IAD with stop in CLT

[cliffnchristi]

Hi there!
Making plans for our June 2011 trip. We usually fly non stop out of CLT on US Air, but the fare is outrageous right now. Found a flight out of Dulles that leaves at 7:00 and connects to that same CLT flight for $189!!! Anyone have experience with that itenerary? Never flown out of IAD, so any input on the airport and park and fly hotels would be greatly appreciated, too!

[melmd]

We always fly out of IAD. They have a couple of stay, park, and fly hotels that are great. We flew IAD to CLT to STT last April and it was a perfect flight - on time no problems at all

[star2515]

WOW...Thanks for the heads up cliffnchristi. I live in CLT and always fly direct to STT. I have friends that are getting married on STJ in Dec. and want to go but my DH is dead set against it b/c the flight alone would cost us 800 pp!! However flying out of IAD connecting on the same flight as i would if i flew out of CLT would cost only 200 pp. That makes no sense, but will pitch the idea to my DH drive up to DC to fly out and stop in CLT on the way back. Save us 400 pp and 100 ck baggage fee's. Only extra cost would be the rental to DC. I wish we didn't have to play these games with carriers...

[cliffnchristi]

Star2515: I should have made myself clear. It's $189 each way, which comes to $378 RT PP. I just checked and its now gone to $388...LOL. Still a great deal though.

[star2515]

I looked up my dates for the wedding in DEC....and RT would be 200 for me. It's 110 to STT and 94 on the return trip. Before fees and taxes of course. So I am ready to jump on that if my DH ok's it. To bad after working 28 hrs straight he's sleeping and I doubt i'd get a positive responce if i woke him up. <<<crossing fingers that it doesn't jump up before tonight>>>

[kristen1206]

Depending on when you are going, the $238 fare I got on USAirways (round trip including all taxes) is still out there for both IAD and DCA. Only is $248 now Check ITAsoftware.com

[Gromit]

That's a GREAT price. There's an article about the most expensive and least expensive airports in today's Washington Post. IAD is #7 for most expensive in the country. That's weird to me cause I always seem to get good deals from there.

Sounds liek you did the math and even when you factor in the cost of your time driving it might still be a good deal.

Any time it's THAT cheap I jump on it!

[kristen1206]

Gromit..BWI is ridiculously high for Caribbean travel most of the time. That's our closest airport but we usually fly ou of DCA because it's hundreds cheaper. DCA and IAD are comparable I think. Philly seems to be pretty high in most cases too.

[Gromit]

I've never had much luck on lower prices from BWi either. We always fly out of IAD or DCA and prices are usually comparable. In NoVA we are so spoiled having ready access to three major airports.

As to the original question the only thing I would add is that I have, over the years on this forum, seen many complaints about delays and baggage being lost by US AIR thru CLT. Of course that can happen anywhere. Every airline has their lovers and haters (Me? LOVE AA, HATE Delta --but that's just me based on my personal experience).

I say go with the best price with what is most convenient and hope for the best!

[kristen1206]

After my trip in May, I despise Delta as well. USAirways is toward the bottom too but as long as I get a cheap fare, I can deal with many things! Never flown AA but Continental has been the best experience we have had so far. Spirit too.

[djmom]

I am so pissed! We travel out of Charlotte also. My husband just looked up flights after cliffnchristi's post.

So...we can fly from Charlotte for $820. Or we drive to Dulles, fly to Charlotte and get on the EXACT same plane for $188.

I am sorry but I get we pay a premium for living at a hub...I can live with that. BUT that big of a difference is just freaking ridiculous and should be illegal. It costs less to fly us and we pay 4 times as much!!! That is just WRONG.

[petepie]

We had a nightmare experience flying from DCA through CLT last year. We sat on the runway for 2.5 hrs in DCA, missed the connecting flight to STT in CLT, and then (because it's CLT and not a lot of flights from other major carriers) we couldn't get to STT until the next day. No other options--if we had been in MIA, Newark, Philadelphia, or even back in DCA, we would have had more options. The lesson learned is to try to connect through a major hub for other airlines headed to STT, or if CLT is the only option, allow PLENTY of time for a connection. It was probably a rare occurance, but we missed a whole day of our vacation as a result.

[star2515]

djmom: I totally feel your pain!! My DH says he's going to talk to a guy he knows and see if there is any way around flying the first leg of that DC flight and just getting on in CLT. I know USAir won't let you...but I guess it doesn't hurt to ask. Seems to me as long as you pay for the flight, if you want to skip the first flight, you still should be able to fly the second leg since you paid for it. But then everyone would just buy cheaper flights through CLT. SUCKS...you should also ck Myrtle Beach....I don't know much about Spirit, but they have flights out of MB, through Ft. Lauderdale, to STT for 127 each way. So at 254 RT, pp...worth driving to SC for in my opinion.

[star2515]

ps...sorry cliffnchristi for highjacking your thread...and turning it into the find a way to avoid CLT rates thread. I do appriciate knowing how inflated CLT rate has become.

[Gromit]

Generally if you miss the first leg of any flight the airline automatically cancels the rest of the ticket itinerary for travel.

Why do the airlines do this? Because they want to be able to charge the higher ticket prices.

Personally, I would write my Congressman about this kind of ticket disparity. It is truly outrageous.

Logically, living at or near a hub should yield LOWER ticket prices due to the number of flights traveling thru that hub. I simply do not understand their logic of charging so much when there is so much "supply" available. Surely the "demand" in CLT does not exceed the supply by that much.

It's my understanding that the only way the airlines waive their "skipped leg" rule is when there are "irregular operations" -- god only knows what that means.

One trick you MIGHT use (but this is dicey), do not check in on-line for the flight and show up at the airport for the second leg and claim some crazy episode or emergency that resulted in you being near CLT vs the original departure airport.

Of course you have to pray that they didn't oversell the 1st leg of the flight and that there are seats still available on the plane. Again this is a crapshoot and not sure if you could get away with it or not.

There's more discussion on this matter at Flyer Talk online.