MilesBuzz! - A poll -- cheapest fare ever purchased

Megamiles mentioned in another posting that the NW Mystery fares would have to be under $25 for him to be interested. Have any of you ever flown for a very low fare?

I'll start the ball rolling...I have purchased and flown on $22 tickets (one way) from Seattle to Spokane (232 miles)when Southwest and Horizon get into a fare war. But the absolute best deal I ever got was Seattle to Oakland when Southwest Airlines first offered service to Seattle in 1994. They offered a round trip fare including taxes of $52 for this flight PLUS a free round trip voucher good only during the next month.

I'm not sure the Seattle-Spokane trip was such a good deal. That's less than a full tank of gas ($15?) and four hours of driving. It probably took that long (door to door) to fly. The Seattle-Oakland-Seattle trip, on the other hand, was a GOOD deal.

philforest,

Logic would tell you that driving would be cheaper but when you consider driving over Snoqualmie Pass in the winter, getting out of your car to put on tire chains while hoping there isn't an avalanche (Rudi will understand this one) while you are on the side of the road with frozen and bleeding fingers trying to get the chains on your filthy tires...

I always fly to Spokane. However, I never fly to Portland which is 3 hours away. With airport parking and delays, it's always easier to drive. And Portland (PDX) cost $90+ round trip.

MA - It would be interesting to do this as a 'cost per distance' exercise. I have heard of November airfares to Europe for as little as $99. At the moment BA is running a promotion where for $399 you fly to London & spend three nights in a hotel (December).

Great prompt. And, do I have a doozy to report!

Of course, this was four thousand years ago when I was living in Manhattan . . . in fact, it was during the days of People Express (anyone remember?). The National Gallery in Washington, D.C. was hosting an exhibit of El Greco paintings never before seen in one place (not even in the Prado). My husband and I were dying to see it. We also were destitute graduate students living hand-to-mouth.

SOLUTION: People Express was offering weekend fares NYC-D.C. (it was even the National airport, not far-away Dulles) for $19 each way. So, that was $38 each round trip! We flew down early on a Saturday morning and returned that same night so we didn't have to pay for a hotel room.

Since then, I've traveled quite a lot but this trip -- this single-day flying holiday to see fabulous paintings, lunch picnic style on the mall and see the cherry trees in bloom (yes, it was April) -- was pure magic!

Thank you People Express!

Ok, do any of you remember just after the Gulf War when BA sold 10,000 seats in Europe (ditto America's) for £10 each to any destination in the world?

It was billed as the "Biggest Give-Away in the world", well I got a return LHR to JFK for £10.

Ok, I never used it in the end, but I got it all the same.

The aim was to encourage air travel after no-one was travelling following the Gulf War (oops Conflict).
MF

I remember Peoples Express and once my neighbor took them EWR (from the original
Newark Airport terminal) to Houston for 79 dollars, round trip. The terminal was lined
with bags all over the place, people sprarled
out all over the place waiting for some cheaper air fare offer. She was old, saw the small plane and immediately had a panic attack. The crew let me walk her on the plane, sit her down and calm her down. (this also the days before intense security!) I
hit my head going out of the plane.

The People's Express area looked like Beijing
airport, absolute chaos! Also remember Braniff? And Freddie Laker's airline (I was
only a child when these airlines were in business so I don't know of their service.)

My most recent cheap airfare: 159 dollars roundtrip on Delta Escapes to Vegas. I don't
remember much more because it was a bunch of guys going to Vegas for a guy's weekend but
the airfare made up for some losses at the blackjack table! CATMAN

I have flown twice Newark to London on the $99.00 each way fare (plus tax). Last year my family (2 adults) three children flew, The total with tax was around $1,400. We took a voluntary bump...were delayed 12 hours and got a $400.00 credit each, for a total of $2,000. The first weekend in December my wife and I are using the last $400.00 on a $312.00 fare costing us $112 each, r/t..and hoping for another bump

LAX-Orlando (4434 miles) $144
LAX-Hong Kong (14494 miles) $399
LAX-London (10912 miles) $299

The above were all non-stops on United. Could earn even more miles for the same price by going through connecting cities. Miles earned are actual flown R/T, and do not include bonues!

DAL-SAT $38 R/T WN
DAL-TUL $38 R/T WN
DAL-HOU $38 R/T WN

About 10 years ago it cost me more to park my car at Love Field, than I paid for some air fares on Southwest.

The Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas in Hawaiian) fares are always a good deal since we have to fill up the planes that need to fly back to the mainland. I got a HNL-SEA return trip for $149 the first year (1988) that I lived here.

