Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 06-09-2018, 03:16 PM   #61
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Tampa
Posts: 11,228
Quote:
Originally Posted by rodi View Post
Basic economy is usually not that much cheaper than regular economy. Some airlines don't allow carry on luggage in basic... and all of them restrict seat assignments. I accidentally booked a red eye that was basic economy from SAN to JFK.... The cost to upgrade to premium economy was the same cost as checking a bag... so I did that - got my carry on covered and got extra leg room.

I'm flying regular economy in a few weeks. I'm good at travelling light - but do need more than a book bag for a week of travel. We're returning in premium (DH and I) because there was only 1 seat that wasn't a middle seat in regular economy - I put my sons in adjacent window/middle, and upgrade DH and I to premium. I'm sure the kid that ends up in the middle seat will be grumpy. (Son's are 6'4" and 6'2".)

I stopped flying Allegient because their whole model is basic economy. Pay for seat assignments. (Including families traveling with small children!!!!!) Pay for carry on luggage. Pay more for checked luggage. Pay for water on the flight. Pay to use the bathroom (ok... not yet - but I think they are considering it.) Add to that they regularly cancel flights leaving people stranded.... I won't buy tickets on Allegiant again.
Plus you don't really know with Allegiant if the plane will land....
__________________
TGIM
Dtail is online now   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 06-09-2018, 03:24 PM   #62
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
athena53's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,323
Quote:
Originally Posted by tmm99 View Post
Thank you, Marko. For the kind of flights I'm looking at, there seems to be no fluctuation in prices, but I didn't know I could even look at the trend, or set up alerts, so thanks. I've just set one alert there already to see if there are any good deals coming my way.
Keep looking- I caught a bit of a break on Business Class to Edinburgh. I think it was last November or December for travel this September and one day the airfare was about $300 below what I'd been seeing (United/Continental via PHL). I grabbed it.

Apparently there are companies that claim they'll find lower fares than what you're seeing (for a price) but, according to the folks on FlyerTalk, they might involve two connections when you found a fare with only one, or may have a too-short layover in a place like Heathrow. No, thanks.
athena53 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-09-2018, 03:30 PM   #63
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
audreyh1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 38,007
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrapr View Post
I use Google Flights and save various trips & airlines. Then I get an alert on price changes. The prices change pretty dramatically. I was watching one flight LAX-AMS. It was about $6k. For one day it went to $19k. Then back down. It is trending up as we are about 3 months out from my search period (Sept)

My strategy is Business class over to a gateway city. Then econo box to Greece. I just can't do 11-12 hours in even Premium economy. I was goofing and found a cheap deal LAX-BOG-Mad. But the airline did not look well reviewed. Might do it and just figure it's an adventure whatever happens. I never thought about going to South America and then over
I also watch via google flights. I know for domestic that I can often wait until about 4 weeks before for the price to come down. The prices jump up and down and will drive you crazy. I was seeing some high prices or an upcoming flight, but I just waited and saw some suddenly lower prices around 4 weeks - and the first class was not much higher than the higher prices I had already been seeing for economy so I jumped on it. Made a farelock on a Tuesday, and by Wed prices had already jumped up. Buying on Tuesday sometimes seems to help, also flying or returning on a Tuesday or Wednesday seems to get lower prices.

I also modified my plans slightly to return a couple of days later on a Tuesday, and that may have helped lower the price.

International flights I’m usually looking at about 2 months in advance, sometimes a bit earlier. I also see these come down around 2 months before flight. I guess we got lucky this year with the international flight because business class was about 2.5x economy. Last year I was able to upgrade for slightly less than that - I just watched until the upgrade prices came down, and I think they did because the plane wasn’t that full. The plane was more full this year so who knows if they would have had upgrades. Also folks looking to spend miles for international business upgrades have to also pluck down $500 each way and then they are on a waiting list hoping to make it - sorted by status, and then assigned what is left! Planes were very full this year, I don’t think that many got upgraded.
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
audreyh1 is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 06-09-2018, 03:31 PM   #64
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 17,203
Interesting about Google flight... will have to take a look at that going forward...


I was looking at Houston to London in July... from Houston it is over $1600... but from Austin it is less than $1100!!!


Business is over $3800 on BA but over $6K on United...


Still cannot figure out how Austin is cheaper than Houston
Texas Proud is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-09-2018, 03:32 PM   #65
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 8,362
Quote:
Originally Posted by tmm99 View Post
Thank you, Marko. For the kind of flights I'm looking at, there seems to be no fluctuation in prices, but I didn't know I could even look at the trend, or set up alerts, so thanks. I've just set one alert there already to see if there are any good deals coming my way.
If you check far enough in advance the price doesn't move much until you get closer in time. Good luck!
__________________
Living well is the best revenge!
Retired @ 52 in 2005
marko is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 06-09-2018, 03:38 PM   #66
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
audreyh1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 38,007
Quote:
Originally Posted by Texas Proud View Post
Interesting about Google flight... will have to take a look at that going forward...


