How To: Finding Cheap Airfare

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > How To: Finding Cheap Airfare

clockworkjoe: May 31, 2000; Rolled a 1 on the random encounter table, didn't you?

I'm trying to book a flight for someone in Australia who is coming to America to visit. I have some United miles and a bunch of Chase points.

Origin: ADL
Destination: SGF or MCI (I can drive to Kansas City if need be)
Duration of trip with dates: July 2 to August 28th but flexible
Flexibility: +/- 2 days of stated duration.

# ? Jun 21, 2019 21:12

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# ? May 12, 2024 12:26

JaySB: Nov 16, 2006

clockworkjoe posted:

I'm trying to book a flight for someone in Australia who is coming to America to visit. I have some United miles and a bunch of Chase points.

Origin: ADL
Destination: SGF or MCI (I can drive to Kansas City if need be)
Duration of trip with dates: July 2 to August 28th but flexible
Flexibility: +/- 2 days of stated duration.

I don't see any awards availability in July, return on August 26th is available though.

# ? Jun 21, 2019 23:00

clockworkjoe: May 31, 2000; Rolled a 1 on the random encounter table, didn't you?

JaySB posted:

I don't see any awards availability in July, return on August 26th is available though.

Hmm, what about Sydney to SGF or KC? It's cheap to fly from ADL to SYD as a separate flight.

# ? Jun 22, 2019 05:43

JaySB: Nov 16, 2006

clockworkjoe posted:

Hmm, what about Sydney to SGF or KC? It's cheap to fly from ADL to SYD as a separate flight.

I can't find any awards availability departing. Returns are no problem. There may be some last minute luck but as of right now I can't find anything.

# ? Jun 22, 2019 06:36

Saladman: Jan 12, 2010

Saladman posted:

Do you actually need anything when you do TSA precheck / global entry? [...] I finally got final approval and my card in the mail last week, almost exactly 7 months after starting the application. My wife is still waiting for her "conditional approval".

In response to this post from 3.5 months ago, good god, my wife finally got her conditional approval to schedule a global entry interview. So that's nearly 10 months: her application was started September 27, 2018 and conditionally approved on July 15, 2019.

I'm not sure if there was something wrong or not, as our last status update was mid-December 2018, and in early June I sent an email to CBP asking wtf was up, and they said "nothing, just wait." I have no idea if the app was like, lost in a drawer until then and emailing got them to act, or if it was really just processing that entire time.

We'd have to have some amazing experiences with global entry and TSApre√ to make it worthwhile to do this again in 5 years. I'm a US citizen, she is not, and neither of us live in the US, so maybe it takes longer, but still... jeez.

# ? Jul 18, 2019 21:06

Nur_Neerg: Sep 1, 2004; The Lumbering but Unstoppable Sasquatch of the Appalachians

Saladman posted:

In response to this post from 3.5 months ago, good god, my wife finally got her conditional approval to schedule a global entry interview. So that's nearly 10 months: her application was started September 27, 2018 and conditionally approved on July 15, 2019.

I'm not sure if there was something wrong or not, as our last status update was mid-December 2018, and in early June I sent an email to CBP asking wtf was up, and they said "nothing, just wait." I have no idea if the app was like, lost in a drawer until then and emailing got them to act, or if it was really just processing that entire time.

We'd have to have some amazing experiences with global entry and TSApre√ to make it worthwhile to do this again in 5 years. I'm a US citizen, she is not, and neither of us live in the US, so maybe it takes longer, but still... jeez.

When I signed up for Global Entry something like a year or two ago, it took a few weeks to get an appointment set up, and I got my approval a few weeks after the interview. Your experience is definitely atypical compared to someone currently living in the US *shrugs*

# ? Jul 19, 2019 22:56

FISHMANPET: Mar 3, 2007; Sweet 'N Sour
Can't
Melt
Steel Beams

I signed up for global entry months ago and haven't heard anything back, am I supposed to do something or do I just need to wait? I'm a US citizen living in the US, a coworker told me you just need to spam the interview scheduling site and find an open time but how do I know they've done whatever they need to do with my application to allow me to interview?

# ? Jul 20, 2019 02:45

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Saladman posted:

I'm a US citizen, she is not, and neither of us live in the US.

My guess is this was your issue. It's generally more difficult to do the background check on non-citizens because they're reliant on other countries to provide information, a process in which the requested country doesn't usually have an obligated SLA. Whereas for US citizens, the US government has all sorts of fun databases to check on you with.

