Southwest

4/2/2012 2:11:31 PM

Hi folks, question for the veteran flyers.

I'm booking a flight to NC from here in Huntsville, AL and I need to go through Charlotte but fly out of Raleigh.

It will cost $288 for me fly HSV->CLT and RDU->HSV on two separate one way trips.

If I buy a round trip from HSV->RDU though, it will be $40 cheaper. It has a layover in CLT, so couldn't I just buy this one for cheaper and not catch my connecting flight?

I apologize if this has already been addressed in this thread somewhere, I haven't had the chance to look.

4/17/2012 3:49:01 PM

Pretty sure they cancel the return flight if you do that.

4/17/2012 3:52:27 PM

yeah they do.

you have to get on or they cancel the remainder if you dont update/catch a later flight.

spend the extra $, less headache too

4/17/2012 4:00:15 PM

Ah okay, thanks for clearing that up. It's stupid that something like that even exists but I guess it's just another way of them squeezing money out of us.

4/17/2012 4:02:35 PM

Update on using travel agents: they're worthless. Went into a place downtown and they couldn't find anything cheaper than what I found. I called Beeline and she said by law, they can only offer what's already out there and available online and can't beat that price. I guess they could save you some money with accommodations included, but I've also found some pretty good deals on my own. I ended up calling Qantas reservations and got a cheaper rate than what I was quoted on qantas.com.

4/23/2012 1:28:41 PM

Yeah where travel agents are good are for hotels, package deals, etc. The days of travel agencies getting special fares from the airlines for tickets are pretty much gone.

4/23/2012 1:39:51 PM

^They can be good for working the system (multihop trips, open jaws, open segments, extended layovers etc). But for a straight up roundtrip ticket, there's no fare difference.

4/24/2012 12:12:18 AM

I think they can if you don't have the time to do the research. The flight I just booked included stops in three different cities. I was also able to book our honeymoon flight (last Oct) that included an extended layover in London on the way there and an overnight layover on the way back so we were able to sightsee and whatnot.

4/24/2012 9:03:09 AM

looking to go from raleigh to london at the start of june. would it be better to fly out of charlotte? atlanta? dc?

Does 600s sound good for one way or should i be able to get something much lower? no idea.

4/28/2012 8:09:31 PM

^I've found that it's significantly cheaper to fly into Dublin than London. If you're not totally crunched for time you could get a cheap flight from Dublin to London on RyanAir or something like that for cheaper than the direct flight. Wouldn't hurt if you had any interest in spending time in Dublin.

4/28/2012 8:35:26 PM

I got my sister a flight using virgin air then connecting to jetblue
for 900 dollars from london, like next week.

holla!

4/28/2012 11:37:25 PM

does anyone know the cheapest flights from NC to OR? preferably out of CLT.


or, if anyone flies out to the PNW, what the average ticket price is.

11/30/2012 8:59:35 AM

^ What time of year are you talking? I know the average for non-peak travel is around $350 out of RDU but if you're talking Christmas count on doubling that.

11/30/2012 9:27:16 AM

no no, it would be next year maybe in the spring. $450 is what i was seeing out there for mid March.

11/30/2012 10:07:27 AM

OR is a terrible place to fly into. SEA is going to be 100-150 bucks cheaper almost always.

Cheapest fares from NC to PNW are going to be USAirways out of Greensboro, or Delta/American out of RDU.

11/30/2012 4:58:22 PM

thanks! you're right, flights into Seattle are under 400.


i'm trying to map out kind of a PNW beer trip around Portland, Bend, and a brief stop in Pacific City. and I suppose adding in Seattle.

11/30/2012 8:10:03 PM

beer trip? dude they got legal weed now!

12/2/2012 6:58:20 PM

Hey guys, I have a question about international flights. Has anybody done a "Circle Pacific" style ticket? Supposedly you pay about $2,000 and you can fly from LAX around the Pacific rim with a certain number of stops. Anybody heard of this? I couldn't figure out how to buy one online without spending $Texas. Do I need to contact a travel agent?

