airline advice

[lovin_life]

I always like to look at www.kayak.com - they list most of the airlines (even the ones Expedia no longer books) to find the best price. Best of luck.

[weinermanandhhw]

Out of curiosity, do any of you use capital one points to book or specific airline miles from another card? We have done both of these things in the past but it was always a major hassle and I question whether we really saved any money in the long run.

[CopNkitten]

We used to use Air Jamaica out of Philly, but when they stopped we have been using US Air lately, which is now American.
What every airline gets you there is the best, lol.
Last year I worked a ton of overtime when the Pope was here and that money paid for First Class tickets to and from Jamaica in Early April.
And if you get a connecting flight be sure to leave plenty of time in between flights, in case they, oh lets say fuel the plane wrong and have to re do it and you miss your connecting flight and end up staying in Charlotte NC instead of freaking hedo (ok maybe I am still a little sore on this one).
Cop..

[magjoy]

There are 4. They have mostly have the same hotels. You need to cross check with the hotel to make sure they have a shuttle (&that it runs in the wee hours if that's when you're headed out)
parksleepfly, stay-park-fly & hotelinparking (we're using this one this year for the 1st time) We haven't tried stay-park-fly before, though.

I've used stayparktravel the most, usually cheaper.

The criteria I use is;
amount of free parking (some are only 3-7 days, we're usually there 10-14 days), proximity of airport, shuttle service & Price/quality of hotel. I think the most we've spent is $250, but we stayed the night before we left and the night we returned. Didn't want to get back to the hotel at 9 pm and the drive 2 hours! You can easily get away with $120 for 7 days, 1 night stay. You don't always have to stay the night, either. On a trip to CA, I just dropped the car off and took their shuttle to the airport.
*we fly out of baltimore & philadelphia, prices will definitely vary at other places.

[takemetonegril]

If your planning on going in April you might want to tie that down now as I think our week 4-23 to the 30th is sold out or close as there are three groups this year on site.

I use Kayak, or Expedia to generally search for flights, but then go back to the airlines website and book there. It's usually cheaper and if there is a problem you deal directly with the airline. If you book with Expedia or whoever if there is a problem they want you to call Expedia which is a giant pain in the ass if your standing in Mo'Bay airport and your plan leaves in two hours, trust me on this one.

I'm going So west again this year out of Portland connecting in Balt. They are not on the booking sites

Cheers

[magjoy]

If your planning on going in April you might want to tie that down now as I think our week 4-23 to the 30th is sold out or close as there are three groups this year on site.

I use Kayak, or Expedia to generally search for flights, but then go back to the airlines website and book there. It's usually cheaper and if there is a problem you deal directly with the airline. If you book with Expedia or whoever if there is a problem they want you to call Expedia which is a giant pain in the ass if your standing in Mo'Bay airport and your plan leaves in two hours, trust me on this one.

I'm going So west again this year out of Portland connecting in Balt. They are not on the booking sites

Cheers

Yup, extensive search is the key. A lot of times, google flights will bring you to the cheapest fair quickest, especially if you don't have specific set dates. It was actually cheaper for us to extend our stay a day one year!

[phillygirl22]

Out of curiosity, do any of you use capital one points to book or specific airline miles from another card? We have done both of these things in the past but it was always a major hassle and I question whether we really saved any money in the long run.

I have used my airline miles plenty of times. No hassle. The one year it was a really good deal, saved me $1000! Another year, maybe not. But in look at it as miles are gifts, and go from there.

[georgenlaura]

There are 4. They have mostly have the same hotels. You need to cross check with the hotel to make sure they have a shuttle (&that it runs in the wee hours if that's when you're headed out)
parksleepfly, stay-park-fly & hotelinparking (we're using this one this year for the 1st time) We haven't tried stay-park-fly before, though.

I've used stayparktravel the most, usually cheaper.

The criteria I use is;
amount of free parking (some are only 3-7 days, we're usually there 10-14 days), proximity of airport, shuttle service & Price/quality of hotel. I think the most we've spent is $250, but we stayed the night before we left and the night we returned. Didn't want to get back to the hotel at 9 pm and the drive 2 hours! You can easily get away with $120 for 7 days, 1 night stay. You don't always have to stay the night, either. On a trip to CA, I just dropped the car off and took their shuttle to the airport.
*we fly out of baltimore & philadelphia, prices will definitely vary at other places.

Thank you very much I will definitely be checking these out

[fun4all]

I lucked out and found a great fare on Expedia. I always scan the discount sites first and then keep an eye on the prices. Airfare watchdog is a fun way to keep track of the prices. But I checked on Tuesdays and ended up getting my tickets for about $100 off. Maybe it was dumb luck.

Only coices I have are Delta, AA/USair and the prices are going up as we get closer to travel time.

[fun4all]

We actually tried this last year magjoy and used orbitz or priceline or some other site to book a hotel near the airport so we could use the shuttle and leave our car there but upon checking in they informed us that we couldn't park their because that is different code to book the hotel and the sites don't offer that and since we booked through a site they couldn't change our room code to upgrade us to be able to park there so we ended up using off site airport parking and adding an extra cost to the trip for the piece of mind that our car wouln't be towed while we were out of the country and not have it when we got home

You might try Park/Sleep/Fly - they have long term parking which is connected with your room. I get notices for discounts from time to time and always consider this option.

[Ontario]

We used to use Air Jamaica out of Philly, but when they stopped we have been using US Air lately, which is now American.
What every airline gets you there is the best, lol.
Last year I worked a ton of overtime when the Pope was here and that money paid for First Class tickets to and from Jamaica in Early April.
And if you get a connecting flight be sure to leave plenty of time in between flights, in case they, oh lets say fuel the plane wrong and have to re do it and you miss your connecting flight and end up staying in Charlotte NC instead of freaking hedo (ok maybe I am still a little sore on this one).
Cop..

Ohh my gosh are you still complaining about that...lol...

[takemetonegril]

Tuesdays are the best days to buy airline tickets, particularly after a Monday holiday.

Cheers