I was looking at Houston to London in July... from Houston it is over $1600... but from Austin it is less than $1100!!!


Business is over $3800 on BA but over $6K on United...


Still cannot figure out how Austin is cheaper than Houston
More airlines fly out of there? I’ve noticed competition is fairly fierce in Austin. But for me it would be a 6 to 7 hour drive, so it doesn’t work.

Once I think a flight to Seattle was only $180 or something crazy, 1/3 to 1/4 the amount it would be from here.
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
audreyh1 is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 06-09-2018, 03:39 PM   #67
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
audreyh1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 38,007
Three weeks is when prices start going up domestic for sure. But by three weeks some planes may be filling up, so the bargain seats may be gone - at least at the popular times. So it’s good to look a little earlier.
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
audreyh1 is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 06-09-2018, 04:04 PM   #68
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
audreyh1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 38,007
Here is a tracking from two years ago. Economy, international flight. I started tracking 82 days before. The price went up quite a bit for a long while, and then came down again for less than a week around the 60 day mark. That’s when I booked it. The price then didn’t come down quite as far, but did a little at the 40 day mark. Just gives you an idea.

If you are willing to leave on a really early flight, or late in the day, you can also find better prices. Popular times book up fast.
Attached Images
File Type: jpeg 0FA98D70-D673-4E24-86EC-853A02FEB261.jpeg (267.3 KB, 23 views)
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
audreyh1 is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 06-09-2018, 06:10 PM   #69
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 3,405
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dtail View Post
Plus you don't really know with Allegiant if the plane will land....
The plane will land, but you don't know how hard or in how many pieces...

Allegiant could be free and I would pass.

Many decades ago, I took a World Airways flight from SFO to Newark. World was on its' last legs at that point. There were about five people on the plane. I had to change seats twice because the seat belts were broken at the first two seats. As in detached. I was young and immortal then. Not now.
Another Reader is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-09-2018, 08:16 PM   #70
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 4,661
Thanks for the tips. I do use Google Flights but haven’t been setting up alerts. Also we book further in advance so maybe that is why the fares always seem so high to us.
Scuba is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-09-2018, 09:17 PM   #71
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Scrapr's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Portland
Posts: 1,708
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scuba View Post
Thanks for the tips. I do use Google Flights but haven’t been setting up alerts. Also we book further in advance so maybe that is why the fares always seem so high to us.
I first looked in March (6 months ahead) There were some "OK" options. Since the prices are trending up. Sounds like as we get closer there may be some deals. I set up the alerts when I thought we might gfo in the Fall. Mrs Scrapr is a bit slower in recovering from surgery so I think it will be in 2019. I'm just going to watch these to see a pattern for next year
Scrapr is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2018, 06:37 AM   #72
Full time employment: Posting here.
YVRRocketSurgery's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 915
In the past, we'd just jump on the cheapest flights but we're now a bit more selective depending on the situation and variables.

Cheap flights obviously don't necessarily end up a lot cheaper when factoring in fees.

For short flights (<2-2.5hrs), I'm willing to suck it up. Anything longer and I start eliminate certain carriers.



I had the opportunity to fly biz class again for a work trip that literally took me to the opposite side of the world. This was a just days after we came back from a 2 week trip to Asia where we flew economy on the same airline. While I find international economy on most mainline carriers generally reasonable, biz class really made the entire journey way more enjoyable, particularly since I had 2 connections and due to the overall travel time. I'd love to fly more biz class during retirement but we've got to find deals before booking biz class because it's hard to pay a lot more for it when we've snagged flights to Asia the last few years in the $400-$600CDN range.



+1. Middle seat gets both armrests!
__________________
Good Riddance. April 2022
"Yes, there's some shady stuff going down but it's fuelled by stupidity."
YVRRocketSurgery is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2018, 06:55 AM   #73
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
frayne's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Chattanooga
Posts: 3,877
After flying more than I'd care to admit while I was a working stiff, today I'd rather have a root canal. Hated standing in airport lines, security checks and being shoe horned into the aluminum flying tube where using the restroom was akin to superman changing in a phone booth. I don't care how glamorous the Ad world or others try to make it, I think it sucked, even flying first class. Just my two cents on the subject.
__________________
Earning money is an action, saving money is a behavior, growing money takes a well diversified portfolio and the discipline to ignore market swings.
frayne is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2018, 11:44 AM   #74
Recycles dryer sheets
shortstop14's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 297
In a lot of years of flying, I don't think I've ever flown even business class, let alone first class - including trips to Australia and New Zealand. I expect once it happens I'll never want to fly economy again. But basic economy is just too annoying. I don't mind paying a little extra to avoid getting nickled and dimed by Spirit and the like, the experience has never been good.



