CHEAP AIRFARE vs GO-TODAY PACKAGES
 

We have been researching airfares to London for this summer and have not found any less than $800 from Phoenix. BUT we did find Go-Today packages for $700-$800 that included both airfare and 6 hotel nights. <BR>First - what has happened to those low fares that we have been accustomed to? <BR>Second - has anyone used Go-Today - any comments good or bad? <BR><BR>Thanks Ed <BR><BR>

Hi<BR>Regarding airfares - I know Northwest put on a sale but recently most domestic fares went up. When I inquired, I was told that they have reduced capacity due to lower volume and thus maintained or increased prices on remaining flights. Thus they can sell few tickets and maintain certain revenues with reduced overhead.<BR><BR>At least that was what the representative told me!

I have used go-today.com and got exactly what I paid for.

I have used go-today and also recommended it to a friend and we were both extremely pleased. I do always check to see if I can beat their prices, and if one is very careful (and lucky, I think) you sometimes can. I used the cheapest hotel and it was acceptable, but might not suit everyone. Some people have said that going up one or two levels of hotel is a good idea.

I would check Travelzoo.com, as they are listing a ton of deals for London. I'm not sure when you are going. Some are for May, some for June, July, etc. They list the deals around the Web. I used them and got R/T $553 for chicago - rome, late aug/early sept. Happy hunting!

Captb -<BR><BR>Try Autoeurope.com. I just got a direct flight from Chicago to Rome for $430 round trip! I've used them before and they are always great to work with.

Also used gotoday and would do so again. Everything was as they said it would be and I was unable to beat their price or even come very close. That was in March to London. I used their lowest price hotel, which was the Apolo and it was OK but then I'm not that fussy.

Have you checked american airline? (www.aa.com) they have lots of special fares as well as a last minute travel. on their aa vacations website, they have cheap last minute trips that can include air &amp; car &amp;/or hotel. I have used them many times (500K miles) and never had a problem! hope that helps

supposedly United is offering DOUBLE miles to fly to and from Europe May 31 through the summer...don't know about the fares, tho..

Hi Cap,<BR><BR><BR> http://apps.flights.com has a Lufthansa flight for $645 + fees, etc on Lufthansa for mid July.

check British Air<BR>they are offering weekend deals (may be extend-able) to London for $400 including 3 nights in one of several hotels, supposedly 4 star.<BR>There is in the fine print a $100 tax and fees add-on, but still pretty good.

Thanks to everyone for their input. To those that used Go-Today in London a few questions:1-What hotel did you stay at &amp; were you satisfied? 2-Were Hotel transfers included? 3-Would you have done anything differently?<BR>Thanks <BR>Ed

1. I stayed at the Tersten Hotel (cheapest option) with a Go-Today package. I wouldn't stay there again. Other people on this site didn't like it either. Do a search and you'll get reviews. I don't think it has airconditioning (it barely had heat).

2. Purchased a hotel transfer on a minibus service. Worth the $40. I arrived jetlagged and everyone was driving on the other side of the road and I didn't know the layout of the city. Minibus driver stopped at the hotel front door. My other options were a taxi (way too expensive from Gatwick) or the Gatwick Express to Victoria station, tube to my stop, then walk aways with luggage. Yes, the minibus was the way to go.

I priced airfare and hotels on my own and even with an add-on to fly from RDU, it was much cheaper to go with Go-Today.

3. What would I have done differently? With experience now: Picked a different hotel. There were 2 hotels at the cheapest price and I randomly picked the Tersten. It's in a good location, but . . . .

The best advice I can give about London is be flexible. I had changing weather and I was changing my itenerary everyday. I wish I brought the entire guidebook instead of photocopies of the stuff I was interested in doing. As the weather was becoming worse, I planned more time at my indoor activities instead of different indoor places. If only I had brought the entire guidebook.

I found a great rate with www.justfares.com We are going this summer from Texas to London for $500.00 Of course, it's on Air Canada who went bankrupt last week. Good luck

Gotoday.com has good prices but I'm not thrilled with the selections of airlines like Air India.

I don't see the hotel we stayed at listed anymore. I do think I would have jumped up one grade, if I had it to do over. I believe that transfers were included in my plan and I really liked that. As someone said above, when you're jet-lagged, it isn't so easy to take public transportation in a strange city. I don't think I would do anything else differently. It was a very good trip at a very good price. I was pleased that we could extend our stay and travel for two additional weeks in the British Isles and then come back on the return date we chose. We weren't able to divide the hotel stay, but we found another hotel for the last night (before flying home) as the &quot;rack rate&quot; of the hotel go-today put us in was a bit outrageous.

We used Go-Today for the first time last month. I like DougP's post - he got &quot;everything he paid for&quot;. I felt that way myself. We booked a package for roughly $550pp, which from our destination is very, very cheap. We chose the Terstan Hotel which I would NEVER recommend to anyone. We left after having to spend one night there. Other than the bad choice of hotel, everything went smoothly. The airfare &amp; transfers were included and they were fine. I may book with Go-Today again, but I would go up in the choice of hotel and not pick the cheapest one available. All in all we still had a wonderful trip to London.

We just got back on a gotoday package also. Stayed at the Apollo(cheapest). I agree if you're able to upgrade,do. If not just go with the flow. Ours was ok for the time we were there(to sleep). We had a triple. We were plenty warm and had good hot water and shower,and also quiet. Staff was pleasant. Location(Bayswater) was great. There's lot to do,shops,restaurants,internets,tubes,etc.around. One note about the air. We went out of Boston and didn't get a direct flight. And we had big airflight time changes 2 weeks before we left. It all worked out fine though. Every flight was on time--and mostly full.

Elaine, I took your advice re. British Airways. Their special from Phoenix beat Go-Today's price and is a non stop flight to Heathrow. After much investigation on this &amp; other boards we chose to stay at the Lowndes Hotel in Belgravia at a really reasonable price.

Thanks again to everyone for they suggestions.