Finding good airfares / travel hacking

[travelover]

Skiplagged.com - sued by airlines, won in court.

What can an airline do to you if they catch you buying a more distant city ticket but jumping off at the plane change?

 

[BarbWire]

What can an airline do to you if they catch you buying a more distant city ticket but jumping off at the plane change?

There are apparently a couple of cases of airlines cancelling the passenger's frequent flyer account, citing violation of the T&C.

(yep, I've been reading lots of blogs this weekend ...)

 

[BarbWire]

Hey, any of you travel geniuses want to throw out ideas for building an open jaw ticket using points?

I'm trying to get a friend from London to Seattle and then back to London via Charleston. United looks like best bet, I think, but I've got other points I can use. The cheap flights to Seattle are on IcelandAir, a JetBlue partner.

Frankly I'm kinda bewildered by the process. I've used ITA to look stuff up, but then can't seem to get those combos to show up when I search award travel on the airline sites.

Figured OP would be ok with my slight thread hijack, I hope.

Hijack is OK.

According to the blogs I've been reading if you cannot get the routing you want to come up when you do the award search, phone the airline.

They also say to do the award search separately for each leg, to make sure that there is space available for the entire routing.

United allows two open jaws and one stopover on a roundtrip ticket. Do you want an open jaw (LHR-SEA ....get to Charleston somehow ... CHS-LHR) or do you want a stopover (LHR-SEA-CHS(stopover)-LHR)?

Either one is legal for United. Neither would be legal for American. Different rules.

 

[explanade]

I think you can do one-way awards?

So two separate one-way awards?

 

[Sarah in SC]

Thanks, Grey! I actually probably want open jaw. She's going to be driving back cross country with DH and another buddy! I think, but if that doesn't pan out, then I'm going to need stopover instead. Ah, such confusion!

The thinking I have on all one ticket is that it will be less miles than getting two one way award tickets.

I poked around on United a bit today, and am glad that how I understood their rules to work is what you do too.

 

[walkinwood]

I second Gray's suggestion to call the airline. I had a convoluted route using frequent flier miles (the only route I could get) and it got even worse when they made some schedule changes. I called United and they worked out a more streamlined route. We had to leave a day earlier to get that, but that wasnt' an issue for us.

 

[MooreBonds]

What can an airline do to you if they catch you buying a more distant city ticket but jumping off at the plane change?

There are apparently a couple of cases of airlines cancelling the passenger's frequent flyer account, citing violation of the T&C.

(yep, I've been reading lots of blogs this weekend ...)

I've always wondered this, because on the ticket, I think it states that if you don't board the plane by 10 minutes prior to the departure time, they can legally sell your seat to someone else.

So if you don't board the plane on the return flight at the originating city and they sell your seat on an oversold flight, and you try to get onto the return flight at the connecting city, I don't know if you lose your entire flight if they resell your seat, or if they let you get on if there is room on the other flight. In most cases, I don't fly enough to take this chance, and I'd just buck up and pay an extra $50 or $100 on a flight to avoid that paranoia and getting stuck somewhere.

 

[sengsational]

So if you don't board the plane on the return flight at the originating city...

I don't think anyone would expect that to work. I think the idea is hopping off early on a one-way. No checked baggage.

You might need to book your two one-ways on two different airlines, or they could put two-and-two together and cancel your second one-way ticket.

 

[marko]

I've always wondered this, because on the ticket, I think it states that if you don't board the plane by 10 minutes prior to the departure time, they can legally sell your seat to someone else.

So if you don't board the plane on the return flight at the originating city and they sell your seat on an oversold flight, and you try to get onto the return flight at the connecting city, I don't know if you lose your entire flight if they resell your seat, or if they let you get on if there is room on the other flight. In most cases, I don't fly enough to take this chance, and I'd just buck up and pay an extra $50 or $100 on a flight to avoid that paranoia and getting stuck somewhere.

