Budget Travel - Need Help: Traveling MSP to Washington DC (Open to land into any of 3 airports)

MSP to DC (March 28 - April 4 or 5) $300 is what I found.

Visited Expedia's and all others sites seeking lowest cost. Are there any known special deals/creative bookings at the absolute lowest????

I can fly into any of the three airports...in DC

Wirelessly posted (goingaway's phone: BlackBerry8900/4.6.1.114 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Sun counrty was running flights into IAD on select days of the week, but not certain if the route still exists

MSP to DC (March 28 - April 4 or 5) $300 is what I found.

That does not seem like too bad of a fare for a hub captive. When I complained about being subject of an IAH hub penalty (still am), NW fliers jumped all over me about how much worse MSP is.

Having said that, look at flights into BWI, WN makes it more competetive.

EmailKid

Keep an eye out on WN for DING sales.

Try both www.nwa.com and www.delta.com. Every once in a while they have something the general vendors don't. Always worth the couple of minutes.

And you could consider bidding on Priceline. Do watch the follow-up page after your initial bid though to make sure you are aware of the added fees.

Romelle

Two good sites to start with are Sidestep (www.sidestep.com) and Yahoo!Fare Chase (farechase.yahoo.com)

Both these sites will search all the major airline and travel websites and give you the fares they find in one easy list. For the dates you mentioned, I brought up a $277 fare, using Northwest/Delta that was bookable through Orbitz.

MSP to DC (March 28 - April 4 or 5) $300 is what I found.

Visited Expedia's and all others sites seeking lowest cost. Are there any known special deals/creative bookings at the absolute lowest????

I can fly into any of the three airports...in DC

If the available fare differences boild down to $50 or less between airports, you need to do a bit of "self-inquiry". Where are you going in DC/surrounds? What hotel? What access to local (public) transporation will be available to you or needed?

A Downtown hotel close to the Metro makes DCA a "bargain" even when the fare's a bit more, reducing time & costs. BWI can be a headache, especially coming or going on a weekend when the RT doesn't run, and you have to wait and pay for (Off)TRAK. IAD always seems to take longer than it should, even when there are no hangups.

The Metro (which you help to pay for) can be your friend, clean, convenient, and by all DC standards, safe.

It will ad ALOT of travel time, but you could consider taking mega bus to Chicago ~$10-15 each way and flying from there.

I know thish is the budget forum, but i think you are just going to have to such it up and pay the $300. If getting the best fare is most important i wouldn't worry about what airport you fly into. Sure DCA is way easer, both IAD and BWI have a bus that connects the airport with the Metro.