I've been spending a lot of time in the last few weeks doing basic planning for a trip to Oregon and California this summer. We will be traveling Oregon and Washington with a couple of friends part way, then they return, and we go on with my partner's brother and wife for a stay at their home at Lake Tahoe, then on to LA, and eventually home to Florida.

So here's what's funny. This other couple can't find airfare below about $500 round trip from Ft. Myers. But that's somewhat understandable because they need to fly back from Medford, Oregon -- not exactly a hot spot airport wise. But I keep playing with our itinerary. We can fly to Seattle from Ft. Myers, several weeks later fly from Reno to LAX, and then fly home to Ft. Myers all for $385. What's even better, we could also add into that mix an additional flight from LAX to Las Vegas, stay a few more days and then fly home, and the total price is $405.
All that flying for less than our friends.

Then there are rental cars. If we pick up an SUV at Seattle Airport and drop off in Medford, Oregon two weeks later -- this is what we find. Only National will currently allow oneway rentals of SUV's from there. But for that itinerary, it is a little over $1200, thanks to the one way fees. Now here's the fun part. If we pick up the car in downtown Seattle instead of at the Seattle airport, the price for the full two weeks goes down to $700. Think it's worth it to take a taxi or shuttle downtown from the airport to save $500??? I guess so.

My only point here is that you can spend hours and hours trying various things to find these kinds of prices. Don't be forced into paying through the nose for the exact itinerary you have in mind, and don't be afraid to check for adding on destinations even on your airfare.

The air fares are ALL about competition in a particular market; the rental car rates about airport fees and add-ons.

The fact that you found out about this is all about doing your own research rather than relying on hearsay information, sometimes presented on (gasp!!!) travel boards.

Just make sure you pronounce the name of that state CORRECTLY at all times or apparently they'll banish you to Caleeeefornyaaaah.

Have a great trip.

In our experience, this has been true of rental car rates in more than just a few states. Going outside of LaGuardia area once, we picked up a Hertz rental for hundreds less than the original and closer location. It hasn't been mentioned much, and it is good that you have reminded all to check this out.

It's all about the home airport. I can fly roundtrip from CHS to MIA on USAirways with a change of planes in Charlotte for $200.

My stepdaughters cost for the roundtrip CLT to MIA leg only for the same dates is $328 per person. Go figure.

Can the brother and sister in law fly in or out of a close major airport?

Actually, GoTravel, the friends I'm talking about are flying from Ft. Myers just like us. It's just that adding in the Medford loop that's hard. We could drive them to Sacramento that day, or they could drive themselves up to Portland and fly from there, but it becomes too late in the day to fly back to Florida, adding another full day and another night to their already overextended vacation time -- work wise.

Also we've often been flying out of Ft. Lauderdale instead of Ft. Myers, because usually it's much cheaper and you get better connections. This is one time when that wasn't true -- about the same price, but very difficult connections for us to make both coming and going.

I misunderstood your post, sorry.

The FLL/Hollywood Airport is going through serious growing pains. They must expand but at what price? Either take homes away from people that live there or have approach over a much larger group of neighborhoods. Not expanding could prove suicidal to tourism in FLL.

Did you try Southwest? I just booked flights from Seattle to San Jose, Ca, from San Jose to Tampa and return to Seattlle from Orlando for $330. Last week I saw they had a better sale. I found it was cheaper to get separate flights, than doing it all together.

I'm not sure Southwest flies into Portland.

If you have time, Patrick, a nice side trip is to take the ferry from Seattle to Victoria, B.C. or a ferry to the San Juan Islands from Anacortes.

Patrick, I am so happy for you. Once a while I too find a great deal. Last year, we got a great deal on our tickets from Newark to the Seychelles with three days break in Paris on the way there and four days on the way back. All for $1400.00 FIRST CLASS with Air France. We were so lucky!. However, I cannot see myself spending hours and hours trying various things on internet. I think I rather spend at least part of this time outside. Congratulations, Patrick.

Hi, what you say is totally sensible as far as being true. Firstly, the Seattle airport (along with many/most others) has special taxes ON rental cars picked-up there. I can rent at that same downtown location (Hilton Hotel) for roughly $15 per day LESS than at the airport. Even if I pick up downtown and return at the airport, I pay the extra cost.

Nowthen, I would never ever get sucked into flying into a tiny spot like Medford at a huge price increase. Furthermore, with so many airports available to most locations with just a tiny bit more effort, one can explore the prices online to find some great rates relative to the original numbers.

