Genious ways to get to the islands

Connie · Post by **Connie** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:07 pm

I'm starting to obsess again.

Trying to get to STT from May 24 - May 31 of next year. We'll have probably 12 people with us and the fares are really high right now.

A deal for me is if it hits 350.00 from Philadelphia.

I've tried everything. From Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Puerto Rico, out of Baltimore, or Atlantic City, Lehigh Valley...everywhere.

Even checked flying into Puerto Rico and taking Cape Air.

Airlines are smart, they have it figured out.

So....anybody have any ideas on how to get cheaper airfare? When you have 12 people, a little bit of savings goes a long way.

Thanks all!

FlaGeorge · Post by **FlaGeorge** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:33 pm

Relax - they'll come down in the Spring. Heck, we're in High Season right now. All the snowbirds want to trade their snow shovels for Painkillers & Bushwackers.

Nancy_B · Post by **Nancy_B** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:36 pm

I am with you! I am booking for May 10-24 and the rates did just come down for the direct PHL-STT flight (from $998 to $498). But, I agree with FLaGeorge that we have to relax a bit and keep watching. I do think the lowest that it will go is $400 but that will save you $1200 for the 12 of you. I check daily (I'm obsessed). If I see it drop, I'll let you know!

jmq · Post by **jmq** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:39 pm

Sign up for the fare alerts from kayak.com , travelocity, others, plus sale alerts from Spirit out of AC = not far from Philly burbs.
You'll usually pay a little more to fly on Saturdays.

I have also heard that in order to get best price, it helps to delete your browser cookies before logging back onto the airline sites so it doesnt recognize you as a return visitor (?)

waterguy · Post by **waterguy** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:43 pm

Just remember every time you check adds more intrest to that flight so they might not come down as much. I had some one at an air line tell me they watch searches

Nancy_B · Post by **Nancy_B** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:47 pm

Great tip, waterguy! That makes total sense that they would monitor that. I'll sign up for the fare alerts.

jayseadee · Post by **jayseadee** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:49 pm

Track them with Yapta, as well (www.yapta.com). I've been tracking a few flights and receive emails when the fares change.

Steve S · Post by **Steve S** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:55 pm

I'd consider Newark. I've seen fares often drop into the $200s, some direct.

Jerseyboy · Post by **Jerseyboy** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 2:53 pm

Could the fares be high due to travel over the Memorial Day weekend?

I'm using both Yapta and Kayak for the first time as a result of recommendations from this forum. It seems easier than going online every day. I'm tracking 7 different destinations (incl. STT) for next April and the fares all seem high right now.

Agree with what Steve S says about flying out of Newark (EWR). Continental has a direct from EWR to STT on Saturday's (except for the week that SusanNJ is going

- just joking).

StJohnRuth · Post by **StJohnRuth** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 5:48 pm

You could try to spend $1500 a week on your American Airlines credit card for ten months. That's two free tickets!
OK, so maybe that's not such a great idea.
-Ruth

MIke · Post by **MIke** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 6:18 pm

It's going to be crowded that week,that's when my 12 are coming down and you are right,air fares are frightingly high right now.Just need to relax and buy next year and hope fares go down with oil and capacity.Or we might end up paying as much for airfare as we did for a villa.

Jan&MikeVa · Post by **Jan&MikeVa** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 7:50 pm

Hey Connie,

I just checked the fares through Yahoo out of D.C. (Reagan) and they are running 250.00 or there abouts through May.

One way I have found to get good airfare is to be flexible in your dates of travel. For example maybe arrive a day early and spend the night on STT, or for us this trip we had to come home a day earlier than we had hoped.

I don't know where you are in PA, but if you were looking at BWI, Reagan is not too far away. Just a thought. Mike & I are having to make the 3hr drive to D.C. just for good airfare, when Norfolk is at our back door. Rates just seem to be really good out of Dulles or Reagan the past couple of years

We're not crazy about the long drive, but a savings of over $400 makes it worth while for us.

Happy planning, and best wishes for your big group...........sounds like FUN!!!!!

Margy Z · Post by **Margy Z** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 8:12 pm

St. John Ruth - actually, that's not such a bad idea. We have a Citibank checking account and our debit MasterCard is an AA Advantage rewards card. We try to pay for everything with it - groceries, gas, utilities, cable, insurance, doctors and dentists before submitting to insurance, - as many things as we can and it really does add up. Well worth the annual fee. We also signed up both cards for AA Dining Rewards as many of our local restaurants are part of that program, too. This year we were able to pay our real estate taxes using it, bless technology! Heck, if I could pay our mortgage with it, I would. We have friends who have a Citi AA credit card - they floated a hospital bill on it during some kind of extra mile(s) per dollar charged event, the insurance paid them within their grace period and they ended up with enough for a couple of free tickets just for that.

StJohnRuth · Post by **StJohnRuth** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 8:29 pm

MargyZ,
Exactly!
I think a lot of people are afraid of this because they think they'll pay interest. They think of their credit card bill as something they pay once a month. If you go online and pay it weekly and end the statement period with a low balance, you won't pay interest and you still get the miles. I actually find it easier to have all the bills in one place! Instead of writing 20 checks (or whatever) you review the charges and pay them on-line with a click.
-Ruth

Margy Z · Post by **Margy Z** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 10:54 pm

Ruth - Isn't it so much easier to do that? With the AA debit "checkcard" from Citi it's like writing a check, it comes right out of our checking account. I so agree about online banking - I hate writing checks. Citi is real time online which I like because if there's anything odd going on with the account you can see it immediately. One Saturday I was online paying bills and I could see every place DH used his checkcard while out running errands. I called him and said "Before you leave (ther) could you get me this" - DH asked me if I I had become psychic or had planted a "Lojack" on him

Connie - If AA is your favorite airline, I forgot to mention before that AA has a neat little program called AA Dealfinder which you download, input your destinations and it runs in the background sitting in your system tray while it watches the AA fares very closely and gives you quick updates all of the time. I use the Travelocity watcher, too, but the AA program seems days ahead of Travelocity with alerts. Right now, AA RT to STT from ORD is running $350 max fare through April of 08, up from $330 several days ago; to STX, max fare of $400, down from $408.

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Genious ways to get to the islands

Genious ways to get to the islands