A few years ago, I had an Al-Italia agent actually suggest buying a round trip ticket and not using the return...saved me a bundle!! She actually said: "it'll be our little secret"

BUT BUT BUT!!...some airlines' fine print will say that if you don't complete your round trip (without a good reason) they will invoice you after the fact for the higher priced one way ticket.

 

[sengsational]

BUT BUT BUT!!...some airlines' fine print will say that if you don't complete your round trip (without a good reason) they will invoice you after the fact for the higher priced one way ticket.

Good luck collecting on that invoice. The only thing that would serve to do is prevent me from being a future customer of that airline.

 

[audreyh1]

What is the deal with one way tickets anyway? The pricing makes no sense. There is no savings for the airline on a round trip. It's just weird!

 

[Gotadimple]

What is the deal with one way tickets anyway? The pricing makes no sense. There is no savings for the airline on a round trip. It's just weird!

Competition. They all price this way. Unfortunately, airlines don't make money on fares (unless its the one-way kind), they make money on the accoutrements: checked luggage, early boarding, special seats.

 

[alistair]

I used flights.google.com to find the flights for the vacation I'm currently on. But when looking to book I was also checking kayak.com.

Good timing; I checked flights.google.com today for a DC to LA flight; it found one for $175+tax (r/t). Saved me quite a bit of money for an upcoming family trip.

It's probably been mentioned elsewhere, but on average, the cheapest fares can be found about 8 weeks out from travel; at least according to one study.

 

[audreyh1]

I find that for domestic fares, 21 days ahead is usually fine for getting a very good price unless it's a super busy route. I try to finalize within a month.

For international, I've done OK fare wise even with just 2 months out.

 

[BarbWire]

I started my serious hunt for fares to UK for the week of Sept 7 last week -- six-plus weeks out. I can't finalize until early next week -- 5 weeks out. Fingers crossed.

That said, in the past week I've seen the good fare to MAN disappear, the fare to LHR from AUS stay about the same, and the prices to LHR from PHL (checking it as a gateway) fall.

The algorithms for dynamic pricing are getting more sophisticated, and ubiquitous: hostels in the UK now have dynamic pricing!

 

[gretah]

When I used mileage points to pay for air tickets, I always phoned late at night and spoke to a human. I usually called after 10 pacific time.

The workers were often former flight attendants and enjoyed searching for me. They would sometimes give me great info on modestly-priced hotels and restaurants.

 

[Koolau]

I'm nostalgic for the days when I simply called (or stopped into) a travel agent. I hate the process of self-searching and booking though I know some folks find this process quite enjoyable and rewarding. I personally find it boring and stressful all at the same time. I do it because it DOES save a LOT of money in many cases.

One of the few things I would enjoy about being truly "rich" (lets say a stash of $25 mil or a guaranteed income of say $1 mil/year) would be to either call an agent and tell them what I wanted to do and leave my Ultra-Platinum CC number with them to make the arrangements - or if I really want to dream, I would charter my own "Net-Jets" or similar.

But back to reality for a moment, I'm sensing a trend (here on the forum) toward booking directly with the airlines - even going so far as to call them. I'm just becoming familiar (not necessarily comfortable) with going through the Expedias and Travelocities of the world. Next time, I will try the direct approach and see how it compares with the "other guys." Thanks to all for the learning experience.

 

[Bamaman]

You can watch airfares on Matrix - ITA Software by Google You cannot purchase tickets there, but you can figure out the best flights for you--minimizing transfers and keeping down time spent in airports, etc.

I also watch ClarkHoward.com for bargain airfares. I also go on Wikipedia to figure out what airlines fly to where I want to go--especially low fare budget airlines.

We just returned from our third overseas trip in just over a year--traveling for half the airfare most travelers spend.

 

[Sarah in SC]

I agree, if I won the lottery (hard to do when you don't buy a ticket, I guess) I'd want to get in with Netjets.

Interestingly, after despairing that is ever find much use for my small cache of Delta "sky pesos", I booked a couple of one-ways from Charleston to/from Sacramento for 12,500 points each for next month. Not too bad, I think.