I can tell you that there is an "Airport Shuttle" bus to all downtown Seattle hotels which costs $8.50 per person one way. So obviously you'd opt for that and tell the driver you want the Hilton, and there on the ground floor is National rent-a-car.

You might also look into making the one-way rental lasting as BRIEF as possible, and then making a brand new rental for your day-to-day tooling around in Medford, etc. (the costs seem to be higher "per day" on those one ways, and it is NOT a flat fee)

Medford to Portland is about 270 miles, all freeway, mostly with posted 65mph... why don't you arrange to drive your friends TO Portland, and then drive back along the coast, just to add to your scenery?

Be sure to explore every inch of the different combinations of departure cities in/near your Florida base and arrival cities in/near your Oregon destination.

While you say you'd never get sucked into flying into a tiny airport like Medford, I question what else to do. Actually they are flying out of there. The next nearest airport for any savings at all (and very minimal at that) is to drive 5 hours to Portland or 5 hours to Sacramento and fly from there. But flights leaving that late in the day won't even get them back to Florida without taking an extra day. There seems little option to flying out of Medford if they want to get home that day! Besides, we could only find about a $75 savings if they flew out of Sacramento or Portland instead of the extra flight out of Medford. The gas for driving and extra day car rental along would eat up that savings!

And the car rental thing is great with a drop off in Medford. I looked at switching cars a second time, like in Portland or Seattle after the first week, but the total amount still comes up higher. The point was there is very little drop off fee for that two week rental picking up in downtown Seattle but dropping off in Medford.

Patrick - not to be nosy, but what do you and your friends plan to see between Portland and Medford that make the Medford departure so convenient? You didn't post your whole itinerary so I'm just curious about why you even need to go to Medford with your friends. Why not just stay another day in Portland and see more here? You can do a lot of easy day trips like wineries, Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens to name a few. Just an idea.

Also, there is an airport in Eugene which is about midway between Medford and Portland. It's not much, if any, bigger than Medford's but you might plug it in and see if you get any better fares.

Just for your sake, I went into the National Car Rental website, applied my "Emerald Club" membership there (which you don't likely have, yet...), and got the following quotes:

Two cases of using my random dates, for not knowing yours:

I just took July 7-21, 2005 and plugged in the following:

A full size car for two weeks, in both cases:

pick-up IN SEATTLE, and return IN SEATTLE...

with a base rate of $199.01 per week, the cost with taxes (less Emerald Club discount for me) was $419.77.

For the SAME vehicle, picking up IN SEATTLE, and dropping off IN MEDFORD, OR

base rate of $312 per week, the cost with taxes (less Emerald Club discount for me) was $651.71

I know you speak of an SUV, but I was only going by what I am familiar with.

If faced with such numbers at National, I would surely look into taking only two days at the one-way rental rate, and then making a new and unique rental in Medford once there.

For clarity, is that $75 in savings the total savings on airfare? or is it per person?

At any rate, please take one tiny bit of advice regarding rental car rates.

You cannot even fathom the random rise and fall of rates, which seems to happen without cause or human understanding, as you step into the world of rental car websites.

CHECK BACK as often as WEEKLY between now and when you leave, because you can always CEMENT-IN the best rate you find during that long window of time.

(example: once I found a rate of $100 less for flying to Hartford, CT and returning in Portland, Maine than it would have been for renting and returning in Hartford... same (National) agency, and all other dates and things equal)

Last year I was plotting a trip as early as Dec.... and kept checking the rental car rates... and nudged them downward by over $150 on a 2-week rental, just by checking back often.

Rental car reservations are "no commitment" things, so it cannot hurt you to do this.

Oh, now I just did the Emerald Club stuff for a "STANDARD SIZE SUV", doing one-way to Medford airport on those very same July 7-21 dates I randomly picked for comparison:

Base rate $368.36

2-week total $768.25 after taxes, and less an $88 "discount" for Emerald Club membership.

And finally, I had to try the same rental, of an SUV, pick-up and return IN Seattle. WOW! - it is eye-opening!

Now the base rate is $369.99 per wk

and the total cost after taxes and with Emerald Club ""discount"", is $789.19

Wow! --- that certainly validates what you say, but I believe that my first attempt, with the "Full Size" car, suggests that my instincts were also sensible as first mentioned.

MORE IMPORTANTLY, for you, it underscores the following:

A: that your original post was aptly titled

B: That my idea of constantly checking back on the very same itinerary at National is very likely to pay off for you in time (see how much "play" there was in the rate differences?). Wouldn't it make sense to anticipate at least some chunk of change coming off of the rates, depending randomly on the point at which you click?