I remember People Express! What an airline! Flying out of Newark which was a really depressing airport. All cement blocks painted gray and pink if I recall correctly. At that time, the "meals" were sandwiches served in styrofoam baskets. Funny thing is, not too long ago, on AA, we picked up our "meals" from a cart located just past the boarding gate on the way in. It reminded me of the old People Express days.

Late 70's. Braniff LAX/GIG (Rio). $159 RT. Horribly painted (multi-colored) 747. Leather seats. And they put me in first class on the way home because the plane was full in back...

Those were the days my friends, we thought they'd never end, we -- oh well, you get the picture!

My memories of People's Express are not fond.

Flight from EWR to MSP. There was something a little "off" with the plane. For one thing, there was the slight wiff of exhaust fumes in the air system.

The biggest problem was a slightly mis-adjusted autopilot - rather than keeping the aircraft level, it kept it almost level. We would pitch up about one degree, then down about one degree. Barely noticable at the start of the flight, but after three hours it was like being strapped into a roller coaster. At least half of the passengers (including myself) made use of the airsick bags.

Since then, I've stayed with the majors, and only fly cheap when I use cupons or specials on them.

Dave

RiceChex: Todays's meals are also served out of bags. Especially on Delta.

Not the lowest cost per mile, but I do recall getting a $13 or $14 fare on United from Kansas City to Chicago in the mid 80's when they matched the Southwest start-up fare on that route. Used plenty of $19 fares on United & Southwest between San Diego/San Francisco, San Diego/Las Vegas, San Diego/Phoenix in the 80's too. And those $19 fares resurfaced shortly about 2 years ago to San Francisco for a very brief time...

How about $89 LAX-YVR (Vancouver)round trip. I flew this last month on Alaska Airlines.

I had reservations for trips, but did not actually ticket.

$29 roundtrip, Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, FL...on Delta.

$117 roundtrip(including taxes) Atlanta to Vancouver, BC on Canadian Airlines.

The best deals for international travel I have seen have been with couriers. U.S. to far East/Europe/S. America was $200 and under. I do not recommend courier travel unless you can go alone, have flexible travel plans, and can stay at least 1 week.

In the early eighties, New York Air ran a promotion where on one day (it was a saturday) you could fly DCA-LGA or LGA-DCA in exchange for a ball point pen. My grandmother lived in manhattan at the time and my father and I took advantage and flew up in the morning and back in that evening for a total cost of 4 Bic pens.

As for People's: I flew them a LOT in college to visit my (opposite coast) girlfriend. But on one fateful winter evening in 1986, flying EWR-SFO on a peoples express 747 I was involved in an "incidnet." I wont go into details, but suffice to say that no one was killed and only a few folks were slightly injured, but we were definately seated with our heads between our legs in "crash position" when we landed at SFO. While the one way DCA-EWR-SFO flight cost only $69, it nearly cost a whole lot more. I flew home on American and did not fly at all for about five years. (as a postscript, the FAA determined that "severe fog, high winds, and questionable pilot training procedures" contributed to the incident).

Fast forward 12 years and 65,000 miles a year for 4 years has pretty much gotten me over white-knuckle syndrom, but I still feel better avoiding the cut-rate airlines...

MileageAddict might want to try the train between SEA and PDX. It is approximately $30 rt, takes 4 hours, and a brand new Talgo designed for the NW (outlets for laptops & other comfort features) goes into operation in December!

i likes tranes, too.

Tranes are good air conditioners

It's kind of travel related, but with the great Lionel trains in the sky is AUTO TRAIN.
Remember them? They used to run I think from New york to Florida and you could take your car aboard.

I think Amtrak took them over in teh 80's.

Like trains, esp the one from Paris (the REAL
Paris) to London. Nice service, fun ride, I
got to write out my postcards.

IN some ways maybe I'm glad I missed the discount airline craze.

And I have passed 960 postings!!!! MEOWS!
CATMAN

march, 1996
$77 round trip
USAir
LGA-BNA

knovimber, 1998

BA pey me $1007 to fli vergen

I reckon I can top these fares

Just returned from NZ

Melbourne to Auckland roudn trip with United A$99 (US$62) [Thats Return!] Total 3288 miles

plus

Got 5000 bonus miles for joining Mileage Plus
and
3288 miles for the trip

Also I saw recently a Melbourne to Singapore special 2 for 1 offer flying Emirates. @ return economy tickets for $777 total which is about US$225 return for each passenger.

