Melissa5

I'm planning our first family trip to Costa Rica for June 2005. We're travelling independently.

For other trips I have always had my AAA travel agent book my airline tickets. But for some reason right now for Costa Rica, I notice prices on-line are cheaper than what AAA can get me right now.

I see some on-line fares between $390 to $454 round trip, San Diego to San Jose, Costa Rica for our travel dates in June, on American airlines.

One problem is my son will depart from San diego with us, but he has to return home from Costa Rica to San Diego a few days ahead of us...That means I have to book his ticket separately and try somehow to get him sitting with us on the same flights... have never booked airfare on-line before. Any advice? American, continental, America West? Is now (December) a good time to book for a June trip?

Gracias for any advice.

CaliNurse

Currently with American Airlines for all flight bookings, the only difference in price between you doing it on-line, or having their reservations agent book for you over the phone, is an additional $5/ RT ticket if they do it. Since you want to make sure your son sits with you on the flights you're sharing, it might be easier--and/or you might feel more comfortable-- with having them book it and make seat assignments.
My son just flew to SJO from SFO for $400 RT, booked on-line with Continental. As with AA, there was little or no price difference with the price the airlines's telephone agent quoted, vs doing it himself via the web site.

shillmac

Melissa- I've done what you are doing several times--booked for our family to travel together one way, but separately another way. It really is very simple if you want to do it online. When you select your seats, you can see what is available. I always keep a notepad by the computer, take notes so I'll remember the seats I've booked, etc. It's always worked out beautifully!

If you can get the same price (or within $5) by using an agent, I'd probably do that. To me, though, there is a chance for error when you are telling someone else what you'd like--details lost in translation!

Sometimes I've gotten exceptional rates through Travelocity or TravelZoo. In that case, I'm not going to book through the airline because their rates are much higher.

The prices you are quoting sound good. Continental is going to take you through Houston, American through Dallas, American West through Phoenix. You do know that you can fly nonstop now from LA? I suppose for you, it would be easier just to fly out of San Diego. . . .

Melissa5

Shillmac and Calinurse, thanks for the help. Maybe I will give it a try and book the Costa Rica airline tickets on-line...prices seem good right now. I hope I don't mess it up! Calinurse, I guess you're right, if it gets too complicated on-line, I can always write down the flights I'm trying to get and call the airline...

jentom98

Melissa5, I booked a flight on American out of San Diego into San Jose for $320 roundtrip! Did this in November and it was for travel in March. Check out this website, they list weekly hot specials, they come out on Wednesday..travelzoo.com, that"s how we found that rate. Also booked it online and can pick out your own seats. There was a diagram of the plane and available seats. Good luck!

Melissa5

jentom98, thanks...I'll look at travelzoo.com as well.

Melissa5

I did it...yay! I booked airline tickets on-line for the very first time.

I got 4 round-trip tickets for $403 each (including all taxes, fees, etc.) for San Diego to San Jose, Costa Rica, and the 5th ticket for $387 including taxes, fees, etc. These prices were for booking on American airlines web-site...I called American airline but the ticket price would have been higher to book over the phone. It was also higher on travelocity and other web-sites. I was also able to figure out how to select our seats on the American airlines web-site. Right now plenty of seats are still available.

I learned a lot...for example, on some web-sites ticket prices are posted without the taxes and fees, and on other web sites the taxes and fees are already included. This makes it harder to compare prices, of course.

I also learned that if you book tickets on America West web-site, they add a "September 11th security fee" onto your ticket price, making the final price higher than you'd expect.

Thanks for your help.

CaliNurse

Congratulations, Melissa!!! Great way to start the New Year! Watch out--now that you've successfuly booked on-line, there'll be no stopping you!
And to add icing to the cake, it sounds as if you got great fares!!

shillmac

Wonderful, Melissa! Sounds like you got great deals on your flights. Always a good feeling! By the way, if I'm not mistaken, that 9-11 Security Fee is added on to all airfares now.

Melissa5

Shillmac, maybe all airlines include a 9-11 security fee, but American airlines must have it already built into the price, because it's not listed separately...On American my ticket prices were what you'd expect...But on America West, the initial price is listed as "$335", which sounds really cheap, but when you try to buy them, the total price comes to over $400 per ticket, because they add taxes and the unexpected 9-11 security fee on top of that.

So the American airlines web-site listed my tickets for about $400, and the final price was indeed $403 each...but America West listed the tickets as $335, which sounds really cheap, but actually comes out to be a dollar MORE than the American Airlines tickets!

Interesting...

maryanne1

Melissa, I am so delighted you have booked those tickets. Sounds like you got a good price. From Charlotte, N.C. when we went in Sept. they were just under $300 all taxes included. We thought that was great.

shillmac

I knew what you meant--about it being listed separately. You're right--it pays to look closely when booking yourself--especially if what you are looking appears "too good to be true"!

LA_FadeAway

When I know I want to travel somewhere, but have a bit of time to book our tickets, I generally watch a couple of good websites for the best deals. They are www.travelzoo.com and www.bestfares.com. For example, BestFares was showing San Diego to CR for $199 + tax just the other day. These fares are only good on flights before the end of February, but it's an example of what you mind find in the future.

Melissa5

It's true you can often get the best last-minute airfares by waiting, but when you need 5 tickets and want your family to sit together, it's risky to wait for last minute deals...you could end up paying higher prices, or else risk not getting 5 seats together. If I was flying with only 1 of 2 people I might have waited for last-minute deals.

If you wait for a last minute deal and wait too long, let's say you pay $100 more per ticket...times 5 people that's $500 more.

I did a search for airfares on fodors back as far as 2003, and found 1 person for example who waited for a last-minute deal but waited too long and ended up paying more than I just paid to get our tickets early.

It's also nice to buy your tickets when there are plenty of seats to choose from. I pretty much got my pick of the seats on the plane!

It's kind of like gambling...do you stop now or keep going and risk losing more or hitting the jack-pot!