# ? Jul 21, 2019 14:06

Saladman: Jan 12, 2010

Mackieman posted:

My guess is this was your issue. It's generally more difficult to do the background check on non-citizens because they're reliant on other countries to provide information, a process in which the requested country doesn't usually have an obligated SLA. Whereas for US citizens, the US government has all sorts of fun databases to check on you with.

Yeah, most likely.

Also it's such a weird grab-bag of countries that can do Global Entry:

Argentina
Colombia
Germany
India
Mexico
Panama
Singapore
South Korea
Switzerland
Taiwan
United Kingdom

(+ Canada through NEXUS)

Saladman fucked around with this message at 20:55 on Jul 21, 2019

# ? Jul 21, 2019 20:51

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004

Colombia's on there probably because they share a border with Venezuela and also they have their own oil producing fields, plus there's a massive us military installation there

# ? Jul 22, 2019 03:36

GD_American: Jul 21, 2004; LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY AS IT'S INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!

I haven't flown international in almost 15 years and have barely flown at all since, so I'm essentially starting from zero knowledge-wise.

My MBA class has an international trip to Seoul and then Phnom Penh. They're providing airfare between the two, but we're on our own for airfare to Seoul by Feb 21st (Friday), and then home from Phnom Penh after Feb 29th (or March 3rd if we take the optional extra tour). There's actually two groups of students of about 15 each (one class is from Huntsville, mine is from Tuscaloosa), and we're all kind of on our own. Plenty of us would like to pool our purchasing power here. Realistically, most of them would probably want to leave from Atlanta or Birmingham, although if there's a significant price savings we could probably leave from any airport in the Southeast from Nashville down to New Orleans.

So essentially, it's an unknown number of people, leaving sometime within a 3-day range, from one of a dozen airports, to one city, and back from another one at one of two possible dates.

I've started searching for a fare for myself, but I'd also like to start to work on looking for a cheaper group plan. Should I just flat-out hire a travel agent?

# ? Aug 5, 2019 00:16

Hadlock: Nov 9, 2004

Generally you can get a favorable rate when you're traveling with a group of 20 or more, sometimes 11 or more. Put it on your classmates Dad's Platinum amex card and his dad might be able to write everyone a check for 4% back of the total value. Probably hire a travel agent though

# ? Aug 5, 2019 02:56

Keret: Aug 26, 2012; Soiled Meat

I'm currently watching roundtrip flights from ORD to NRT for Dec 13 - Jan 6. It's been hovering around $1200-1500 lately, and is now around $1150. For anyone familiar with this route, is it likely to drop below $1k before winter, or is this about the best I can expect for these dates/airports?

# ? Aug 13, 2019 16:28

Guy Axlerod: Dec 29, 2008

Is it terrible to buy tickets on a site like Orbitz or Kayak? For our planned flight, I'm seeing an average of $1100 for tickets on those sites, but $1900 direct with JAL. And we need 6 tickets, so it's a big difference. Also, I'm not even on the flight, I'm buying tickets for my in-laws.

# ? Aug 16, 2019 14:44

peanut: Sep 9, 2007

Use incognito/private window to browse flights to prevent prices from mysteriously, algorithmically rising.
Pay more to save your parents a nasty layover .

# ? Aug 17, 2019 07:12

Guy Axlerod: Dec 29, 2008

Yep, it's the same itinerary, but at least $4000 difference from booking direct.

# ? Aug 17, 2019 15:01

Saladman: Jan 12, 2010

Guy Axlerod posted:

Yep, it's the same itinerary, but at least $4000 difference from booking direct.

I bet that when you actually go through with Orbitz or whatever, the price will suddenly jump up to close to the same as buying direct.

But if not then definitely 100% buy with Orbitz/Kayak instead of directly. Direct buying is kind of nice if you want to change the itinerary later or whatever, but even then it'll still cost you an arm and a leg and a lot of hassle regardless of how you bought the ticket. Also you can usually change the itinerary even if you buy through Orbitz or whatever. Like last year I bought an error fare ticket with TAAG through Orbitz, and like 4 months later realized it was 1 day off from when I wanted to travel, and it was only $50 to change the ticket to the date I wanted, I just had to directly go through TAAG instead of the consolidator to do so.

# ? Aug 17, 2019 21:29

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

You can also try to see if Google Flights will price it the same as the travel agency and give you a link to book direct that way.

# ? Aug 25, 2019 21:01

Guy Axlerod: Dec 29, 2008

Saladman posted:

I bet that when you actually go through with Orbitz or whatever, the price will suddenly jump up to close to the same as buying direct.

