We're in a quandry trying to figure out how to fly our kids cheaply to Portland to the in-laws. We're newcomers to Fodors, and my sister and I accessed websites for flights out of the three airports we have available in West Palm Beach area, including Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. But the fares right now are exorbitant. HELP, please. We need to fly them but not if it bankrupts us in the process. People here usually have great ideas, and we do rely on you. Thank you in advance.

It's hard to know whatyou mean by "exorbitant"

I inputted "Miami - Portland Oregon" into Travelocity for the dates Jan 30 - Feb 6 and came up with $401 per person on American Airlines nonstop.

You may be able to get cheaper fares, depending on the dates of travel.

I would suggest going into Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz and other such frequently used sites. At the moment there are a number of airlines offering transcontinental deals - AA, US Air, Continental. I saw a bunch of full page ads in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle.

Not to mention that AirTrans, Jetblue, Southwest offer many discounted fares all the time.

Good luck!

I've tried ALL the source you list, and the best fare I could find is $356 out of Ft. Lauderdale. We're sending seven kids, its a bank breaker, so will wait for the sales. Thanks for the input though.

While it wouldn't be so convenient, how about flying out of Orlando? Being the busiest Florida airport, there's much more competition to keep the prices down. You don't state when the travel is ... if it's for the next few months, I think you've already seen the prices as low as they're going to get. Also, what DAYS are you looking at? Some days (Sat, Tue, Wed, usually) are often less expensive than others. Sanford airport, north of Orlando, seems to be attracting some low-fare carriers too - check them out. Yes, a pain in the backside to get them there, but if you can save a couple hundred $$ why not.

Nor, here is one more trick: go to the Portland airport website, they should have a list of airlines using this airport. Not all airlines sell tickets through Orbitz and Expedia. Check the websites of each airline.

Try Southwest at www.iflyswa.com You can fly Orlando to Portland, Oregon with one stop as low as $99 each way per the website and they have a great change policy (you can apply your entire ticket value - no change fee- to future flight).

No meals with Southwest, just beverage and a bag of peanuts so pack some food for them. My favorite cheap, quick and easy take along travel meal is Cup O'noodles. They always have hot water for tea on the planes so I can have a hot meal. No refrigeration issues and if you don't feel like eating you can just toss it as it cost next to nothig to start with.

If you must save every penny, try Hotwire or Priceline.com. They don't always offer great savings anymore, but sometimes they do, especially last minute. You have a number of cities in Florida to choose from. Just remember Priceline and Hotwire are non-refundable, non-changeable, and they might get lousy flight times. But if money is the biggest issue, might be worth it to you.

Andrew

You may not get a really cheap fare to Portland because it isn't a really popular spot. That $356 may be the best available. Be careful using Hotwire or Priceline for air travel. They will sometimes give extremely late or early flights. How old are these children? If you can do Southwest that may be the cheapest available.

Go to www.itasoftware.com and put in from your area and anywhere within a 250 radius to Portland and see what comes up.

Find the cheapest flight and go to www.SideStep.com to book.

I found $252 roundtrip from Orlando and $253 roundtrip out of Tampa.

nor.....just a thought...I hope at least one of the kids is 15 y/o.Otherwise, you will run into unaccompanied minors' fees......

Try america West from Ft. Lauderdale-just for the heck of it I put on Jan.30-Feb.7 and got a RT fare of $198.
You can try different days easily if you use their low-fare finder option-for instance if they fly on Friday it's $238.
Good Luck!
R5