Best (cheapest) place to buy plane tickets? (1 Viewer)

[Tony_Woods]

A friend and me are planning on going to Florida for spring break this year. Being college students, we are looking for the best deal possible of course. We are planning on leaving from Omaha, NE to Pensacola FL, around the weekend of the 12th and returning around the 18-19th of March. Best price I've found so far is around $320 each round trip. Does that sound about right? I've never baught plane tickets before. Thanks guys.

 

[Scott L]

Jetblue and Southwest are the airlines of choice for college students. I don't think they go to NE, but you can check.

 

[Michael*K]

Actually Southwest does fly into Omaha, but they don't fly into Pensacola. Of the larger airlines, US Airways, Northwest, Delta and Continental fly into Pensacola. Of course, you'll have to fly into another hub city and catch a connecting flight. A quick check on Orbitz shows a round trip fare of about $300.

 

[Christoph]

How much time do you want to spend searching for the best fare? How much flexibility do you have in your departure times? I would do this:

1. Check the big three travel sites, one will sometimes have different/better deals:
Travelocity
Expedia
Orbitz

If you find a flight you want to purchase on one of these sites, they may charge you a service fee of $5 or so per ticket. Often (but not always), you can go directly to the airline's web site and purchase the same routing for the same fare without the fee.

If you're more concerned about ticket price than specific departure times, you could try Priceline. With Priceline, you cannot specify the airline or times, just the dates and the price that you're willing to pay. And you commit to the transaction by giving your credit card number before you know if anyone will match your price.

If you use Priceline, remember that the price you name does not include taxes and fees (they' displayed later, you can then go back and adjust your bid). I would target a fare (including taxes and fees) that's about 2/3 of the lowest fare you can find. If your bid is not accepted, you may have to change something about your itinerary before Priceline lets you bid again, otherwise you have to wait seven days to submit the same trip.

You could also try Hotwire. It's similar to Priceline in that you don't know the airline or departure time until you buy the ticket, but Hotwire gives you their price up front (it gives me $280 for OMA-PNS Mar 12-19).

Flights purchased through Priceline or Hotwire may be much more difficult or even impossible to change or cancel.

 

[Philip_G]

if you go to www.smarterliving.com they have a fare comparison tool that saves some time.

 

[AaronJB]

It's not regarding plane fare, but if you're looking for very cheap rail fares on Amtrak, look here:

http://tickets.amtrak.com/Amtrak/railsale

$42.20 from NY to Miami, for example.