But if not then definitely 100% buy with Orbitz/Kayak instead of directly. Direct buying is kind of nice if you want to change the itinerary later or whatever, but even then it'll still cost you an arm and a leg and a lot of hassle regardless of how you bought the ticket. Also you can usually change the itinerary even if you buy through Orbitz or whatever. Like last year I bought an error fare ticket with TAAG through Orbitz, and like 4 months later realized it was 1 day off from when I wanted to travel, and it was only $50 to change the ticket to the date I wanted, I just had to directly go through TAAG instead of the consolidator to do so.

Thanks. I got to the checkout page and it was still the same price on Kayak.

What you said here makes a lot of sense, it's not like we would book fully refundable anyway. (Or maybe that explains the difference and I didn't notice that was the only available fare class.)

Mackieman posted:

You can also try to see if Google Flights will price it the same as the travel agency and give you a link to book direct that way.

Yeah, I had started with google flights.

I ended up booking through Amex, I felt slightly better about going through their customer service than whatever company Kayak was going to send me to. Amex came in at about $100 more than Kayak and Orbitz were showing.

I think that exchange rates might be part of the reason for the difference Booking direct they charge in RMB, but the travel agencies charge in USD. (The flight originates from Beijing.)

# ? Aug 25, 2019 22:05

Duckman2008: Jan 6, 2010; TFW you see Flyers goaltending.; Grimey Drawer

Wife and I are traveling to Hawaii in early October 2020.

I�m used to just booking a flight to whatever the main / best cost airport is, and then renting a car and driving from there.

Very quick research shows that�s not necessarily the best strategy when visiting an island chain.

Part of it is a friends wedding, so I know for sure we will be on Kauai for a few days.

I�m thinking we might need to step back and figure out if we have specific islands we want to go to. That said, flight costs will factor into where / when to go either way.

Anyone have experience booking to Hawaii specifically ? I�ll take suggestions on islands to check out as well. We�ll be traveling from St Louis, MO area to Hawaii and back, early October 2020.

# ? Jan 7, 2020 15:49

peanut: Sep 9, 2007

Fly into Honolulu. Hopper flights to other islands.
(October is not peak season. Take your time.)

# ? Jan 7, 2020 23:48

other people: Jun 27, 2004; Associate Christ

This is slightly off-topic, but I know that seasonally there are direct flights between certain airports but I don't know when exactly they are in service. Is there some straight forward way to find out when?

I can use something like google flight search and repeatedly change the dates to see when a direct flight appears/disappears but that's obviously a pain in the rear end.

I've tried looking for information on the airline website and airport websites but I can't find anything.

<3

# ? Jan 8, 2020 20:57

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Mackieman posted:

https://www.routesonline.com/ is your friend.

Thank you for the tip but I cannot figure out how to use this site. If I go to an airline's profile there is an option to see routes but that requires an account which from the account creation page does not seem to be a trivial thing to get. What am I missing?

At least in this instance, I'm interested in Iberia flights between VLC and GRX if that helps.

edit: Actually, the wikipedia page for GRX says flights to VLC begin March 29th 2020. It doesn't list a citation for that tidbit but it seems to answer my question. Wish those flights began a bit sooner but oh well.

other people fucked around with this message at 10:28 on Jan 9, 2020

# ? Jan 9, 2020 10:25

Saladman: Jan 12, 2010

Saladman posted:

I find FlightsFrom works very easily:

https://www.flightsfrom.com/GRX

Although oddly it doesn't list that Valencia flight even though I see it on Iberia's website. Normally you will see something like this, for Zurich's seasonal Cork flight, where it tells you "the next scheduled flight is 2020-03-29"

https://www.flightsfrom.com/ZRH#/ORK

Ah, this is much easier. Thank you.

It does list some flights for VLC that do not run until later in the year, but not the CDX one. Oh well.

Another flight conundrum: Getting from VLC to Brno (BRQ).

Ryanair flys from VLC to STN and then from STN to BRQ. However, no flight search tool ever offers this as an option. I think this is because the layover is only 65 minutes?

Is there some reason it would be stupid for me to buy the two tickets separately?

Also, going through STN is not an option for the return. Really the only option then is to take a train or bus to Vienna and then fly through Madrid back to VLC (or take the AVE). What a pain in the rear end to get such a short distance.

# ? Jan 10, 2020 14:10

Saladman: Jan 12, 2010

cheese eats mouse posted:

Well the Trump admin just decided NY state residents can't apply for global entry so I guess I'm not doing that this year.

