We are trying to visit our son in Coos Bay from Boston at Christmas, but all of the flights into Eugene are over $500. Is this the standard rate or will it go down? We are flexible 2 days either direction, (planning to stay until Jan2)! I am shocked it is this much!!!

Thanks, Jayne

There aren't many flights to Eugene. You might be better off flying to Portland (about 110 miles north).

I just checked on kayak - random November dates are about $300, over Christmas is $510. This does not surprise me - since airlines do increase fares considerably around holidays - also, since holidays are on weekends this year, volume of fliers will be more concentrated.

I would not hope for fare decrease - not a fortune teller, but I guess it would be unlikely. (My dtrs flights home tyhpically are double cost at Christmas than at non-holiday times)

In addition to above, this is too early for the airlines to know what holiday traffic will be like. If they think it will be lower than normal, they MIGHT have sales but I wouldn't count on it.

Eugene is a small regional airport - Honestly, I'm surprised the fares are that low.

Either fly into Portland or pay the $$$ to fly into Eugene. Either way you'll have to rent a car so w/ a likely much cheaper fare, I'd personally fly to Portland.

$500 to fly cross country doesn't seem high to me, especially at Christmas. My sister, who lives in Springfield, says it costs at least $75 more to fly into Eugene than it does Portland. Even with gas prices as bad as they are now it's still cheaper to drive to/from Portland than it is to fly into Eugene - as well as having more flight choices with Portland than trying to get to Eugene.

Thanks for the replies! Unfortunately, even Portland fares are almost $500! Well, now I know this is typical for Oregon at Christmas. I'm used to paying less to fly to California so I guess I was hoping to find similiar rates. Also, one of our sons used to fly to Portland in the summer to do the Mt. Hood snowboard camp and I definitely didn't pay more than $350. I guess I'll have to pray for a sale!!!

many airlines compete for the same route = low airfare
few airlines compete for the same route = high airfare

Don't hold your breath for a sale.

I live in Eugene and I almost always drive to Portland and fly on Southwest- and its always cheaper than anything I can find out of Eugene.
Although last year I drove to Portland to get my daughter 2 days before Christmas- and Portland had some of the worst weather in years and it took me 9 hours to drive back to Eugene- but then the weather thing can be an issue wherever you go at that time of year.

Good luck! Impressed you are making plans so far in advance -

Yeah, Eugene will cost more since it's smaller & saves driving time. Also, I'm guessing it costs more to travel directly after a holiday (Jan 2nd) or close to it. I put in an itinerary from 21 Dec to 2 Jan & got quotes from $450 to $550, but when I put in a quote for 17 - 29 December I got a quote as low as $330, another for $405. Anyway, I'm going the opposite direction and am getting high quotes also.

Have you looked on Orbitz.com? That's my favorite site to check airfares.

Thanks again everyone! I travel on Southwest all the time and their fares into January just came out! So, I booked a return flight PDX to Providence on Jan 4 for the 4 of us. I had a free ticket and was able to use it for two of the tickets bringing the total one way to $404 for the 4 of us! So far so good!!

I actually found a couple of $ 435 flights into EUG but when you factor in luggage costs, it was crazy! Southwest is still free, yay!! We are bringing skis and snowboards, so this is important! Now I just need tickets out there!! Right now it would take us 11 hours booking the cheapest fares! Waiting on a sale still.......

$500 sounds reasonable to me to fly from East coast to West coast, especially using less than major hubs, and over the holidays.

You might check New York to Seattle as another possible route? But I think any savings would be eaten up by the getting to/from the airports at either end.

Seattle is about 300 miles from Eugene, so it's not a good option.

Thanks for the responses! I'd love to fly into Seattle but it would have been even more $$$ to get to Coos Bay! If we ever have the chance to go in the summer, I think it'd be great to fly into Seattle and drive down the Coast!