No FF program with Emirates though...

cheers Peter

Unfortunately no miles with Emirates in that part of the world. There are UA code shares on Emirates from Dubai to London that are eligible though.

The Auto Train still runs from Orlando, but the northern end is in Lorton, Virginia.

The Auto Train still runs from Orlando, but the northern end is in Lorton, Virginia.

Can't beat pbarrett, but Southwest and Useless Air are now in a war. BWI - the left coast = $99. That's pretty good.
Roberto: You goofed and spelled air conditioners correctly. What r u kumming tu?
Pie en argent: Yes, and it's still a fun trip.

I flew for about $45 U.S. (including all taxes) from Calgary to Edmonton regularly in the winter of 1996-97 (same day return tickets-now the cheapest I can get is $220). There was intense competition with a new airline. It helped me qualify for 48 flights within a certain time period. With 48 flights you got 2 business class tickets anywhere in the world Star Alliance flew. We opted for South Africa, tickets being worth about $11,000 U.S (for two). Total cost of all paid tickets for my 48 legs was less than $1500 U.S!

Toronto to London Ontario for 51.00 RT. I needed a few "top-up" miles. I flew there, got off to get my return BP printed, and got right back on the same plane. It took about 1.5 hours.

LAX to San Diego
PSA
$12.50 one way
Paid the fare in cash on the plane

This Thanksgiving on RyanAir -- London, Stansted to Pisa, Italy (on the way to Firenze) -- 19 GBP + tax = approx. $60 Round Trip!!

I use to live in Worcester, MA, and if you had a flight out of Logan in Boston you could take Percision Air out of the Worcester Airport for $4.00 to Logan to get the flight. At the time there wasn't train service between Worcester and Boston, so your only alternative was the bus. It was a no brainer, the Worcester Airport had free parking, only nine customers at any given time, etc. Did that flight a few times.

Mid 90s, Southwest SMF-PHX $39.95 friend flys free.

PSA, midnight flyer, standby only, LA to SFO $10

The very best was 69 *cents* round-trip from LAX to Sydney. But, even though I actually paid the fare, it was a contest when CO initiated service in 1980(?)

In the early 80s, BOS-EWR on People's Express was $29/$19 depending on the flight. It revolutionized commuting, made NewYorkers/Jerseyites happy. Students from the region who were going to school in BOS were the most delighted - no more car pooling or hitching a ride .....

Also remember $99 to Europe with Freddie Laker's (sp ?) airline ;-)... Oh ! what wonderful days of my youth.

Seems pretty clear that the current mess-up at United with SFO-PARIS (!) for $27 round trip is impossible to beat! One of our number crankyusi booked 7 round trips.


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum50/HTML/004763-4.html

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~ Glen ~

SFO-IAD $63.50 return on UA last month

The fare was actually $127 and was for SFO-CMH, but a bizarre re-route left me with the longer trip and part of a ticket to submit for a very surprising 50-percent refund. With the triple miles it was a pretty awesome deal.

SFO-NRT $199 return on NW

Last year's New Year's Day fare


SFO-YVR $80 return on Alaska two years ago.

I booked a bunch of these for trips to Whistler.

DFW to ANC r/t for $236 on DL about three years ago.

Took a bump on the overbooked first leg to SLC; got rerouted via SEA on First Class and received two NA bump vouchers. To top it all, the flight through SEA ended up arriving about 30 minutes before the one I was originally scheduled in.

RZ

Interesting post! It would seem to me that the cheapest fare ever "published" would be those "0" fares that I've seen from time to time in the CRS - although I'm fairly sure that the experts would agree that these are mistakes and not actual published fares.

As far as the cheapest fares goes, I submit to you for consideration, Ryan Air's fare CURRENT PROMOTION of ONE POUND - valid on certain RT British sectors!

Details: www.ryanair.com (http://www.ryanair.com)

Anyone ever find one for less?

[This message has been edited by tvl4free (edited 02-02-2001).]

Dallas to Memphis. $12.

United (3 years ago during their anniversary of flying to Hawaii)...

$182 round trip, Atlanta to Honolulu with double frequent flier miles.

Actually, I think the fare was $199 and I used some "script" from the airline suit to bring it down to $182.

Just after Southwest came to BWI, I took my daughter to Cleveland for the day to watch an annular eclipse of the sun. We spent the day at the zoo. Cost was 19.00 each way. I think the total for the two of us with tax was $84. No overnight stay required.

