Seat 2A->

here's what I'd do.... you call in, give me your dates, I'd tell you "Mr. Seat 2A, the Published rates are gonna cost you 2 years of college tuition. but I have a few tricks up my sleeve that could probably take it down to a semester... would you mind letting me work on this a bit?"

With luck, I'd find a consolidator that offers you frequent flyer miles and some liberal change penalties for a fare that is 20 to 80% cheaper than what you want.

We use DER Travel frequently for last minute trips, and I've saved one client over $50,000 in travel (we made a chart for him) while we would take in a 100% profit on the tickets. Luckily DER offers fares based on class of service that only require ticketing 3 days prior, so you can call United or American and find your fare at $6,000 but I can get it for $950.

((FYI: you have to use an agent to get a ticket via DER))