Budget Travel - Get me the first cheap flight to anywhere!

Hey all,

I've searched around a bit without much success, so hopefully I'm not repeating something here.

I'm interested in what people can tell me about showing up at an airport without a planned destination and buying a cheap last-minute fare on the spot.

I suppose my questions are as follows:
- is this possible (does it depend on the airport)? is there some central location at an airport set up for things of this nature, or would I have to walk around to dozens of ticket counters?
- is this actually cheaper than booking online through a discount website?

Any thoughts or experiences that people have had with this would be greatly appreciated.

First, welcome to Flyertalk.

Second, the general airline model is that you pay more the closer to your flight you buy your ticket. So, in general, your idea will not work.

The exception... some airlines have weekend fares... but you have to book online... known as "e-fares".

William

Hey wharvey, hmm... that's not what I was hoping to hear, but thanks for the info anyway. :-)

Sorry... :)

You should venture over into the Mileage Run forum.... there people talk about and share cheap fares.

There is a new one on mileage runs within Canada....

While I did not get a sense you were doing it for the miles... you can get many good ideas there.

For example, it was possible to go the Australia for less than $500 USD over the past few months from the west coast.... and some booked that ticket on the day they traveled.

So, it is possible... but difficult to find those deals.... and I rarely see them posted with originations in Canada.

William

I'm interested in what people can tell me about showing up at an airport without a planned destination and buying a cheap last-minute fare on the spot.

Well, I heard about this, but that was many years ago. These day airlines are supposed to submit a passanger list to TSA, so that could make it more difficult. If you buy a last minute ticket, your boarding pass may well show the dreaded SSSS that sends the flyer to secondary screening.

First, welcome to Flyertalk.

Second, the general airline model is that you pay more the closer to your flight you buy your ticket. So, in general, your idea will not work.

The exception... some airlines have weekend fares... but you have to book online... known as "e-fares".

William

Welcome to FT indeed, hack4good.

Afraid that wharvey is right :(

Asian airlines do not tend to do this, and IIRC you can buy last minute tickets on EVA Airlines, but all their flights from NA go to Taiwan. They don't fly from YYZ, but do so from YVR IIRC.

So, it is possible... but difficult to find those deals.... and I rarely see them posted with originations in Canada.

If you search Budget Travel you will find a thread about cheap travel from Toronto to Buffalo to take advantage of the cheaper fares. In fact there may even be a thread specifically on going to the airport.

EmailKid

Hey all,

I've searched around a bit without much success, so hopefully I'm not repeating something here.

I'm interested in what people can tell me about showing up at an airport without a planned destination and buying a cheap last-minute fare on the spot.

I suppose my questions are as follows:
- is this possible (does it depend on the airport)? is there some central location at an airport set up for things of this nature, or would I have to walk around to dozens of ticket counters?
- is this actually cheaper than booking online through a discount website?

Any thoughts or experiences that people have had with this would be greatly appreciated.

I agree with the advice so far that your idea is a non-starter.

My question is - why would you even want to? You obviously have a computer and internet connection and (at least here in UK) it's easy to sign up online to deals for next day travel. Airports were never vacation spots even pre 9/11 and credit crunch. Now they're just very expensive retail malls as the ticket price is just an entry fee to conspicuous consumption.

If you want a magical mystery tour, just take Ryanair to Paris, Frankfurt or Oslo all of whose landing strips are 100+km from where you think you're going:D

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful responses. I will indeed check out the Mileage Run forum.

My question is - why would you even want to? You obviously have a computer and internet connection and (at least here in UK) it's easy to sign up online to deals for next day travel. Airports were never vacation spots even pre 9/11 and credit crunch.

A couple of reasons. I do actually like airports, strangely enough. That's not primarily why I was interested in doing this, though. The idea of getting up in the morning and heading to the airport without knowing where I'll end up seems exciting; tangibly different than booking a last minute flight on my computer the day before. I also figured (wrongly, it appears) that a flight otherwise flying with empty seats could/would sell them off last-minute at next to nothing.

A couple of reasons. I do actually like airports, strangely enough. That's not primarily why I was interested in doing this, though. The idea of getting up in the morning and heading to the airport without knowing where I'll end up seems exciting; tangibly different than booking a last minute flight on my computer the day before. I also figured (wrongly, it appears) that a flight otherwise flying with empty seats could/would sell them off last-minute at next to nothing.

The answer to your question is to become an airline employee. Then you can non-rev to wherever there are seats available on the spur of the moment. ;)

Seriously, I like your thinking and have even brought your same point up before. I would be quite happy to plop down a reasonable amount for a standby ticket to some random destination and wait around at the airport for a day. If at the end of the day no flights were available, you'd turn your standby ticket back in and get a refund or hold it and try again the next day. I think airlines would make a killing. (Well, maybe not, but I'd have fun.) Actually, I think something like this actually used to exist in the old days when airfares were regulated, but it's long gone. Too bad...

