Tips for Buying Airline Tickets.

[TimBone]

My bad if I'm creating a thread for something mundane, but I'm looking to get the best price on some tickets to California around thanksgiving.

So, which website/app does CP use to get the best deals on airline tickets?

Which days of the week are the cheapest as far as ticket prices are concerned?

Any other tips?

[Hoopsdoc]

Originally Posted by jdubya

x 2 ^^^^

I also have a friend who is an air traffic controller in Las Vegas and he says he will NEVER EVER fly Allegiant airlines. Says there are significant reasons why they are able to fly very cheaply and would not put himself or any family/friend on any of their planes haha.

Uh oh. Im going to Florida in October and Allegiant was significantly cheaper than anyone else. I wondered if there was a reason for it.

I haven’t actually bought the tickets yet. Looks like some more research is in order.

[lewdog]

We’ve flown Allegiant a few times. Shitty planes, cancelling flights in good weather with no notice. Their planes seem cheap and crappy. We pay a few hundred more to fly Delta. **** Allegiant.

[Dartgod]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

I fly SW exclusively, mostly due to Midway being a hub and less of a shitshow than O'hare, and the bags fly free thing.

The biggest knock on SW by most people is that there is no assigned seating. As Rainman said, SW lets you check-in to your flight 24 hours (to the second) before your flight. They board the plane in groups A, B, C, and D. The first to check into the flight get the earlier boarding groups. The earlier the boarding group, the bigger selection of available seats. The later the boarding group, the slimmer the selection of seats. So the biggest risk is that all 3 of you might not be able to sit together, but people are usually pretty cordial, in my experience, about giving up seats for families to sit together.

So if your flight is at 9:30am, then you, or your wife, want to be on southwest.com at 9:30am the day before your flight with your confirmation numbers to check in, all 3 tickets. You can access and complete check in from inside the confirmation email SW sends after booking the flights as well.





Not really a big deal when flying solo, but can be a bit of a pain for families. The free checked bag is great for flying beer back with the biggest challenge keeping under their 50lb weight limit

You can pay extra for Early Bird check in too. I think it's $15 now. It's checks you in automatically before everyone else that is not doing the Early Bird thing.

[58-4ever]

skiplagged.com is great. As mentioned, stay far, far away from Spirit.

[Miles]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaChief

I circumvent the bag fees by bringing the maximum number of carry-ons, and then when Delta inevitably announces there's no room for all the carry-ons, they give me a free gate check. It usually means it's the first bag off at my destination too.

This incentive for everyone to carryon to save bag fees often makes southwest boarding a fair bit quicker from what I’ve noticed. You don’t have a ton of people on the plane when overhead storage runs out and then it’s everyobodynoff to gate check.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by 58-4ever

skiplagged.com is great. As mentioned, stay far, far away from Spirit.

Why, though? If it is a short trip and you don't need a checked back what is the problem? You can literally get flights for $30 sometimes that are direct. I will NOT fly ANYTHING but direct flights. Life is too short to do layovers. Plus it increases your chance of imminent death the more flights you take, so I try to minimize that the most I can

As long as you know what you are getting yourself into (that they charge for bags, seats if you want to sit by someone etc) it's a super amazing deal. I used to hate them, and I don't use them for long trips where I need bags. But a weekend getaway where you only need a book bag. Sign me up.

A couple years ago I flew from KC to Miami roundtrip through Spirit for like $87 dollars.

[MoreBeer]

Aligient is good for that 1+ hour non stop flight- Every flight from where I live takes me to Atlanta- the worst airport ever. With aligient I can bypass that dump and go right into knoxville. I've gotten rd trip tickets for $69, and they are usually at smaller airports so the TSA check point is usually fast.

[srvy]

Originally Posted by Lzen

Hmmm....I've flown Allegiant a time or two. They are pretty cheap but you have to go through a lot of hoops. What are the significant reasons? We did have an issue with the engine on our plane last year when we flew to Florida. To a few hours to fix it but we got there. They gave us $50 vouchers for that inconvenience.

This what does a air traffic controller know about maintenance routines and inspections? They have to follow all the same FFA airworthiness guidelines as the other carriers. Pilots go through same qualifications so whats your friends gripe? Do they not follow air controllers orders because thats the only thing I would know that a traffic controller would have the expertise in.

[TimBone]

Originally Posted by srvy

This what does a air traffic controller know about maintenance routines and inspections? They have to follow all the same FFA airworthiness guidelines as the other carriers. Pilots go through same qualifications so whats your friends gripe? Do they not follow air controllers orders because thats the only thing I would know that a traffic controller would have the expertise in.

An air traffic controller would know if they seem to have more emergencies than other airlines.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by srvy

This what does a air traffic controller know about maintenance routines and inspections? They have to follow all the same FFA airworthiness guidelines as the other carriers. Pilots go through same qualifications so whats your friends gripe? Do they not follow air controllers orders because thats the only thing I would know that a traffic controller would have the expertise in.

I was curious about that, too. Maybe the pilots sound less experienced or competent when they're communicating? I would think that's an important thing that an air traffic controller might pick up on.

[CaliforniaChief]

Originally Posted by Miles

This incentive for everyone to carryon to save bag fees often makes southwest boarding a fair bit quicker from what I’ve noticed. You don’t have a ton of people on the plane when overhead storage runs out and then it’s everyobodynoff to gate check.

Totally right. I always laugh when Delta staff complains about everyone's carryon bags...I always tell them to take it to management. But I don't make the rules, I just play them.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by MoreBeer

Aligient is good for that 1+ hour non stop flight- Every flight from where I live takes me to Atlanta- the worst airport ever. With aligient I can bypass that dump and go right into knoxville. I've gotten rd trip tickets for $69, and they are usually at smaller airports so the TSA check point is usually fast.

I've flown Allegiant several times as they are the only direct flight from PHoenix to Iowa. New Airbus aircraft, on time, smooth flights. The problem with Allegiant comes if you are on one of their old MD-80 craft. Those old turds are past their prime and tend to leak and smoke a lot. They are replacing those with new Airbus, supposed to have the last of them replaced by November 2048 but until then don't fly the MDs.

Other than that I fly strictly American and never have an issue.

[srvy]

Originally Posted by vailpass

I've flown Allegiant several times as they are the only direct flight from PHoenix to Iowa. New Airbus aircraft, on time, smooth flights. The problem with Allegiant comes if you are on one of their old MD-80 craft. Those old turds are past their prime and tend to leak and smoke a lot. They are replacing those with new Airbus, supposed to have the last of them replaced by November 2048 but until then don't fly the MDs.

Other than that I fly strictly American and never have an issue.

This

The 60 minutes hit piece focused on age of fleet that was being phased out at the time of their report.

[srvy]

Originally Posted by TimBone

An air traffic controller would know if they seem to have more emergencies than other airlines.

http://www.planecrashinfo.com/accidents.htm

[Bob Dole]

Tip?

Don’t.