althom1122

My daughter and I (I'm sure some of you have seen my other questions!) are going to Thailand (and LP and Siem Reap) in February, but we're on opposite ends of the country. I'm in Baltimore. She's in Berkeley. I've been trying to arrange flights so that we can meet in either San Francisco or Los Angeles and have our long flight across the ocean together. It's very frustrating! I've spent a couple hours already trying to do this and the websites (I've tried travelocity, expedia, eva, united) don't seem to make it easy for me to select a flight that would route me in such a way that Julie and I can meet up. We MIGHT be able to meet in Taipei on Eva Air - haven't quite confirmed that yet... which would at least mean we'd arrive in Bangkok together, but I'd sure like to get on the same flight from the US if possible. Has anyone done such a thing before? I may have asked this a year or so ago (sorry, don't remember). Maybe here's where a travel agent would come in handy. Could anyone recommend someone I could work with on this via email? I've could call one of the airlines, I guess - was thinking United - but their flights on the internet are currently listed at about $1300 from Baltimore, which seems outrageous to me! Thanks in advance for any advice.
Karen

mrwunrfl

I remember your posts. I took a look at itasoftware.com and that site listed prices of $1300+ for every day in Feb and Jan (tried 6-8 and 13-14 night stays).

travelocity had fares of $8XX ++ from BWI on EVA but wouldn't complete the booking. Saw fares of $60X++ from SFO on EVA that would be bookable for about $760 all in. I chose Feb 9-23 for the search.

You should be able to get a roundtrip between BWI and SFO or OAKland or between Dulles and SFO or OAK for around $300. That's just under $1100 total, so not a huge savings. And it would require some flexibility. For example, I think I noticed that an EVA flight departs SFO after 4PM. Found a jetBlue flight that would get you from IAD to OAK in the moringing but dep is around 6AM and arrives after 9AM. The same day return on the 23rd would be a red-eye. In both cases there would be difficult to miss the connection but would also make for long travel days.

I guess that I am saying that you could take a look at getting two tickets for yourself, one domestic and one international. And open up your airport options to include IAD and OAK, and DCA for that matter (if the other airports are useful to you, then use WAS for the search to cover BWI, DCA, and IAD).

althom1122

mrwunrfl - you are not only wunrfl but brilliant, too! That's definitely the way to go. I just did some checking and we can leave San Francisco on Eva on Feb 4 for $675 each (with a return date of Feb 24). And I can fly to Oakland or SF for around $300! Thanks SO much. These boards are awesome. I think I owe you about $300!
Karen

mrwunrfl

good. happy contrails to you

rhkkmk

why don't you get a travel agent to assist you?? how about calling the airlines directly...i find most of the web sites quite difficult to use...pick a couple of airlines and have them do it for you...don't forget thai....

cjbryant

Splitting the tickets is often a good way to save money and mrwunrfl's is a good suggestion.

But be aware that if you have a problem with your first flight and can't make your connecting flight for some reason, you aren't protected like you would be if both flights were booked thru the same airline.

Be sure to leave yourself more than ample time for conecting the second flights as mechanical or weather delays could really pose a problem if you have split the tickets.

althom1122

That's a good idea. In fact, I started to book last night and saw I had two choices for my flight to San Francisco - one with a 45 minute connection in Atlanta and another with about 2 hours. I decided to go with the 2 hour one. Then realized I couldn't make the booking for the rest of the trip because I didn't have my daughter's passport number and couldn't get hold of her last night! HOpefully today! And the $675 price I mentioned on Eva is actually $837 with taxes - they didn't show the full price on the first page. Oh well - will still be a better deal than I'd seen from Baltimore - and I'll be on the same flights as Julie once I'm in San Francisco.

mrwunrfl

I think that cjbryant is referring to the "connection" that you would be making at SFO. If your flight to Atlanta is late and you don't make that connection then the carrier is obligated to get you to SFO. The problem would be that if you get to SFO too late for your trans-pacific flight then it would not be that carrier's fault.

offwego

I had these same travails when trying to get the best deal to BKK from Austin.

Someone on this board (BillT I think) recommended a travel agent named Bunnie Usman who saved me money, made it easy, got Continental miles for the EVA portion of the trip, and did the Discovery Pass thing for our internal flights. I can't recommend her highly enough.

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