Where do I find the cheapest airfare???
 

Want to go SAN/DFW and the fares that I checked for those dates are very high. Went to Expedia and Delta. It is for the day before Easter. Almost $400.

Where do you go online to get better fares, without bidding, like on Priceline. Would be sending my children (16 and 12) and don't want a red eye or a flight that changes planes 4 times.

Help oh savvy travelers. TIA.

you avoid bidding via Hotwire, but don't get to pick flight times.

What is your return date? At travelocity, I see that America West has tix for $201, tax included depart SAN on April 10, returning on the 14th.

Did you already try Southwest? www.iflyswa

They won't show up on Expedia, etc.

I always starts with orbitz.com to find carriers, times, and prices. Then I zero in on the $ and time and go directly to the carriers' website. Often time it's a little cheaper then going through orbitz.

I also check independent websites like Southwest, jetblue, Ted, and there's another discount carrier whose name I don't recall at this time.

Once I know the which flight I want, I call the carrier up and ask for a courtesy hold if I'm not ready to buy.

It's a lot of work but I love to save money so I don't mind doing it.

SWA does go SAN to Love Field in Dallas, however you can't go non-stop due to the Wright act.

Not only do you have to change planes, but the last time I did this you also had to recover and recheck your luggage at the "required stop" airport. You can't even ticket it as one flight you have to ticket something like SAN RT to Albuquerque and also to Albq RT to Dallas Love Field. By the time you get done you would have been better off on the option below.

AA is showing $350 RT non stop flight SAN to DFW assuming dept 4/10 ret 4/13.

cjbryant,

What is UP with that Wright Act??? I thought you had lost your noodle until I checked the swa website. What's the purpose?

I've been a "plane warrior" the last couple years for work and have become very familiar with getting what I want from the airlines (American in particular) Your not really going to find any one on line site offering a huge discount over another site on the same flight. The airlines set the prices on fares and the outlets like the online sites simply work within a small margin off the set fare. The exception to that rule may be the bid sites like Priceline, which you said you don't care for (and I can't blame you).

So here's what you need to do:

1. Look for when the airlines drop THEIR prices on the tickets. Outlets like the online ones and travel agents are pretty tied to the airlines listed fare, so you won't see any major reduction in cost from them until the airline itself decides to drop the cost.

2. As i said above, most online sites are going to be very close to eachother in price, so hopping from one site to another looking for a major swing in price on the same flight is a waste of your time.


3. Call the airlines directly. Have them search for best fares and potential options for you. Airlines have many classes of tickets for coach travel (Y,X,B,etc..) and you don't get the flexibility of searching these options with the online sites. Most of these classes aren't even made available to the online retailers. Have the agent try different times of day as well. That can often impact a fare.

3. Call the airlines directly, AGAIN and AGAIN. I can't tell you how many times I've hung up with an agent frustrated, only to call back ten minutes later and talk to a different person and find what I was looking for. It defies common sense, I know, but that's the airlines for ya. A lot of this is because, as mentioned above, the airlines have many classes of fares and a knowledgable/hard working agent can navigate them better. Trust me on this one......keep calling and calling, it's a free call!!

On a recent flight to Orlando one colleague was quoted a lowest fare of $325 and I called no more than five minutes later and got a price of $75 round trip!

4. Try another airport close by the major airport your going to/departing from. For example, rather than fly into Boston/Logan Airport I'll use Manchester, NH which is only 1 hour away but often (not always!) much cheaper and/or flexible in cost. Expedia has a feature that will automatically check this for you. When you get your flight results back, look on the left side and you will see alternate airports (and distances)from your chosen locations.


When I book a flight, I'll check Expedia and make some notes. Then call the airline a few times and see what they offer. I'll also price out flights to neighboring airports if possible. I'll do this regularly for at least two weeks, sometimes even for two months. 9 times out of 10 the price I pay is usually much less than the starting price I was originally quoted

Thanks for all of your help. Great ideas here. Just seems to be no fare wars going on right now, anticipating spring break and lots of traffic.

Hummmm, how to define the Wright Act. Here is how I understand it. When they built DFW, SW, which started out in TX (one of the first to wear hot pants and white go go boots, all young gals, serving cocktails to the male business population) wanted to keep the rights to fly into Love Field. AA considered this a hindrance to their business, so they got some of their big govt friends to write the Wright Act to protect them. Basically it said that no airline can fly into Love Field non stop, they have to stop in a state that touches Tx, basically tying SW hands. I thought years ago they decided that this act was unconstitutional, but looks like it isn't going away soon. It sucks, especially if you like to fly into Dallas. Anyway, that is how I understand it. Someone else can probably explain it much better than I did. Hard to believe it has stuck around this long. Go figure...