Any Insider Tips on Airline Savings?

[Tucker301]

I'm going back to nashville in late May, but I've had enough of driving.
Allegiant is coming out with $55/seat trips from RIC this summer, but they'll miss my travel date by a few weeks.

Other than Expedia, Priceline, etc., is there anything else you seasoned travelers use to get the best deals?
I can fly RDU-BNA or RIC-BNA

 

[bogeybrown]

A young couple I'm friends with recommended the "Skyscanner" app to me. I personally haven't hit any fantastic deals on it but they've been able to take some pretty nice trips that would've otherwise been unaffordable. Apparently having flexible travel dates is a big component.

 

[Tucker301]

Unfortunately my dates are not flexible. It's hard to get one of the biggest rock bands in the world to flex to my schedule.

I ran across a sale on Southwest and got everything booked up. This weekend in May is gonna cost me about $2K, but I haven't seen U2 in 26 years and we're calling it our 40th Anniversary gifts to each other, so it's really just $50 a year.

 

[Mike Casselton]

Before swinging over to Allegiant for travel to TN, I always used Cheapoair.com to find good deals.
Not sure how they compare now since they are advertising on TV, but it might be worth a shot

 

[MtnCreek]

Will you be taking any small dogs with you?

 

[Redmanss]

There's not any real insider secret to getting the cheapest air travel because there's very little wiggle room when trying to plan in the future, but here's a few tips.

Go to a hub and remove having a multi-leg trip in favor of direct, that would be IAD (Dulles) as closest for you via United, but then you have to deal with getting in and out of IAD, not easy or convenient at all and in my opinion the extra fee in ticket cost is well worth avoiding NOVA on the ground. If you do though, take in the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy annex of the Air and Space Museum, well worth the traffic battle.

Use the travel services to search for your flight, then book directly with the airline to remove those "convenience" costs. Cheapest ticket time is about three weeks out, some of the travel sites predict whether prices will rise or fall in the time between now and your flight, but this also depends on the fluctuation of oil and whatnot. Not much unrest or storms affecting that between now or May if you are willing to wait a bit, but be ready to pounce if things get shady in the oil market with OPEC getting stupid or something.

With the price of gas lately, I just drive if it's less than 800 miles, especially for two or more tickets. At least then I can bring my pistol without having to pay to check a bag and deal with all that additional drama, worrying about my cameras getting banged up, etc. I hate flying, even though I'm on yet another bird tomorrow to add to my hundreds of thousands of miles.

 

[Mike Casselton]

Allegiant waives the baggage fees for first responders, active and retired military with proper id.

 

[krw]

We either book as early as possible or gamble and wait till last minute. When gambling we have to be versatile on vacation spots. To see U2, just bookem. Would love to see U2. Keep Joshua Tree and Hotel California in my tractor at all times.

 

[Tucker301]

Yep. I booked the whole trip today. Tickets, flight, car. All done.
Looking forward to it!

 

[Maggot]

Yep. I booked the whole trip today. Tickets, flight, car. All done.
Looking forward to it!

Have a great trip.

 

[ArmyJerry]

buy a motorcycle and ride it to where you are going, take back roads only.

 

[Tucker301]

buy a motorcycle and ride it to where you are going, take back roads only.

Those things are lacking some of my required essentials to be classified as vehicles.
Things like 4 wheels, windows, seat belts, windshield wipers, windshields, cup holders, quiet, impact resistance, stability, and respect from other motorists.

 

[ArmyJerry]

respect from other motorists, ha, have not seen that on 2, 4 or even 18 wheels in a long time.

 

[kabarNC]

http://matrix.itasoftware.com is what I use, fairly dated but I still like it. Also found out that if you check prices more than once off of the same device, prices go up just because they can tell you're interested. When Expedia says things like "only 2 tickets left!" when you're looking for, you guessed it, 2 tickets? More than likely there's more available, they're just trying to get you to jump on them. Websites will also ask how many are in your party, and if more than one, will pry up the price, because they know you're trying to stay together. 2 or more in your party, and you're wanting to sit together? Conveniently, those little seat maps on their webpage will have only a few seats available together, and you'll almost always have to pay extra for one of them. I've started booking everyone separately, and using above website, and have gone back later and double checked all the big websites on the exact trips, and have almost always saved money.

 

[Maggot]

Those things are lacking some of my required essentials to be classified as vehicles.
Things like 4 wheels, windows, seat belts, windshield wipers, windshields, cup holders, quiet, impact resistance, stability, and respect from other motorists.

Airbags. Of course youre taking the wife.....

 

[Tucker301]

That may rule out quiet as well.

 

[powdahound76]

I use Southwest most of the time. Otherwise I use Frontier if I have to (rarely saves me money). I have used expedia several times with good success if SW doesnt go where I am headed.

Just booked tickets for a family vacation to TX. 2k round trip for 5 of us.... then there is the Hyatt for a few days. It will be a lot of fun.

 

[Keel Haul]

Clear your browser history frequently because like kabar said, they can track your searches and see you're shopping. Best tip I know of? Make friends with an airline employee.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Bring a puppy with you.

After the national news tragedy, you will get a 7-figure rebate check... And can fly in future on a G5.

Cheers, Sirhr

 

[300winemag]

My daughters have found very cheap flights on Skiplagged. Hope it helps

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Here's a tip: If you're more than 5' 3" tall, drive, don't fly. Before you ask me how I know, let me share that I'm between 6' 3" and 6' 5" tall.

When we flew to Hawaii, my Wife had requested additional space seating to accommodate her significant disability. They seated us in the row ahead of the exit doors, which is the row that actually has added room. The row we were in had the seat recliners locked, so the seats can't recline and intrude into the safety space behind. This makes a smaller seat row not even able to recline. I was literally jammed between my seat and the one ahead. It was a five hour flight. By the time we got there, I spent the next 36 hours with serious back pain. I am NEVER going to Hawaii again. In essence, the disabilities CSR went out of her way to make us even more uncomfortable. I don't think it was malice, just incompetence.

I'm not going to mention the name of the airline, because I'm pretty sure they're all the same.

 

[powdahound76]

Just flew out for the weekend to teach a class and got back to Denver tonight.
Flew Southwest.
They were awesome. Im not a rich man but the heck with the cheapest. I want the best service, free bags (checked x2 per passenger and carry on, some charge for your carry on) super friendly employees, and the free peanuts and ginger ale.

 

[Tucker301]

We went to Orlando for the weekend and used Allegiant.
They are cheap and no frills, and upcharge everything, but it was a good fit for this trip.
I got wedged between and ogre and the window on the flight home yesterday. This dude's head alone weighed more than I do.
He tried to stay leaned forward to give me and the aisle passenger more room, but he still spilled over onto both of us.
Some folks just are not meant to fly.
Thankful that it was a relatively short flight, because I believe he was beginning to absorb me through osmosis by the time we landed at RIC.