And what is a good way to get international flights to Europe or Asia in early 2013? I'm getting out of the Navy and I want to travel the world. So I'm super flexible about dates and airports. I just want cheap cheap cheap! I can take a road trip out to LA or NYC or anywhere that's cheapest. HELP!!!

12/2/2012 8:42:01 PM

If you want do this, skyteam is the best way to go unless you have a butt ton of miles on USAirways or another carrier partner.

go to skyteam.com and plan your trip. Then you call an airline agent, probably delta will be the easiest if you are in the US, and book it.

costs are based on mileage ramps: http://airtimetable.com/skyteam_around_world_fare.htm gives you a good idea of cost. Add another 15% for fees and taxes.

its not cheap, being 2500-5000 bucks, buy you can make as many stops as you like as long as follow the routing rules (primarily no backtracking).

12/2/2012 9:24:27 PM

Do you have to pick the dates for each flight in advance? Or just the first one? I've gone to the skyteam website before, but to buy the ticket they always link you to somewhere else where you have to choose a bunch of airports and dates.

12/2/2012 9:54:49 PM

Anyone think I could legit find a flight round trip to Barcelona for less than 1000 bucks out of NC?

12/2/2012 11:25:18 PM

Yes, on United.

12/3/2012 12:27:19 AM

^^^ For the cheapest way to Europe, Iceland air can be the cheapest by far if you are a bit flexible on dates. Keep in mind that the trip is not the fastest way to Europe as you fly farther north than most transatlantic routes would take and you layover in Iceland. I've flown them a few times and have had nothing but good experiences.

^^ Very easy to find flights cheaper than $1k to Barcelona. However, it will largely depend on when you are planning to travel.

12/3/2012 5:09:51 AM

I booked a flight from SF to Barcelona for under $800 in January on British Airways, but I booked it back in July. Skyscanner.com is a semi-decent way to do a cursory search for international flights.

[Edited on December 3, 2012 at 10:56 AM. Reason : asdf]

12/3/2012 10:55:58 AM

I found flights to BCN and MAD for $800, bought tix in August and traveled in Sept (via Delta, from Cincinnati, connecting in ATL)

12/3/2012 12:05:30 PM

Quote :

"Do you have to pick the dates for each flight in advance? Or just the first one? I've gone to the skyteam website before, but to buy the ticket they always link you to somewhere else where you have to choose a bunch of airports and dates."

Yes, you have to prebook all of your flights in a single planned itinerary. There is no such thing as an open "around the world pass". You have to book all of your flights up front, because the price the pass based on the total number of miles you will be flying.

To everyone else:

This is NOT just buying a flight to europe. Round the world passes allow you to literally fly around the world, circumnavigating it one complete time, stopping as many places on the way as you like (as long as each stop is further westbound than the prior one if flying west, or eastbound if flying east).

If you use it to its limits for 15-20 stops, a $5k round the world pass can easily save you 10-15,000 on airfare.

12/3/2012 6:22:06 PM

That sounds awesome actually. I would love to do something like that, stop over in a few key non-European locations, see the Taj, Angkor Wat, The Pyramids, etc.

12/3/2012 6:39:35 PM

^^awesome

12/3/2012 7:41:38 PM

Those are so unpractical. Even the continental ones are unpractical unless you're island hopping. Makes more sense to fly to the mainland and then travel overland or by regional budget airlines.

Example

Europe:

1.fly in to iceland (best country nobody talks about)
2.iceland express it to northern europe for less than 50 dollars.
3.eurail or ryan air it the rest of the way

ferries to northern africa from europe are pretty cheap and relatively quick.

trains are great in asia as well.

12/3/2012 10:09:16 PM

^These two things are not mutually exclusive. Again, you are just talking about western Europe and parts of Asia. Yes, while in places with great rail service, you should use that. But, for instance, getting from Athens to Cairo is a very expensive flight for the distance traveled.

Also, getting to most of Africa is a million times easier, faster and safer by plane. The middle east, including Turkey, Iran, eastern block countries, Russia, China, the south pacific, Australia and New Zealand, Indonesia.