My cheapest fare was about ten years ago in the dying days of Eastern right after the last strike when they were offering one way fares on the Shuttle for $12. We grabbed that DCA-LGA one evening coming back from work in Northern VA despite the fact that our car was parked at EWR. Even with the cab fare to get the car the next morning on the way to work, it was a real bargain. As a bonus, they did not even have the regular Shuttle equipment on that flight and the regularly configured plane allowed the first passengers on board to sit in First Class.
Therefore, we ended up getting FC tix DCA-LGA for $12.

Interesting how many of these are on Southwest, or in reaction to a Southwest introductory fare...

I seem to remember reading (at one time or another) that when Southwest began service (around 1971 or so) that they had an introductory airfare from Dallas to Houston for $7.95 each way -- plus you got one of those little bottle of Jack Daniels!

Anyone else heard of this rumor? Or is it just one of those tall Texas tales that has grown over time?

Just wonderin... y'all! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

My cheapest was Boston to London on TWA, $99 each way plus tax. A similar fare is offered almost every winter on one airline or another. But what made this particular fare great was that we could fly in May, so the weather was perfect.

1992 - Southwest , Sacramento - San Diego r/t $49 - for TWO people. "Friends Fly Free" Only $24.50/person for a 525 Mile trip.

Back in 1983 Twa had a fare from Phoenix to Palm Springs $10 each way. Believe it or not it snowed in Palm Springs that day.

On the United board there is a thread describing the purchase of tickets from Northern Califronia to Paris for various prices between $20 and $30 a couple of days ago

1998 Melbourne, Australia to Auckland, NZ $A99 round trip on United (about $US60) - and I got around 8,300 Mileage Plus miles for the trip.

cheers peter

Originally posted by ORD12:
..I seem to remember reading (at one time or another) that when Southwest began service (around 1971 or so) that they had an introductory airfare from Dallas to Houston for $7.95 each way -- plus you got one of those little bottle of Jack Daniels!

Anyone else heard of this rumor? Or is it just one of those tall Texas tales that has grown over time? Just wonderin... y'all! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Don't remember that one specifically, but do seem to remember that when WN started it had three planes and they flew a triangle route Dallas Love-Houston-San Antonio-Dallas all day long. For the first year or so, iirc, you could fly the last segment of the night(when they were repositioning planes for the next morning) for $10.
Some facts at http://www.southwest.com/about_swa/airborne.html

This probably doesn't count, but when I lived in Orange County, CA, I used to fly the helicopter between Fullerton Airport and LAX for *free* (with the purchase of a RT out of LAX on TWA). I loved flying the helicopter - until it crashed, of course.

Probably the best $ per mile deal I ever got was Houston-Las Vegas r/t @ $39 each way on TI (Texas International) back in '79. Anybody remember their "fly for peanuts" promotion?

In Decmeber 1995, I got a $39 RT between BNA and MDW on Southwest.

Last year Alaska had a fare from SEA to Palm Springs for $00.00. Some Travel Agents booked this but Alaska would not honor the fare even though it was their mistake. Upon checking in Alaska stated the fare was too low to be realistic and would only allow the ticketed passengers on board if they paid up to the lowest "real" fare. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

The cheapest ticket, hmm. Without counting any bonus runs or miles and miles runs, $67.50. This is the base fare for BWI-CMH on CO. Since CO does not fly to CMH, a change of planes is required in Detroit after connecting in Newark or Cleveland. Only reason I mention the segments is because I needed to requalify for Gold.

$199 fare offered on January 1, 2000, on COs 777 was too good to pass up. Unfortunately I did as I got to caught up in the previous night's festivities. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Also, BWI used to have fares for $30 each way to Buffalo at about $59 r/t on USAir.


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"Fly me to the moon and let me earn alot of miles."

my cheapest was a cdn esaver, in the day before ac got pissy and made them stop the unlimited discounts on the empty flights. it was yyz-gru for $190US. the thing that was even better was that i was using an award to get from lga-yyz, and there was a snowstorm. so, since cp was still part of aa at the time, i got the trip rerouted on aa from jfk. so i never had to go to canada. two weeks later was when the kabash was put on cp's super discounts, and the rest, well, you know http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif!!!

- Numerous Kansas City-Chicago R/T's for $38 in the late-1980's on Southwest and the old Midway Airlines. No minimum stay, and you could pay cash at the counter in some cases. We went to a few Cubs games on these fares.

- MCI-DFW-SFO R/T $122 including taxes, on AA. Just sort of stumbled across this one about a year ago. I was flying off-peak both ways, and there must've been a fare war going on somewhere.

- Vanguard used to advertise $9 fares from KC to Des Moines. No, I never did this - not sure what I'd do in Iowa even if you gave me a free ticket.