Airfare help for May

[Nancy_B]

Ok - I need your expert advice.

I screwed up! I haven't booked my May airfare (May 7-21) because it was high (1200 for both of us) out of Philly). It's now outrageous at over 1400 for the non stop flight and seats are almost sold out on the flight down.

We're considering JFK or Newark. Anyone from Philly area flown from either and any advice?

Any other words of wisdom?

We also check Spirit from AC and that requires stops. The question is is it better to drive father and have a direct or closer and deal with more take offs and landings.

Thank you in advance!

[susan & herb]

We live in Northwest Nj and fly out of JFK for the direct flight which usually leaves at 8am or 9am. I would not want to take a chance and drive to JFK from NJ in the rush hour. We stay at one of the "park & ride" hotels and drive to the airport the night before.

We eat dinner at the hotel which is usually a burger and next AM catch the shuttle to the airport which is about a 5 min ride. We have left our car for 10 days each time with no problems. It's also nice to decompress the night before. They even gave us a frig. for our frozen carry on bag.
We are there May 3-14.
Good luck

[surfnh]

Expedia is showing $520 pp round trip on Continental out of Newark right now....direct flights, gets in around 11:30am at STT, I'd grab that puppy!

[jaq w]

Daughter & Son-in-Law from Philly usually fly out of Newark to save some $$. The tough part is the drive home on the return. Maybe you should check out nearby hotels for one night - they usually have some kind of a deal to stay one night park and use their shuttle.

If you choose EWR - we'll see you on the plane

[jaq w]

Ahh..

http://newark.parksleepfly.com/

Of course the daughter uses the other option stay with folks - make them provide transportation.

[loria]

i just checked kayak for those dates and the aa nonstop (stop on teh way back ) was 371--
i buy single tickets at a time (so you ahve to search and buy twice)
that way you get the lowest price

[psufan]

We did the park, sleep, fly thing out of Newark on our last trip out of Newark. Worked out just fine. I realize the hotel is just a place to sleep the night before but don't stay at the Best Western! I agree with the comment that the drive home after the flight is a killer.

We are flying out of JFK in May. Bought tickets in october when the airfare was under $300. According to Yapta that same flight is now almost $500! We are staying the night before so we don't have to deal with traffic around NYC.

Good luck! Is it May yet??

[loria]

should add that that was a roundtrip price--realize my note was confusing--

[mahojim]

Yes, Nancy, it's quite a pickle.
We've gone out of Newark without any problems. We've also done the overnite thing w/hotel room for JFK, too, but that was a different story.
Basically, the way we see it, is if we're actually find airfare that's notably cheaper, and direct flights, we choose that airport to fly from. If it's all basically the same (within,say, $100.00 or so,) we just go out of Philly. Going to look into Spirit from AC, too.
I'm usually in charge of booking the villa & Jeep, and Amy deals with the airfare. She's kind of dragging her feet this time, hoping fares will drop, but that's just making me nervous, ya' know? Let me know if you find anything worthwhile, and I'll do the same.
Smiles-
Jimmy

[cjroyer]

We're flying Continental out of Newark in May. We got flights for $298 on a Wed to Wed. Well, they just cancelled that flight and now we're flying on the Sunday before. Luckily, we don't have to pay the current ticket price but it's made of mess of everything else we've planned.

Couple years ago we flew out of Newark to Aruba and did the Best Western park and fly. It's totally NOT worth the scratches you'll get on your car or the awful nights sleep. We'll be leaving home around 3 am this time to make our 7:45 flight.

[Nancy_B]

Thanks to all for your great advice - it's awesome to have such a great think tank to turn too

At this point, it will be either the direct flights out of Newark on Continental and we'll be doing the early a.m. drive and the early evening drive on the return OR we'll be brave and wait a few days to see if US Air rebounds and then if not, book Continental.

We have to hire a pet-sitter if we stay in Newark Friday night so that makes it even financially higher.

A co-worker of mine who flies Newark to India suggested that we rent a car in our neighborhood and drop it in Newark - saves the hassle and cost of parking. Seems like a pretty good tip to me.

I'm pretty nervous on not booking yet so who knows if I wimp out and book the Newark flights tonight

[brenda]

I know just what you mean. I hope Spirit doesn't do me wrong. I used to feel more comfortable waiting for a better price, but with the current instability in the world, I had to just go for it.

[brenda]

Doh! I just had to check. Us Air did go down a little but still $90 more than what I paid.

[Nancy_B]

WOW! It's a miracle! I played around with my dividend miles several times today on Usair and couldn't find a free flight for my dates or close to my dates. I switched to first class and voila, I got a first class round trip for 55,000 miles plus $45! YEAH!

So, then, I sat here and struggled, do I bite the bullet and book Ron or hold off and see if the $841 fare drops a bit. Well, since it is our 10 year anniversary, I figured I should bring him along and not risk him not getting on my flight

We are both booked! Granted I'm in first class and super thrilled about it (and our friends traveling with us on the 7th are in first class also).

Thanks again for all your advice. You definitely helped me off the ledge today

[surfnh]

1st class seat for 55k miles round trip to STT on a Saturday is really hard to come by.

Congrats!!!!!