Not to mention the US, central america and south america, all which do not have reliable rail systems.

There's a lot more to the world than western Europe and mainland southeast Asia.

12/3/2012 11:31:20 PM

Someone help me find from NYC area to RDU for President's Day wknd!

2/7/2013 11:57:34 AM

someone help me fly to maui at the end of may, cheap

2/7/2013 12:55:26 PM

This seemed like a good forum in which to air my current gripe:

Having a major issue booking a ticket from NYC to CLT in the evening on Friday, March 22nd coming back Sunday, March 24th...normally this should run me about $200, sometimes less

For some reason this weekend any ticket after 6:30 PM is and coming back in the afternoon on Sunday is $273 ... and if I want to fly before 9 PM on Friday it's even more

Is something going on in Charlotte I'm unaware of?

2/7/2013 1:09:52 PM

No, its that Sunday is always the most desirable return date and they know this, so the base fares will be bumped higher unless the plane is basically empty.

Try a return on Monday (red-eye), it will usually be the lower base fare.

2/7/2013 1:23:45 PM

I'm too old to take a redeye...I'll end up paying the extra hundred...just weird though, I do this trip 5-6 times a year for the last 7 or 8 years and have never seen this friday / sunday trip this expensive

2/7/2013 1:26:40 PM

It could also be that you've waited too close to the departure date and all the lower base fares have already been sold.

2/7/2013 1:30:55 PM

It's definitely gone up...about a month ago it was at $230 but I usually wait for them to drop to around $200 because they usually do, not this time...bad move obviously

2/7/2013 1:36:38 PM

I've never seen anything that cheap for charlotte anyway. Charlotte is always about 25% more expensive than Raleigh (to fly out of) in my experience.

2/7/2013 1:55:57 PM

I mean I wasn't looking to get into a pissing match about who knows NYC / CLT round trip prices better but here's the lowest prices on flights of similar times that I would take for the 3 weekends before:

$210
$174
$229

I'm just saying, in my experience, $273 for a round trip is out of the ordinary

2/7/2013 2:20:29 PM

^Yeah, pretty reasonable. Looks like you just got unlucky this time

2/7/2013 4:45:17 PM

Yeah it is. I usually get NYC/CLT round trips for $140-160.

Quote :

"I've never seen anything that cheap for charlotte anyway. Charlotte is always about 25% more expensive than Raleigh (to fly out of) in my experience."

Depends on the airline. Delta is rarely ever cheaper flying out of Raleigh.

[Edited on February 7, 2013 at 5:11 PM. Reason : s]

2/7/2013 5:09:27 PM

I downloaded an app called skyscanner (from a Facebook link). You put in your departure airport and hit "explore" and a globe pops up with the cheapest round trip tickets pinned in different countries. It's pretty easy to use.

2/8/2013 5:25:03 PM

Southwest / AirTran have flights started at $59 each way for like the next three months....
500 miles or less....$59

up to like 150ish?

2/9/2013 10:06:35 AM

bttt


does anyone fly from CLT to LAX with any regularity? for about a month out rates seem to be between $350-$400 for Delta or United with one-stop. Non-stop through US Air is roughly $470.

I'm thinking of just going non-stop, the extra $100 is probably worth longer layover or the chance of narrowly missing a quick connecting flight but i just wanted to see if anyone had any tips.

1/9/2014 8:32:15 PM

Southwest does fly CLT to LAX but with a layover. And they are still in the $350-400 range.

1/10/2014 11:48:24 AM

yeah, looks to be about the same layover times. The direct US Air flight is probably the best option.

1/10/2014 12:08:47 PM

Maybe fly into Burbank or Long Beach if you're going to rent a car anyway?

1/10/2014 12:31:31 PM

no car. would get picked up by a friend.

1/10/2014 12:59:15 PM

I'm looking to fly to Milan or Rome in August. Any recommendations? If i was able to buy this with miles, how much would I still pay in fees per person?


[Edited on January 10, 2014 at 2:43 PM. Reason : ]

1/10/2014 2:39:13 PM