OK, what is this all about?

[mbw1024]

I'm about a week out from being able to book air fare for next May and of course I'm checking fares incessantly! This morning I checked Continental from EWR to STT May 16-23 and the fare was $784. Just checked it again and it is now $360. What is that all about?
Same thing happened last week when I was checking the Sat.-Sat. fares.

[Iluvstjohn]

don't know, but man...book it!!!!!!! go for it!

[mbw1024]

don't know, but man...book it!!!!!!! go for it!

I would but I still need to wait another week for my dates to open!

[California Girl]

Mary Beth, I went through the same thing with Continental...they're very volatile on price changes, but they're great to fly with. I was all freaked out that my good airfare deal would be gone before I hit the date where I could book. On the first day I could book, my flight was still available, but only had 4 SEATS left! So just keep checking and since you know they can sell the flight for that price, even if it goes up again, it can also go down again, right?

Do you want to hear the very weirdest part about my flight? I live smack dab between L.A. & San Diego, so when it comes to an airport, if I can't fly out of Orange County, I go to San Diego because it's a much nicer airport and not as huge as L.A. However, frequently L.A. is cheaper, and when it is, I go to LAX.

Ok, all that being said, my flight to STT next April goes out of LAX - cheapest price by far. BUT, we fly to San Diego and have a 50 min. layover/change planes. I thought, why drive to LAX, just to fly to San Diego? So I looked up the connecting flight in S.D. and to fly out from there, it was going to be over $900! My flight out of Los Angeles, connecting in San Diego was, as I'm sure you know by now, only $478. I just don't get it. There's absolutely NO LOGIC whatsoever when it comes to the airlines these days!

[California Girl]

I still need to wait another week for my dates to open!

I feel your pain, and I totally sympathize! Frustrating, isn't it!

[mbw1024]

I'm tired of checking
you think I can just not look between now and next Friday??

[California Girl]

I'm tired of checking
you think I can just not look between now and next Friday??

Yeah. Right. I believe that.

[mbw1024]

yeah, who am i kidding? I keep hoping I will stumble on to one of those mistakes that airlines occasionally make by posting those $1 dollar air fares As if!

[petepie]

I found that Continental is booking further out into May than AA or USAir. USAir's website says you can't book more than 330 days out, but if you choose "my dates are flexible", then after it shows you the matrix with your date and fare on it (a 9-block matrix showing day before and day after both your departure and arrival date), then you can scroll forward through the matrix to find dates and fares further out in the future.

[Robin in NC]

Woohoo! We're going to be there next May 16-23 too, Mary Beth. Finally I get to meet one of the cool people on the Forum!

[California Girl]

I found that Continental is booking further out into May than AA or USAir. USAir's website says you can't book more than 330 days out,

Continental is also 330 days, even though their calendar shows availability for about a week & 1/2 after that.
It's weird that you can choose dates on Continental's calendar that really don't exist.

I speak from experience. I tried and tried to book my tickets and got as far as putting in my credit card # and clicking "book-it Dano" and each time, I got an "error, try again later" message. So after 2 calls to Continental's tech dept. I was told it was because the flight wasn't available for those dates yet. HOWEVER... prior to calling tech support, each time I put in my credit card and hit the button, I got a $1.00 pre authorization charge on my credit card. When I looked at my statement online I had been hit for about $15.00 for all the times I tried to get tickets over a 2 day period.

I can't figure out why the dates show available when they aren't, or why you could even get so far as paying for the tickets before you are told "oops, can't do that." Even tech support couldn't tell me why.

It's a good thing I really like Continental

[Berlingirl]

Good luck booking...BTW...US books out 340 days in advance...not on their website, you have to call them...

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[mbw1024]

Woohoo! We're going to be there next May 16-23 too, Mary Beth. Finally I get to meet one of the cool people on the Forum!

Oh crud we arrive on the 23rd! Care to extend your vacation a few days?

[Robin in NC]

Well, darn. Same thing happened this year, seems more people want to come Memorial Day week than the week before. We liked having that extra day off to decompress before returning to work. We'll be like two ferries passing in the night...