I'm pretty sure that it is free to join "Emerald Club", and it won't hurt considering that you imply that you're pre-ordained to go with the only company that will do a one-way of SUV's to Medford.

(sigh) So I just HAD to check into one-way from Seattle to Portland, same dates, and an SUV... and of course THAT rate is totally obscure to the others.

Base rate $308.36 per wk

TOTAL COST = $643.11 after "Emerald Club discount" and taxes

SO IF the tides stay exactly the same, and it were my random itinerary of July 7, 2005 @ 9am in downtown Seattle to July 21, 2005 at your point of return, wherever it is,

I'd be pondering making my original reservation a Seattle-to-Portland airport one... driving the other couple back to Portland, saving them $75, and then getting perhaps a smaller car for a one-day rental from Portland back to Medford, for your flight out. You'd have $125 window of savings at this point, and from that would have to come the cost of the one-day CAR rental, and the gas to and from Medford.

The best advice I have is to join the Emerald club and then CHECK EVERY WEEK from now til summer... "downsizing costs" each time the new number came up lower than before.

Randomly, IF you're at $700 for that exact same itinerary now, I wouldn't be shocked to find you might land on it below $600 at some point over the next several months.

(side note: Post a complete review of the dates you MUST rent for next to your computer, so when bored of the many re-checks, you won't make a crucial mistake of plotting incorrect dates)

I think your numbers will go down, and experimentation will continue to help.

pdxgirl, the main purpose of our Northwest visit is a four night stay in Ashland and seeing 7 shows there. We see our final show on Sunday night, and they need to leave early Monday morning to get back home to Florida on Monday.

This is all getting much too complicated for all of your help. Thanks, but no thanks. What I haven't said also is that we will be joined in Ashland by my partner's brother and wife who will be driving the two of us back to their home at Lake Tahoe on that Monday for a few days. From there we later go to LAX for a month, and later back to Florida. So don't think about us driving the other couple to Portland. It just isn't going to happen, and they couldn't get a flight after noon to still get back to Ft. Myers that day anyway -- and don't forget it does take about 5 hours plus check in time to get from Ashland to Portland -- so NO, that is out of the question. They WILL be flying out of Medford at 6:30 AM-- the only possible option to get them home the same day at this point!

Regarding all the car rental stuff, yes, I am a member of the Emerald Club and that is already taken into consideration. Also, realize that I've allowed an extra $7 per day on the rental for a second driver as we need to have two drivers on it! So that is an additional $98 already in the total price. And yes, of course I know to keep checking. Meanwhile I have the two week reservation from downtown Seattle to Medford for an SUV to fall back on -- just under $700 including the second driver.

People, people, fodorites. Do you do anything else besides sitting in front of a coputer all day long?

I'm assuming you are joining is in your category of people, people, right z? After all you even took the time to post on this message that obviously didn't interest you. Obviously you had nothing better to do "all night".

I STILL don't understand why a RT from A to B at leaving at 8:00am on day X is $200 while one way leaving at 8:00am on day X is $1000.

Patrick, I couldn't sleep. But I do envy you and wish I could have this much time and do such extensive research. I hope you will have a wonderful trip

Thanks for the explanation, Patrick. I should have guessed you had plans to see some plays in Ashland! Sounds like a fun trip - I hope some bargains pop up for you in the coming months!

Bardo,

forget about that part,

ask yourself why a round trip from Seattle to Cincinnati leaving at 10:00am on flight #XYZ is $500, and why a round trip from Seattle to Louisville VIA Cincinnati leaving at 10:00am on that very same flight #XYZ is only $350.

And they get your credit card for the difference if you dare get off the plane in Cincy, with itinerary booked to Louisville.

Travel planning is finally starting to turn the tide toward the consumer, what with the web and all. In the old days lazy travel agents might check two options for you and get you the lowest price only if you were lucky.

Now you can toggle rental car rates and airline rates to great advantage IF you are willing to be a little bit FLEXIBLE.

For hotels, you use Priceline.com for great rates to compliment the rest, again, IF you are willing to be FLEXIBLE.

Get this:
a few weeks ago, we used the typical search engines and web sites to search JFK to RSW for the end of April. Found great Delta (Song) nonstop flights around $200 each, so went to Delta's site and used miles for two tickets. Then I went to book and pay for two more tickets, and within those two minutes the price had jumped to $350 each!

So I waited and checked every few days. A week later, I try the same dates and ... back down to $200 each!

No wonder the airlines are going out of business. What kind of business model is that?!?