Really cheap airfare

[disneysteve]

I went online this morning to book airfare for my wife and mother to fly down to Florida on Tuesday to help care for a sick relative. I was expecting to get hit with a high last minute fare but was very pleasantly surprised. American Airlines had an Economy fare that is fantastic. One way ticket was $55. You can choose your seat for an additional fee or you can let them assign you a seat at check-in for free. We opted to pay to select seats so that they can sit together but if someone is flying alone or you don't mind splitting up, you would just pay the $55 per person. I thought that was a steal.

Of course, in the bizarre world of airline pricing, that was for them to fly on Tuesday. The exact same flight on Wednesday would have been over $300. They were originally going to go on Wednesday but when I saw the prices, I had them switch it.

[~bs]

I'm flying on a really cheap discount carrier later this year, kinda curious on the experience. It's maybe 60% the cost of the normal cheapest fares.

My impression is that these low cost discount fares are best if flying by yourself. If you "must" sit by family/friends, need meal service, etc etc, you'd end up paying near the regular fare and with mediocre service. So you're better off with a normal carrier.

[disneysteve]

I'm flying on a really cheap discount carrier later this year, kinda curious on the experience.

This isn't with a discount carrier. It's with American Airlines which is the main carrier out of Philadelphia.

[~bs]

This isn't with a discount carrier. It's with American Airlines which is the main carrier out of Philadelphia.

Oh, lol....

But yeah, it's normal for the airfares to fluctuate greatly during the week, and well written about. I think tuesday-wednesday supposed to be the best. weekends the worst. They have algorithms or something that adjusts fares by the search traffic or something. More people search weekends, hence greater chance you'll find some sucker to book with the higher airfare price

[disneysteve]

But yeah, it's normal for the airfares to fluctuate greatly during the week, and well written about. I think tuesday-wednesday supposed to be the best. weekends the worst. They have algorithms or something that adjusts fares by the search traffic or something. More people search weekends, hence greater chance you'll find some sucker to book with the higher airfare price

Absolutely. I taught my daughter that lesson last year. She was booking a trip to Belgium. When she was home for the weekend, we browsed airfare but I told her not to book it yet. I said to wait until Tuesday. Sure enough, Tuesday night we went on and the very same flight was a couple hundred dollars cheaper. It's amazing how much of a difference it can be.

The flight my wife is taking was $55 on Tuesday, $320 on Wednesday or Thursday, and $440 on Friday or Saturday. It's really ridiculous. How can they charge 8 times as much for the exact same service just 3 days later? But I guess the demand is way higher on the weekends. They wouldn't be doing it if nobody was paying it.

[greenskeeper]

drive, never fly

[disneysteve]

drive, never fly

We rarely fly. We just drove to Florida last week. But sometimes flying is necessary.

[Thrif-t]

I just had dinner tonight with a friend who's DH left for FL today. Got a round trip ticket for $97...but then he came to find out it was $45 for a carry on, $40 for a checked bag and $15 to pick a seat. Not so cheap flight anymore and the carrier was SPIRIT. I was sure she was gonna say something like Delta or United.

This is the first I've heard of a discounter charging for a CARRY ON, don't most airlines allow those for free? I don't know we always drive.

[AJSimon]

I just had dinner tonight with a friend who's DH left for FL today. Got a round trip ticket for $97...but then he came to find out it was $45 for a carry on, $40 for a checked bag and $15 to pick a seat. Not so cheap flight anymore and the carrier was SPIRIT. I was sure she was gonna say something like Delta or United.

This is the first I've heard of a discounter charging for a CARRY ON, don't most airlines allow those for free? I don't know we always drive.

I flew roundtrip from LA to Tampa on Spirit over Thanksgiving. The airline fare itself was great, but yeah, they try to ding you in pretty much every way possible. Including, and this really bugged me, the $40 check bag fee is applied to each leg of the trip. They were going to hit me up for $40 on the first leg (LAX to Houston), and then another $40 from Houston to Tampa. I actually complained to the terminal agent when I checked in, and he was chill about it - he refunded me $40 without much of a fight.

Getting ready to fly back, I made a point to call Spirit, and was prepared to argue with someone about doing the same thing on my flight back to California. But again, no argument at all - they did it right away. But of course, there's the catch. Because I purchased my check bag over the phone (rather than online), it cost me $50 instead of $40. Bringing me back to my original point - what you save on the basic airline fare, they will try to make up pretty much any way they can.

[~bs]

drive, never fly

some of us are surrounded by ocean, so that's not really a choice. swimming or boat across an ocean would take a little long

[disneysteve]

I just had dinner tonight with a friend who's DH left for FL today. Got a round trip ticket for $97...but then he came to find out it was $45 for a carry on, $40 for a checked bag and $15 to pick a seat.

That is the trade off for the cheap fares, but if you can work within the rules, you can save a bunch of money.

The fare I booked my wife is $55. They assign a seat at check-in for free or you can pay to choose it in advance, starting at $10. No carry-on bags allowed. $25 for a checked bag. So with one suitcase and letting them assign your seat, you'd fly for $80 which is still pretty reasonable IMO for a flight booked 2 days in advance.

[disneysteve]

So my wife left today. I don't know if this is typical but she found another benefit to flying on Tuesday. She texted at 11:16am that they had just checked their luggage. Then she texted at 11:27am that they were through security. Just 11 minutes later. She said there was hardly anyone there.

Also, when we selected seats, we picked a middle and aisle seat. The window seat was unclaimed and remained vacant so they had a little extra space.

Sounds like Tuesday is the prime day to fly if you can arrange it.

[greenskeeper]

some of us are surrounded by ocean, so that's not really a choice. swimming or boat across an ocean would take a little long

topic was about traveling from NJ to FL, no oceans involved

[QuarterMillionMan]

I thought Southwest from Los Angeles to Las Vegas was cheap at aprrox. $59 to $79 each way was cheap. Nope! My buddy who flies from Florida to Las Vegas on Frontier pays a remarkably low price of $39 each way albeit certain times and baggage is another $30 but that's still about the same price that I pay but his is from Florida.

[msomnipotent]

We were hit with a $50 luggage fee per bag, each way, last year. I found out this time that AA has different levels of economy, and the lowest level is only allowed one personal item such as a purse. If it doesn't fit under the seat, you have to pay to check it. The level we have for our next trip is allowed a personal item and a carry-on, thankfully. I'm still wondering if we should just ship some clothing in a space bag to our niece and then ask the in-laws to bring our extra luggage home in their RV, or just pay the fees.