But think again about that non-rev thing...now that there are empty seats on planes again, it's probably not quite as hard for non-revvers as it was even just a few months ago!

The answer to your question is to become an airline employee. Then you can non-rev to wherever there are seats available on the spur of the moment. ;)

Yeah, if only they extended this to the general public. Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to get an airline job, so I guess this is out of the question.

The answer to your question is to become an airline employee. Then you can non-rev to wherever there are seats available on the spur of the moment. ;)


i did this when i was with B6! somehow ended up in SJU.

I'd think it would be possible to show up at the airport, with carry-on in hand, and look at e-fares from a laptop or other internet device... and just pick a destination that appeals to you right then and there. :)

HTSC

I have often thought that this would be "fun" to do...just show up at the airport, look at the screen of flights departing, pick somewhere, and GO!

I have told my kids I want to do this someday, especially when they are screaming and fighting in the car.

I have often thought that this would be "fun" to do...just show up at the airport, look at the screen of flights departing, pick somewhere, and GO!

I have told my kids I want to do this someday, especially when they are screaming and fighting in the car.

Don't blame us when you end up in Fresno! :):):)

Virgin America has some insanely low fares lately, I booked a flight from IAD to LAX 10 hours before takeoff for 210 bucks.

I am totally with you hack4good, I have wanted to do this for as long as I can remember. And the idea of getting a decent fare only enhances the adventure, no matter where you end up...even fresno.

I have seen posted here on FT where a group of friends do a version of this where one person buys the tickets and everyone else finds out where they are going when they get to the airport. Maybe you can have a friend purchase the ticket for you in advance, (you set the budget/date) and then he/she tells you the airline only. Then you get the reasonable price and the surprise adventure. It's not exactly the same, but with the current pricing models I think it as close as you can get.

... (you set the budget/date) and then he/she tells you the airline only.

Um, ya :confused:

Just make sure you include a list of excluded places or "friend" has common sense or you could end up in Phoenix in August or Winnipeg in February :eek:

EmailKid

Don't blame us when you end up in Fresno! :):):)

The poster can fly to Fresno then visit Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia. There are airports with much worse ways to have to spend time :p

Um, ya :confused:

Just make sure you include a list of excluded places or "friend" has common sense or you could end up in Phoenix in August or Winnipeg in February :eek:

EmailKid


I think you may be missing hack4good's point. Once you start "editing" the destination then you cross over to an MR, or vacation.

For me at least, most of the allure is in (1) arriving in a place unknown/unexpected (2) making the most of where you land; finding points of interest, hanging with locals, 25th annual winnipeg snowball fight (making that up.)

Wow that idea sounds fun. I would love to just go to an airport and go on the cheapest next flight out to anywhere but, yep last minute is not so much a bargain. We used to have "mystery flights" here. You can't buy them anymore. You just turned up and you would find out at the airport where you were going and be at the destination for 48 hours and back home.

What a great way to use up empty seats.

The idea is not so appealing when you ad the extra 0's to the cost of the ticket for going on impulse. I have been looking for super cheap flights to go somewhere warm and would have booked to go tomorrow if the price was right but alas no so I a stuck in the cold :(

Hope you have an adventure!

I wish we could demonstrate a huge demand for this sort of thing and get the attention of an airline who could start offering this [again]. Unfortunately, I think there's only a relatively small number of us who are flexible enough to do this and/or interested in this sort of adventuresome travel.

I'd love to be proven wrong, though!! :)

AirBerlin o¨r was it Germanwings does offer something like that. You buy a package for like 80€ and get return trip to someplace they fly. They have some destination packages, like cultural activities in one of these five cities or beach in these 5 etc. So you have an idea what to pack and expect. Some of them are intra-German and some are to other places around Europe.

Given that you have to be able to pack accordingly, it would make a huge difference whether you ended up in Winnipeg or Phoenix in January, and this sort of thing is not well-suited to surprise.

If you can't become an airline employee, there's always the possibility of getting a spouse who is one :). More seriously, I understand these benefits are much reduced.

Often, you will have to chose between flexibility of last minute travel and cheap fare, unless you want to rely on dump luck. If you want flexibility, AA has an option for you: AAirpass. The link below has more details, but one key thing is that you can show up last minute, use Admirals Clubs, and only get charged when you fly.

http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?p=/businessPrograms/prepaidTravel/prepaidTravel.jsp&anchorEvent=false