[hotair2]

I knew that there were some pros and cons about moving to Arkansas, but one of the Cons that I failed to take into consideration was the cost to fly out of Arkansas. I have lived in Atlanta and Denver and I stupidly assumed that prices would be in line with those places. I say stupidly, because arkansas should not be in line because of the size of the airports.

However, I was shocked over the weekend with the cost of a flight to Atlanta. I needed to go to a funeral in Atlanta and looking on Expedia and Orbitz I found my flight was going to cost $1,000 to fly out of Fort Smith and take over 7 and 1/2 hours. I looked at Fayetteville and it was about the same price. I considered Tulsa and although it was a $150 cheaper that did not justify the time I would have to drive there since there would still be a connector flight required so the time would still be about 6 1/2 hours to fly, but then you would have to add another 5 hrs to drive there and back. Little Rock was $200 cheaper but then I had the same reason for not flying out of there as I did Tulsa.

I looked up flights from Dallas and Denver to Atlanta...$300. I just aggravates the crap out of me that I would have to pay three times more to fly out of Fayetteville or Fort Smith and it was not much better even if I drove for 2 1/2 hours.

Anyone have any ideas or thoughts on this subject.

[DC at the Ridge]

Originally Posted by hotair2

I knew that there were some pros and cons about moving to Arkansas, but one of the Cons that I failed to take into consideration was the cost to fly out of Arkansas. I have lived in Atlanta and Denver and I stupidly assumed that prices would be in line with those places. I say stupidly, because arkansas should not be in line because of the size of the airports.

However, I was shocked over the weekend with the cost of a flight to Atlanta. I needed to go to a funeral in Atlanta and looking on Expedia and Orbitz I found my flight was going to cost $1,000 to fly out of Fort Smith and take over 7 and 1/2 hours. I looked at Fayetteville and it was about the same price. I considered Tulsa and although it was a $150 cheaper that did not justify the time I would have to drive there since there would still be a connector flight required so the time would still be about 6 1/2 hours to fly, but then you would have to add another 5 hrs to drive there and back. Little Rock was $200 cheaper but then I had the same reason for not flying out of there as I did Tulsa.

I looked up flights from Dallas and Denver to Atlanta...$300. I just aggravates the crap out of me that I would have to pay three times more to fly out of Fayetteville or Fort Smith and it was not much better even if I drove for 2 1/2 hours.

Anyone have any ideas or thoughts on this subject.

When you book short-term, the prices do tend to be inordinately higher. Which is why, when it's something like a funeral, you can contact the airline and negotiate a "grievance" rate. Airlines will discount fares for family emergencies, though they do require some documentation. The documentation depends on the family emergency and on the airline, so you do need to contact the airline directly.

[Kimballette]

Allegient Air flies out of XNA and I know they offer a couple of nonstop flights into Mesa AZ (suburb of Phoenix) each week. You might check their website and see what other cities they service. I know the selection of flights is hardly convenient, but the price is good.

[hotair2]

Originally Posted by DC at the Ridge

When you book short-term, the prices do tend to be inordinately higher. Which is why, when it's something like a funeral, you can contact the airline and negotiate a "grievance" rate. Airlines will discount fares for family emergencies, though they do require some documentation. The documentation depends on the family emergency and on the airline, so you do need to contact the airline directly.

I have never heard of a grievance rate. Well I hope I will never have the need of that again, but I am certain that I will. Thank you for the information. I will check on that. It is a 10 hr drive that I really don't want to have to make again.

Nice to hear from you again D.C.

[hotair2]

Originally Posted by Kimballette

Allegient Air flies out of XNA and I know they offer a couple of nonstop flights into Mesa AZ (suburb of Phoenix) each week. You might check their website and see what other cities they service. I know the selection of flights is hardly convenient, but the price is good.

I actually have looked at that before. Someone else told me that they have cheaper prices. The only problem is that they only go to Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando and Phoenix. IF you are looking to go to any of those places it would be at good prices; unfortunately, I really don't want to go to any of those places.

The cities with all of my relatives are Denver, Atlanta, and Dallas. You would not think these would be so expensive to fly to because they are so large, but just not the case from Arkansas.

[hotair2]

I looked at cost differences if I were to book several months in advance. The price does go down significantly to 425 for non stop; however that is still substantially higher than the 278 I was paying out of Denver and when you add two family members it adds up quickly 1275 compared to 834.

[aerotive]

There was a wsj article a few years about how expensive xna is, and the main reason cited was the large proportion of price-insensitive business travelers. That's still valid I'm sure.

In my experience they price fares right at the point where it's not worth the hassle and expense of driving to Tulsa.

One other option is Priceline. If you can live with their rather onerous itinerary rules you can often save 50% off the lowest published fares, even out of XNA.

[hotair2]

Originally Posted by aerotive

There was a wsj article a few years about how expensive xna is, and the main reason cited was the large proportion of price-insensitive business travelers. That's still valid I'm sure.

In my experience they price fares right at the point where it's not worth the hassle and expense of driving to Tulsa.

One other option is Priceline. If you can live with their rather onerous itinerary rules you can often save 50% off the lowest published fares, even out of XNA.

I will take your word for why it is so expensive. I just know that it is. We always go to Denver in the Winter and we have to fly out of Tulsa. It is literally a couple of hundred cheaper per ticket...2 and 1/2 hour drive is worth $600 savings. I just hate having to drive.

[ArkansasSlim]

hotair2, this is no help to you, but just for the sake of conversation, at one time there was a shuttle bus from Little Rock to Memphis airport because of the difference in cost of fare. As someone posted above, it appears they charge whatever they think they can get by with.

[bagelw]

Something I always thought was funny about flying out of XNA is that it's usually cheaper to connect to another airport instead of having a direct flight. If I want to go to Houston it's a direct flight that can cost $800. However, if I want to go to Austin then it could connect thru Houston but only cost $300.