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I've read a few threads but they seem to be a few years old. Any advice on one way tickets and the best place to look when you can be flexible on dates. I will be traveling alone from Atlanta with a 11 month old baby, 8 yr old and 14 year old. This will be our moving trip, we will be checking extra baggage.
Thanks!
It is generally cheaper to buy a round trip than a one-way ticket - as one-way tickets don't meet advance purchase rules for discounts and therefore tend to price as full-fare.
No good answer. You just need to keep checking every day, sometimes twice a day. I did an on-line search for when is the best time to buy tickets, and found a dozen different answers.
I did daily price alerts from Kayak, so at least I'd know when prices went up or down. I also recommend checking each airline's sites often.
It depends on the ticket class you buy. The most expensive tickets have the most flexibility. The cheapest have the least flexibility, and cost the most to change. And each airline has different rules, so you need to read the fine print.
I've read a few threads but they seem to be a few years old. Any advice on one way tickets and the best place to look when you can be flexible on dates.
Approximately when will you be traveling, and how flexible can you be?
Kayak is up-to-the-minute so I've been on at 8pm and watching prices change on a 10pm flight. Those last minute dips because of open seats probably aren't what you're looking for but I do like Kayak.
Priceline is sometimes a pain but we always get our best flights there since you can name your own price. You may have to bid a dozen times but it seems like eventually they will drop down.
When I got home to Memphis from Kuwait, my significant other, who lived in CT, and I, spent lots of dinero on flights back and forth. Eventually I moved to CT and then was offerered a job here. So we booked flights for us and his *shudder* teenage daughter JUST KIDDING *crosses fingers behind back*. Then his dad passed and we booked a last minute flight for him to CT. Then his daughter decided to take a trip back so we booked HER flight. Now we're looking at flights for his teenage son to visit . I've also been looking at one way flights....
If round trip tickets are the same price as one way tickets, why not just get a round trip and not use the return portion? Considering how many folks return to the mainland even though they intended to move and remain in Hawaii, having a pre-paid "out" might be useful. Way back when, folks would buy a round trip ticket and then sell the return portion and recoup a portion of the ticket price. I don't know if they let folks resell half a ticket or not anymore.
If round trip tickets are the same price as one way tickets, why not just get a round trip and not use the return portion?
That's a big IF. Don't assume that's always the case. I was just looking at some flights for fall and noticed round trip tickets for around $925, while the corresponding one-way tickets, same flights, were $400 each. I checked it twice to be sure.
There used to be some useful rules of thumb about best times to buy tickets which have been somewhat eroded by the yield-optimizing software the airlines use now which frequently jiggle fares depending on supply and demand... but a few of them still seem at least partially valid. One is that the best time to shop fares is on Tuesday afternoon, after the airlines reset their master fares for the week. Another is that the "sweet spot" for advanced booking the best standard fares is about 40 days out. I could be wrong, but that seems like it's still kind of the case. But then again, you have an additional factor to deal with in needing seats that are together. Earlier is better for that parameter.
One old "rule" that has definitely weakened, however, said that weekends are more expensive than weekdays. Today it's sometimes yes, sometimes no. On my last trip there were more seats available, and consequently lower prices, on Saturday than there were on Thursday. So it pays to assume nothing.
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JUST KIDDING *crosses fingers behind back*. Then his dad passed and we booked a last minute flight for him to CT. Then his daughter decided to take a trip back
so we booked HER flight. Now we're looking at flights for his teenage son to visit 
. I've also been looking at one way flights.... 
