Flyboy

You're getting a great deal and buying airfares is something like buying stocks: we all wish we could consistently pick the very lowest possible price, but there is still plenty of good value left when you can just stay somewhere near the lower end of the scale. One of my favorite sayings is: "Don't let 'perfect' become the enemy of 'good'." This experience will make you that much better on the trigger the next time and it's really no big deal in the broad scheme of things. Have a great trip!

cfc

My, my, AAFF, grumpy much? Or just let-down after such a great trip?

Monique, I just had to pay $525 for a cross-continent trip because I don't fly from an east-coast hub airport. Take the fare and run!

AAFrequentFlyer

Rant on,

Actually my post wasn't just directed at Monique (I'm sorry if I was too harsh), but it was more directed at many of the posts we get to see here daily.

"I got $150 round-the world ticket, do you think I should wait for a better price?" (exagerated, I know)

Just making a point, that besides the need to find the best price, one should always use logic as to what's possible, and at which point I'm fooling myself.

Across the country - $300 is a GREAT DEAL!
Across the Atlantic - $500 is a GREAT DEAL!
Across the Pacific - $700 is a GREAT DEAL!

I use that as a measuring stick ONLY. I also realize what's real and what's not. Going to Rome in July from Des Moines is going to be a great deal more than the measuring stick. Going to London from NYC in January is going to be a lot less. Others seem to have a problem understanding this simple concept. There are exceptions to every rule, but apply some logic when doing travel research.

That's it, rant over!

And now back to the regular programming.....

mimilou

I would book the $216 fare. That is a great price; I've never seen one as low as the $167 one! Wow! Last year I was going to buy tickets from PVD to SJO at around $220; I was really tired and went to sleep w/the intention of booking them the next morning. Well, they were $120 more expensive! I was devastated. I waited and eventually ended up getting tickets from PVD to SAN for $220. The moral of the story (to me, anyway!) is...if you see a great fare, DON'T WAIT!

inthechips

AA frequent flyer's formula for fares is a good one - my favorite was our $140 RT from SEA-Tampa, never have seen that one again!

Clematis

I'm a little shocked to find out that buying Bur-SFO (Burbank, Calif - SF) is over $220 rt, over a month ahead of time AND there is a $100 per ticket change fee. This is a non-refundable ticket. I don't know if I should book this "great deal" <not> (we will go overseas from SFO) now so we won't be shut out later or wait on the chance the prices will go down a bit? This is an hour flight.

rkkwan

Problem is that Southwest pulled out of SFO because of its unfavorable operating condition. If you have time, you can fly BUR-OAK for $63 one-way, or BUR-SJC for $54 one-way on Southwest, and transfer to SFO on your own.

I think you probably won't find fares much lower than you're seeing to SFO, except for last-minute deals as it's a UA monopoly on this route.

rkkwan

Clematis - Also consider flying LAX-SFO. More competition on this route, and Alaska Airlines have fares as low as $142 round-trip.

Clematis

Thank you rk, for the quick reply! That $147 fare (just checked as per your suggestion) is only at 8AM. So we might as well book the BUR one as the others are the same $200 range. Your message helped - I will not wait.