Question about airfare from the Midwest

[StJohnMike]

Hi everybody, I'm headed back to St. John Nov. 24-Dec. 17 and am shopping for airfare. On my previous four trips I paid an average of $500 from Minneapolis on Delta, American, and US Airways. Right now, the best I can find is $700 on US Airways and I'm thinking of taking it. I know there are some fellow Midwesterners out there and my question is, what have some of you paid for tickets? I don't entirely believe all the hype over airfares lately but I'm also worried about flights selling out. Thanks everyone.

[Berlingirl]

Well, your outbound date is heading into Thanksgiving and your return date is heading into Christmas...suspect both are going to be heavily booked. I would recommend you not wait too much longer...I live on the East coast and it's $700 plus normally unless we travel 5 plus hours to Boston, where we have to book way in advance for peak dates ourselves. I don't suspect the price is going down too soon, since more airlines are doing the following with their planes...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/divwerf/13 ... 110026393/

Talked to somebody last week (in the airline business) who just returned from the Mojave and he said it's an unbelieveable sight, miles and miles of aircraft...he said some of them haven't even been unwrapped from the manufacturers...

[Nanque]

We fly to St. John 4 times a year from Minneapolis. Like you we try to omit San Juan by using the same routes. The prices have been inching up. We are using miles in August and got tickets for Oct-Nov for $438 on American. They have changed our flights so we at 7:30 am and have a 5 hour layover in Miami, arriving St. Thomas at 8:00 pm. We have paid up to $1000 to fly at Christmas. I think you should go ahead and buy, considering the time frame you are looking at. Bottom line if you find something for a good price it seems the times and or route are bad.

[waterguy]

I drive to Chicago and the most Ive payed is 425

[California Girl]

Berlingirl - those are some amazing pictures!

[Gromit]

STJ Mike!! Good to hear from you again. I had this same debate a few weeks ago (looks like we'll be down at the same time again (we're coming down with the in-laws Dec 7-14) for short visit.

Anyway, I was debating whtehr to suck it up and pay $480 from IAD and whether or not to go with AA or Delta. Well hubby and my other buds on the board said "go for it" and I am GLAD I did!! Less than a week later the flight I had been looking at on AA was canceled altogether and the Delta tix I booked soared to $820 EACH and they are STILL that price!!

These are uncertain times my friend and honestly from the mid west and the fact that they are cutting back on flights and smalelr airports and raising prices almost daily due to uncertain fuel futures-- $700 may be a good deal.

Keep in mind if the price drops drastically on you and you want to rebook, they will give you a voucher for the difference to use next year. Of course these days with all of the "extra rebooking fees" this may be less advantageous.

Hugs to you man and glad to hear that you're alive and well and planning a return journey.

Peace.

[Berlingirl]

I know California girl...I couldn't believe a place such as this existed when I first heard of it quite a number of years ago. One of my past accounts was responsible for the logistics of getting aircraft in and out of this area...Can you imagine that job? Not easy to shuffle hundreds of planes around...

[California Girl]

I've been out to Mojave and seen the planes parked there... but not for a few years. It's a strange sight! We should take another trek out there now that there are so many more planes sitting there. Oh, the money sitting out there rusting!!

[deejayjay]

Last year, from Kansas City, 560 each. This year (tickets purchased in Jan, Trip in May) 670.00 each. I suspect it would be even higher now.

[JC]

Feel your pain Mike. We drive from north central Iowa to MSP (usually) to fly out. Less than two months ago I stumbled upon a rt fare for $489 per on AA for Oct 10-20. As we had just returned from our March trip...we weren't exactly eager to jump on the tickets right away. After a little coaxing (from me ) my husband agreed to bite the bullet. Of course we have already had two schedule changes...and anticipate more. Almost six hours in MIA and a 8:05pm arrival...yuck. I don't see that flight offered now...and the other rates are over $600 per. But hey...whatever it takes...right!?!?!?!?!

[irbgolfin]

Interesting article in WSJ today about costs of flying a plane. They were comparing New York to LA for different flights, breaking it down to cost of fuel per passenger to complete the roundtrip flight. The lower ones were in the $300 range, couple of them were $500, not sure why the significant difference. That's with fuel at $4/gallon.

For those in the northeast and midwest, I figure the flight distance is similar, maybe shorter depending on where you are, so as a REALLY ROUGH guess, that would mean the cost to the airline for fuel/passenger is on the order of $300 for a roundtrip. While fuel is currently the most significant cost, there are obviously other costs, too. An estimate was 50% of their cost was fuel, which would mean that the actual cost to the airline is on the order of $600/passenger for a roundtrip flight of 2,000 miles or so.

Someone could take the time to do a better analysis, one statistic that was quoted was 771 gallons per hour to fly an A320. Just figured if you had a ballpark idea of what the airline is spending per person you could compare your fare and see where things stand.

[waterguy]

The differance is that the older planes don't don't get as go of gas mileage. That is one of the reasons for the number of flights being cut they are parking the older planes

[Berlingirl]

Thats right waterguy...they are parking them...old and new out in that desert...

irbgolfin...I've oftened wondered what the cost per passenger really is...I know it's certainly not the $99 in each direction we all got used to going to Florida fares "back in the day". Prior to deregulation...I remember only four tariffs, childs, adult, senior and a military one. There were probably more, those are just the ones I know of. I remember paying close to $800 for an adult roundtrip fare from DC to El Paso and paying $480 or so for my then 3 year old...and being ok with it. We didn't expect to have our tickets handed to us back then. I also remember a transatlantic TWA flight from Jfk to Frankfurt many years ago prior to the frequent flyers programs and again deregulation where first class was empty and the stewardess put me in up there all by myself after pulling me out of the packed coach so that my infant would be able to lay down on a seat and sleep. Can't imagine that same scenerio today...
The days of the airlines "paying us" to fly are over... Personally speaking...I don't mind paying...I'd like to not overpay, but I'd also like to see the airlines remain in business. I've gotten accustomed to the USVI vaca every year and I'd hate to give it up...going is a stretch for us and we've already given up the villa. Those prices are way way high with the tax situtation, but then that's another thread completely...

[savvy]

If you are flying out of MSP, check Sun Country. We have been very happy with the direct flight. STT is a seasonal flight for them, so not sure what you'll find on their website right now. And I don't know what kinds of cuts they might be making in the wake of the fuel situation. www.suncountry.com

[madcitygirl]

We just moved from Minneapolis to Madison a few months ago, so we are driving to Chicago. We are leaving August 21 on American for about $390 each (including taxes). You wont find much better than $700 during the holidays. We were thinking of going then too, but the fares were $800-$1000 for coach during Thanksgiving! Taking that into consideration, $700 doesn't seem so bad!