But most of my domestic flights are Southwest, where pretty much everybody suffers the same. But first class internationally would blow a big hole in my travel budget.
shortstop14 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2018, 02:34 PM   #75
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 17,203
Quote:
Originally Posted by shortstop14 View Post
In a lot of years of flying, I don't think I've ever flown even business class, let alone first class - including trips to Australia and New Zealand. I expect once it happens I'll never want to fly economy again. But basic economy is just too annoying. I don't mind paying a little extra to avoid getting nickled and dimed by Spirit and the like, the experience has never been good.



But most of my domestic flights are Southwest, where pretty much everybody suffers the same. But first class internationally would blow a big hole in my travel budget.



I have actually flown all classes... but the current versions are going to be much better than when I flew as they now have lay flat beds and your own cubicle...



Yes, it was nicer but not worth the extra money if I were paying... unless I could get some of the deals some people talk about on these threads... my prices are not even close, like 5X or more higher...
Texas Proud is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2018, 02:58 PM   #76
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
audreyh1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 38,007
Quote:
Originally Posted by audreyh1 View Post
It’s not always a ratio like that. Sometimes you can find overseas first class for 2.5x economy, and domestic first class for less than 2x.
To clarify - on overseas I meant business class sometimes called business/first (and yes with lie flat seats). I haven’t been on a three class flight in decades.
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
audreyh1 is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2018, 03:03 PM   #77
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
RunningBum's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 13,202
I always check SeatGuru.com to see what first/business/premium actually look like, or even economy just to find the better seats and avoid the bad. I don't know about international, but some of the domestic first class seats are really nice, while some are just a big bigger than economy. I don't think all of the overseas internationals are lie flat. Some are angled. Some have partitions, others don't, or not very private ones. Make sure you know what you're paying extra for.
RunningBum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2018, 03:14 PM   #78
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Red Badger's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Hog Mountian
Posts: 2,077
Quote:
Originally Posted by audreyh1 View Post
To clarify - on overseas I meant business class sometimes called business/first (and yes with lie flat seats). I haven’t been on a three class flight in decades.
Three class flights are back in a big way on long haul flights. Most legacy airlines now have a class that is similar to domestic first class. Wider seats, better (?) meals, bigger screen, amenity kit, and a few other perks. The names are confusing. I usually fly Delta. With them, Comfort Economy is the coach seats with a little extra room; whereas the wide seats are Premium Economy (in separate cabin). I'm booking flights to Europe (September) and Premium Econ is going to run $1650 RT.
__________________
Never let yesterday use up too much of today.
W. Rogers
Red Badger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2018, 03:25 PM   #79
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
audreyh1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 38,007
Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Badger View Post
Three class flights are back in a big way on long haul flights. Most legacy airlines now have a class that is similar to domestic first class. Wider seats, better (?) meals, bigger screen, amenity kit, and a few other perks. The names are confusing. I usually fly Delta. With them, Comfort Economy is the coach seats with a little extra room; whereas the wide seats are Premium Economy (in separate cabin). I'm booking flights to Europe (September) and Premium Econ is going to run $1650 RT.
In wasn’t counting economy plus (United) which gives you more leg room as a separate class. These still share the economy cabin, taking the first rows. And the only difference is more leg room and sitting near the front, but same meals and snacks, if any, same drink prices, etc.

Wow, $1650 RT sounds like a deal if you are getting lie flat seats, etc. We usually pay just a little less for regular economy to Europe - $1300 to $1400.

I wonder why they call it Premium Economy, is there another higher class on the same plane?

Sounds like bigger seats, footrest, more recline, upgraded meals, but not lie flat.
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
audreyh1 is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 06-10-2018, 04:20 PM   #80
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Red Badger's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Hog Mountian
Posts: 2,077
Quote:
Originally Posted by audreyh1 View Post
In wasn’t counting economy plus (United) which gives you more leg room as a separate class. These still share the economy cabin, taking the first rows. And the only difference is more leg room and sitting near the front, but same meals and snacks, if any, same drink prices, etc.

Wow, $1650 RT sounds like a deal if you are getting lie flat seats, etc. We usually pay just a little less for regular economy to Europe - $1300 to $1400.

I wonder why they call it Premium Economy, is there another higher class on the same plane?

Sounds like bigger seats, footrest, more recline, upgraded meals, but not lie flat.
Nope - not lie flat. That moves the price point to ~$5K. Happy to get a nice seat and pay a couple hundred above regular coach.
__________________
Never let yesterday use up too much of today.
W. Rogers
Red Badger is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Twitter Experience Like ER-Forum Experience? TromboneAl Other topics 10 03-23-2015 12:17 PM
Isn't the airline supposed to check your ticket? soupcxan Other topics 9 06-06-2006 08:32 AM
Airline Stock? Craig FIRE and Money 17 01-04-2006 10:11 PM
Senators resolve airline pension fight newellcr Young Dreamers 8 10-07-2005 11:39 AM
What's your favorite airline? GTM Life after FIRE 24 04-25-2005 07:50 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 10:43 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.