Help with airfare for Daddy/Husband............
 

Hi out there, I have not posted to Fodors for awhile but thought I would try this as a last resort...My husband and father to our two little girls ages 2 and 4 yrs old has been working down in the Louisiana and Texas areas since Katrina hit Florida first on August 21st. We have not seen him since, he works for the power company here in Michigan and has been contracted by Entergy in Louisianna to restore power and has been working long 16 hour days ever since, staying in tents etc. and moving all over the place. Anyway, he misses us and especially his girls real bad and we are trying to get him home for two days this coming Monday so he can Trick or Treat with the girls and see them for Halloween. But, the cheapest flights I am finding for this weekend are starting at 606.00 round trip!! Does anyone out there know of any websites to find cheaper airline tickets ?? I know this has been a topic that has come up before so I will do a search!! Thanks so much. Any suggestions will be appreciated!!

I always use travelocity. What city will he be flying out of and what city in Michigan will he be flying into? If you give that info, I'm sure a bunch of Fodorites will do the research for you!

Check out www.itasoftware.com and www.travelzoo.com, my two favorites. When you find the low fare you want, check out the airline site to see if the same fare is offered directly by the airline.

site59.com has last-minute package deals. Unfortunately, you can't just purchase airfare, you have to get it packaged with either a hotel or rental car. Depending on where you live relative to whichever airport he would fly in on, it might make sense to go for the airfare+car option and let him drive home from the airport. I just looked and a package from New Orleans to Detroit leaving Sat. am and going back on Monday, including rental car is $351.

THANK YOU so much everyone!! I can't tell you how much this has helped so far!! I am trying to get him a flight from Baton Rouge to Detroit (preferably Flint), MI arriving on Saturday evening and returning on Tuesday evening.. this coming weekend. Thanks for all of your help. I will try the site 59 again with the rental car option, great idea!!

Hello mcmckissic, from August 21st to now is a long time for your husband to be away from home. I can only imagine how much you and your two little daughters miss him!! I just wanted to wish you a beautiful weekend and I hope your husband will be able to be home with you shortly for good. Best wishes to you and your family.

I just searched around on various sites - including individual airlines. I kept getting $600+ airfares, even checking flying out of New Orleans. The best I could do was Southwest.com which has fares of $500 RT, but they are both morning flights. If his schedule is at all flexible, maybe he could do that.

The people on the Gulf Coast are lucky that there are people like him trying to get them back to some sort of normalcy. My brother lives in south Florida and they are telling them 3-4 weeks without power - but at least he still has a roof over his head.

I know, all the prices on the airlines are so high to get him home, it is crazy! Site 59 has been my best bet and I will book it for him today...thanks to everyone for all of their kind words to us, we miss him lots, but it could be worse!! We have our home and our safety and health up here in Michigan, we feel very sad for the people down south and are glad that he can help out to restore power at least. My girls can't wait to see him, even if it is just Saturday to Tuesday!!

Call the airlines, explain your situation and see if they can't help you out.

Also, does anyone in your family have FF miles they can sell or give you?

Purchase a r/t Southwest Airline "Rapid Reward" on eBay. They seem to usually sell for about $350, and will be good for any open flight with the exception of a few blackout dates near major holidays. I sold one recently for $351 and the price the buyer would have been required to pay for the booking he made was $495 minimum on short notice.

I checked SW last night because they usually have cheap fares, but for NO - Detroit he would leave at 10 am and arrive at 5:30 PM.