Still going to get it expunged.

That's the right call, and despite the exclusion of NY residents being a magnificent example of horseshit, any felony conviction usually disqualifies you from GE. Be honest when you fill out the form (assuming the inevitable lawsuit restores your access to GE) and hope for the best.

Golbez posted:

Looking for trips from the upper Midwest to London for the week before Labor Day. A few questions:

1) Is there any point in checking airports other than O'Hare? We're equal distance from MSP, ORD, STL, and MCI. Much more willing to drive to those than fly from Iowa where we'd just end up connecting through O'Hare anyway.

2) Is there any point in getting tickets this far out? Conversely: How long can I expect to wait before ticket prices become more volatile? 3 months out? 6?

3) Right now I'm finding everything is $800, except for Norwegian Air giving one for $500. Is Norwegian Air good?

Check em all simultaneously via Google Flights. You can also check other secondary airports as some of those occasionally have lower fares to international destinations thanks to the odd vagaries of airline revenue management. But yeah, you're either going to connect in Chicago or one of the big airports on the east coast unless Delta is doing something nice out of MSP or DTW.

You should get the tickets whenever they're at a price you're willing to pay. $800 isn't really that bad anymore, and I'd check premium economy prices too as I've seen many cases where PE was only $150 or so more than the regular coach fare. There is no better time or single day of the week or anything like that anymore; airlines have embraced technology and the data they have and are getting much better about maximizing their revenue at all times. You'll still see things like $400 fares out of New York and whatnot, but you'd have to compare that to what it would cost you to get to New York and have unprotected connections.

Norwegian isn't bad, but their long haul operations aren't going particularly well financially (see: https://paxex.aero/2019/11/norwegian-tatl-cuts-stockholm-copenhagen/) so there is some level of risk that the flight you book may not actually operate by the time Labor Day comes around. There's no guarantee one way or the other, but globally there are going to be ongoing financial impacts due to everything going on in China so less profitable routes are going to get cut by lots of airlines. As an example, South African announced cuts last week to most of their long haul routes including the one I wanted from GRU to JNB. :rolleyes:

thisdude23 posted:

I'm taking a cruise out of Long Beach at the end of June and I'll be flying out of San Antonio. Which airport should I fly into? Should I book now or wait until it gets closer? Also, which day is cheaper, Friday or Saturday?

Most likely we'll be flying Southwest.

Long Beach is about equidistant from both SNA and LAX, and LGB is nice but you don't have an efficient way to get on a JetBlue flight from SAT. Southwest is certainly an option, but it may behoove you to look at other airlines since there's not a ton of pricing difference between them anymore. Schedule and availability (and not having to stop in PHX) are also factors. As I noted above, if it's at a price you're willing to pay, go for it. Pricing is highly variable so look at all your options (tougher to do since Southwest doesn't work with OTAs that allow fare tracking very much); Friday or Saturday usually doesn't matter that much into LA, but you never know until you do the research.

# ? Feb 9, 2020 15:06

cheese eats mouse: Jul 6, 2007; A real Portlander now

Mackieman posted:

That's the right call, and despite the exclusion of NY residents being a magnificent example of horseshit, any felony conviction usually disqualifies you from GE. Be honest when you fill out the form (assuming the inevitable lawsuit restores your access to GE) and hope for the best.

Need to clarify it was a misdemeanor since I got it in KY and live in NY now.

# ? Feb 10, 2020 20:43

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# ? May 12, 2024 12:26

Aximus: Aug 18, 2010

Hello everyone!

I'm trying to find a flight from the San Antonio area to the Vicenza, Italy area around Feb 20th and then a flight back anywhere from 70 to 90 days later. I'm going back to Italy to meet with my wife and new born daughter to help finish her visa paperwork. I'm not certain how long I'll be there which is why the return date range is so large. Is it better to get a one way ticket and then book and the return flight later, or are there options to have a flexible return flight?

# ? Feb 11, 2020 02:06

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > How To: Finding Cheap Airfare

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clockworkjoe posted:

JaySB posted:

clockworkjoe posted:

Saladman posted:

Saladman posted:

Saladman posted:

Mackieman posted:

Guy Axlerod posted:

Saladman posted:

Mackieman posted:

other people posted:

Mackieman posted:

other people posted:

Saladman posted:

other people posted:

other people posted:

cheese eats mouse posted:

Golbez posted:

thisdude23 posted:

Mackieman posted: