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Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
If I'm planning to travel from the SF Bay area to Denver, for example,
United and Southwest are the dominant carriers on that route. I'll probably end up
flying one of those two, so I might as well go directly to their sites.
Perhaps on some other routes (NY-London?) there are many options,
so a travel site would be a better place to begin.
It's all in the details (read the fine print). I'm a UA 1k (priority flier), and have plenty of free miles with UA, but.... Domestically, I will nearly always fly SWA due to flexibility and free bags; and especially..."choose any open seat - get on and GO!". Currently I have 42 flights booked on SWA, will probably only take less than 1/2 of them. (Depends where the weather is best). Any other domestic carrier... You don't use your reservation.... You forfeit your fare.
International, I'm a bit picky, as I don't like being stranded, and missing local connection. (Especially a ferry that only departs once / week). Inter Europe or Asia, it's again cheaper to book discount local carriers. I ALWAYS book direct (after searching for best fare). You have no recourse if booking 3rd party. (And you may have no reservation ). Often carriers send discount fare offers, so you jump at the chance. Yesterday I took a $60 SWA trip that rewards me with 9 weeks of free companion fares (that will equate to 10+ free flights). Today SWA is running a Hawaii companion special. We use 8-10 of those / yr, friends, family, and neighbors LUV to go to Hawaii for $5.60. we often use companion fare to fly to San Diego for the free organ concert offered every Sunday afternoon. It's a nice sun break.
Be sure you know how each carrier advertises their lowest fares. Some are only via weekly emails. For SWA, we often use the Low Fare Calendar, and book lowest fare of the week / day. A perk is... Free same-day changes (after midnight - if space available). Exchange that 10hr - $80 flight, for a $600 flight that has 4 hr transit time.... For FREE.
Last edited by StealthRabbit; 05-24-2024 at 09:50 AM..
It's all in the details (read the fine print). I'm a UA 1k (priority flier), and have plenty of free miles with UA, but.... Domestically, I will nearly always fly SWA due to flexibility and free bags; and especially..."choose any open seat - get on and GO!". Currently I have 42 flights booked on SWA, will probably only take less than 1/2 of them. (Depends where the weather is best). Any other domestic carrier... You don't use your reservation.... You forfeit your fare.
United et al don't give you a credit for an unused ticket?? (assuming you cancel with a bit of notice)
Quote:
Originally Posted by graceC
So how does that work, exactly? Do you have to pay extra to get onboard first
so you can pick your seat as soon as you're on the plane?
Yes, Southwest calls it "open seating"... no assigned seats;
when you board, once you see a seat you like, take it.
And people who paid more for their tickets board earlier,
so they get to claim their seats first.
Supposedly it makes for faster boarding... maybe that's so,
but I read that Southwest is studying possible changes.
I would think the fastest way to fill the plane would be
to assign seats and board the passengers in the rear first,
then the ones in the middle, then the ones in the front.
But airlines wouldn't do that, because most passengers
seem to prefer the seats up front and will pay extra for them
(even if all the seats on the plane are identical, as with Southwest).
So the ones who paid the most would make a stink if they had to board last.
I find it creepy that one company is moving into so many aspects of our online lives,
and that people seem fine with that ("I'll start a google group,"
"put it into google sheets," etc. etc.). And they own Youtube as well;
there doesn't seem to be an alternative to Youtube. But otherwise, I try
to avoid the google octopus. Not that google will know that, or care.
The other recommendation people have made in this thread is to go directly
to the airlines' sites... which probably is the sensible thing to do in most cases.
If I'm planning to travel from the SF Bay area to Denver, for example,
United and Southwest are the dominant carriers on that route. I'll probably end up
flying one of those two, so I might as well go directly to their sites.
Perhaps on some other routes (NY-London?) there are many options,
so a travel site would be a better place to begin.
Tell me about it. I want google out of my life, and have pretty much gotten it out, although it's like a persistent virus, it keeps coming back. If I need a web search I use duckduckgo. I actually hate google and everything it stands for.
For travel, I just go to travelocity and orbitz, that works fine.
This used to be my strategy. Unfortunately, Google Flights nor airline websites show all the flight options. You can call them and get great deals. United Airlines used to have a booking office about an hour away that I used to drop by when I was in the area which was great for seeing all the options (the agent would just show me on their computer screen) but they closed that during covid and it's gone for good.
The best I've found now is ironically Kayak (which I swore I'd never use again). The click-through from Kayak takes you to the the airline site to book... even with itineraries that aren't surfaced there when you search directly.
This used to be my strategy. Unfortunately, Google Flights nor airline websites show all the flight options. You can call them and get great deals. United Airlines used to have a booking office about an hour away that I used to drop by when I was in the area which was great for seeing all the options (the agent would just show me on their computer screen) but they closed that during covid and it's gone for good.
The best I've found now is ironically Kayak (which I swore I'd never use again). The click-through from Kayak takes you to the the airline site to book... even with itineraries that aren't surfaced there when you search directly.
Driving an hour to search for flights doesn't sound very convenient.
Always looking for a deal so I gave Kayak a try this morning and they DID have cheaper prices than Google Flights for flights booked through kiwi.com, gotogate, and flighthub Lots of advertising and two pop ups as well.
This used to be my strategy. Unfortunately, Google Flights nor airline websites show all the flight options. You can call them and get great deals. United Airlines used to have a booking office about an hour away that I used to drop by when I was in the area which was great for seeing all the options (the agent would just show me on their computer screen) but they closed that during covid and it's gone for good.
The best I've found now is ironically Kayak (which I swore I'd never use again). The click-through from Kayak takes you to the the airline site to book... even with itineraries that aren't surfaced there when you search directly.
That seems odd... why would an airline's site not show you every flight the airline offers?
Driving an hour to search for flights doesn't sound very convenient.
Always looking for a deal so I gave Kayak a try this morning and they DID have cheaper prices than Google Flights for flights booked through kiwi.com, gotogate, and flighthub Lots of advertising and two pop ups as well.
Like I said, I was already in that area so I'd get tickets while I was there. My job requires me to travel around a bit.
I've used kayak.com out of habit for a long time,
but have gotten fed up with all the crap on it
(e.g. hotel-rate pages popping up that I didn't ask for,
rail fares displaying, when what I need are air fares).
Can someone recommend a simpler, better air-travel site?
(no Google sites, please).
Thanks!
There is no airfare site that magically has lower fees, in fact they might be higher then the airline published rates. You also get less control and more hassle if things go wrong during the flight (cancellations, etc.).
As has been stated, use a good search engine on flight options, then book directly with the airlines.
Actually your best approach for cheaper flights is to be flexible on arrival times, dates, and airports.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gator Fan 79
Always looking for a deal so I gave Kayak a try this morning and they DID have cheaper prices than Google Flights for flights booked through kiwi.com, gotogate, and flighthub Lots of advertising and two pop ups as well.
It's cheaper until you try to book it, then the flight mysteriously disappears or shows full.
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). Often carriers send discount fare offers, so you jump at the chance. Yesterday I took a $60 SWA trip that rewards me with 9 weeks of free companion fares (that will equate to 10+ free flights). Today SWA is running a Hawaii companion special. We use 8-10 of those / yr, friends, family, and neighbors LUV to go to Hawaii for $5.60. we often use companion fare to fly to San Diego for the free organ concert offered every Sunday afternoon. It's a nice sun break.
