plane ticket tips

[purplebritt22]

Since just about all of you are in a LDR, I am in desperate need of any and all tips to getting a plane ticket from Spokane, WA to Orlando in 8 weeks. Every ticket I find is no cheaper than $400. I'm a student and living from paycheck to paycheck.

The best deal I found was at Cheapoair.com for $400, but it's so pricey!
Any tips on how long I should wait? Will it get cheaper if I buy last minute? Or should I be expecting it to raise a lot more?
Are there any other websites you think that could get me a better deal?

Thanks!

[dynomitegurl]

First off welcome to the site! Nice to see another Washingtonian here :P So I can definitely tell you that as the time comes closer it will get more expensive, at least that is my experience with buying international....however that may be different for state to state. Some other sites to check is Expedia, Vayama, lastminute.com,Kayak,Travelocity, there are a lot. What dates are you looking to go?

[maja]

i remember when being in the US last year for 6 weeks we'd always check "www.allegiantair.com", they had rather cheap flights...
Hope that helps!

[purplebritt22]

I am hoping to go July 27th through August 4th...or thereabouts. Thanks for all tips and advice!

[Swederica]

Same here. The cheapest flight from Sweden to LA, tho an extremely long flight, was 1000$ almost exactly.
The weird thing. When i checked at Expedia around 8 months ago, i found flights, both forth and back, for 5400 swedish kronor (1$=7.4 swedish kronor)
Now the cheapest i found was at 7400-7500 :/

[kraut]

Go to www.kayak.com and look for flights. I would also consider postponing the trip a few weeks. The airlines just started charging extra for flights doing the summer ($30-60/flight) this charge can add up when you already have at least 2 flights (1 to your destination, and one home).

[ChrisIsCallisto]

you COULD go on a standby flight? Ive never done it, but my Dad has, and apparently you sit at the airport and wait for someone whos going to where you want to go to either pull out at the last minuite or just not turn up, then you pay extreamly cheeply to get on the flight... apparently

im not posotive iff thats how it works though..

[Bluestars]

I usually look at expedia and orbits, and then once I get their information I look at the actual airline websites as well. Maybe you could try looking at different airports as well? That is probably the best advice I can give you. Some airports cost more than others to fly out of them. For example, the closest airport to my home is only one hour away, but it's tickets usually cost several hundred dollars more (but not always). Because of this, I usually fly out of a larger airport two and a half hours away. If you have someone dropping you off, it will save you money. However, I usually drive myself, so I also have to park my car, which usually adds up to thirty more dollars on top of the other fees they tack on your price, plus I have to pay for gas as well.

But I would look at ticket prices daily and at different times. They can either go up or down in the matter of a day or two. However, I wouldn't count on them going down that much more honestly. I have to echo dynamitegurl on this one. If anything, I would they could jump up dramatically in price any day and not go down O_o. I advise trying to find the cheapest one and grabbing it while you can. I have read that buying tickets on Wednesdays is the cheapest, but I am not sure if that is true.

Also, your departure dates can also have a large influence on the cost. I have heard that flying on Sundays is the most expensive. If you have one week free, then you might be able to flip flop the dates to see which one is cheapest. For example, I once had the option to spend around nine days with my SO, but when we looked at the ticket prices, the cost for the days I had to fly in and out were way more expensive than if I chose to fly out on a different day, which would mean I could not spend as much time with him. However, that was alright because we got a good deal on the ticket The online sites also have an option that you can choose if your dates are flexible.

Personally though, I would never do a standby flight because there is no guarantee that you can get one. If you take off work on certain days and have an inflexible schedule, standbys are probably not that realistic. I have heard of people getting great prices on tickets, but when they try returning they could not get a seat on the plane, so they ended up getting home several days late.

[Michelle]

Hey! I just searched using airfarewatchdog.com and found a round trip ticket from Spokane to Orlando for $328!

I love that site. You can actually sign up for alerts so you know when tickets are cheap between two cities. On the left under "Airfare Deals" click on "Fare Alerts" and then choose the "City-to-City Fare Alerts" option.

EDIT: I just checked and it's already expired!

[Darth_Taco]

I found one for $321.80 on the days you want. Roundtrip, and one stop. There were no non-stop flights on the website I went on (lastminutetravel.com). I've actually never been on a plane, I drive to see mine XP. Luckily, I'm a cheap bastard so I know some ways to save money. First, leaving on weekdays was a good idea. Usually ess crowded and cheaper. It's summer, but people still work :P. Next, try to avoid major airports. Nearby minor ones tend to be cheaper. Next, I got nothing @_@. Again, never been on a plane. I got all this crap from my family who travels annually and happens to be poor too :P. (spellcheck almost corrected that to "anally" XP)

Oh, I should give you the link to the flight I found. Here it is. If you can't see it, at least you have the website to search XP. The layover in the one I found is only about 48 minutes in Minneapolis.

[Desya]

I'm trying to get to Washington! lol
I've been searching from detroit to sea and none are any cheaper than about 430... It's very sad. I paid less than this last year and it was later into june then as well, man these airlines and their increases...
In my experience, during the week is cheaper and the prices only increase as time goes on.

Good luck!

[purplebritt22]

Thank you for all your answers!! I actually too the advice to look at nearby airports- Tampa. I didn't know there was such a price difference between Tampa and Orlando. But I booked a ticket for those date to Tampa for $350. I'm happy with it because everywhere else was more than $400 to Orlando.

[purplebritt22]

What dates and airports are you trying to fly? Maybe I can look for you?

[ChrisIsCallisto]

hmmmm, heres one, random question. iff i wanted to fly to canada, my SO live about 2-3 hour drive away from NY (i think, not 100% posotive.) would you need a visa to get into america and then one for canada too?

[dynomitegurl]

hmmmm, heres one, random question. iff i wanted to fly to canada, my SO live about 2-3 hour drive away from NY (i think, not 100% posotive.) would you need a visa to get into america and then one for canada too?

If you are a U.S Citizen, to go into Canada all you would need is a passport. I live in Washington State and we have an Enhanced Drivers License which allows us to do go into Canada as well. Not sure how it is there though