Airline tickets - UGH!

NCSue · Post by **NCSue** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:10 am

Okay - so I've been watching the fare from Raleigh into STT for our trip in July. Ss I watch the flights - they are doing NOTHING BUT GOING UP!

Right now sitting at a little over $500. I know July is still a long way out - and its a crap shoot at this point. I'm thinking I might bite the bullet and go ahead and buy. Comments?? Suggestions?

elisa_nj · Post by **elisa_nj** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:34 am

Wait for February...that's a good month for summer sales!

2beachbums · Post by **2beachbums** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:40 am

We were planning on trying the summer for the first time because it's supposed to be cheaper, yet the airfare has not reflected that yet. We decided to just wait and wing it...especially since I just received a 10% pay cut! We will see what happens out of Chicago. I did find airfair to San Jose, Costa Rica for $245 in August!

FarmerDean · Post by **FarmerDean** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:43 am

usair.com flights rdu-stt search by low fare finder july $389

Paul · Post by **Paul** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:13 am

I am encountering the same thing out of St. Louis. For those in Chicago, however, I found fares from $300-$340 RT on Spirit and AA for early June.

pipanale · Post by **pipanale** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:44 am

We're thankful to have been able to use Sky Miles for our July trip from RDU. But, we won't have miles for next time and the flights are EVIL from here. RDU seems to have become a very expensive airport.

When in July?

baseball0717 · Post by **baseball0717** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:50 am

DEPARTING ON A TUESDAY OR WEDNESDAY IS MUCH CHEAPER

Gromit · Post by **Gromit** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 12:36 pm

I say wait for it. they usually drop down about 3 months out from your departure and then start to go up from there. That's the usual pattern from my experience.

sea-nile · Post by **sea-nile** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 1:22 pm

I am having the same problem for our July trip. There are some low rates, but the arrival and departure times are terrible and some are overnight flights. Do you think that will change?

TrvlJohn · Post by **TrvlJohn** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 1:25 pm

We bought our tickets in November for our May trip for $440 from RDU to STT. I have been keeping track of the flight price and it is now up to $975... They have cut back on flights so much now that I am not sure that the old rules apply anymore.

Good luck!

-John

stj brett · Post by **stj brett** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 1:41 pm

Last week 1 bought 2 tix from chicago to stt with 1 stop each way in florida for a total of 725. for april 18-24. there is still room on flight tix are 466 a peice now. I go through kayak.com.

TrvlJohn · Post by **TrvlJohn** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 1:58 pm

Last year, we drove from NC to Myrtle Beach and flew Spirit Air and saved quite a bit even though we had to spend the night in Myrtle Beach the night before...Just be sure you understand what you are getting into! You pay extra for EVERYTHING! We flew carry-on only and chose to pay extra for guaranteed aisle seats and both of us flew for around $600.

I realize it is quite a drive from Raleigh or Apex, but you can save a tremendous amount of money...especially if you are traveling with a large family.

We used BankMiles this year, so we decided to fly out of Raleigh.

-John

waterguy · Post by **waterguy** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 2:38 pm

I flew on FF miles last week but the friend I took with paid 340 out of ORD with only 7 days notice.

toni · Post by **toni** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 3:18 pm

We used to buy months ahead of time when we saw a price we were "happy" with. Especially when fuel kept going up and up. In 2009 we bought tickets in March for Thanksgiving and thought it was a good price but actually about a month before Thanksgiving the prices dropped so we could have saved some money had we waited.

I'm currently checking prices daily now for a San Juan trip in March and there are a lot of empty seats on the planes. Prices have gone up in the past few weeks, but either they're going to have to consolidate a lot of flights or put some sales on, because the planes are really empty. I don't think the economy has "bounced back" like the newspapers/tv keep reporting.

We're planning on going down to St. John in July and I'm holding off on tickets for a while -just keep watching the prices and good luck with whatever you decide

pipanale · Post by **pipanale** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 4:21 pm

Just to complain a tad about RDU here...it's a location where you have to go somewhere first in order to go anywhere. We're a spoke. Need to go to a hub first, so everything seems way out of whack, pricing-wise. If you can't get there on SWA, you're doomed.

The flights we're taking are currently running at nearly $900 each. sure, it's Sat-Sun, and it would be cheaper mid-week, but sometimes, only weekend flights work in your schedule.

US Air, on occasion, seems to be less than Delta...but the planes smell really bad (or so I've heard

)

I've pondered the 3.5 hour drive to Myrtle for future flights. It's that bad to go from RDU to certain locations.

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