Jadeshn

A total of 11 people will be flying out of Raleigh, North Carolina (RDU) going to Montego Bay Jamaica (MBJ) on October 20- 23. Is there any helpful websites or best Airlines for group rates that you all could suggest for me.
Thank you.

Romelle

The first thing to do is find the best rate you can find on your own.

Via ITA Matrix I see an AA for $469 for your dates, and $453 if you leave a day earlier. The schedules might not be your choice though, so you might find yourself stepping up a few $$ for the times you want.

But don't take my word for it. If you dig until you are sure you've found the best possible workable rate, then you'll know if the pro-offered new websites and group rates are a better deal.

Often1

Now that you have a rough price for the air, consider that you will also need hotel and airport transfers and you may want some group meals or other amenities included.

The lowest price may not be the cheapest trip.

I would speak with a travel agent who comes highly recommended by friends, does business in the RDU area and with whom you can meet. Talk about your needs, budget and parameters and see if what you want can be done.

Do not put yourself in the middle of being the banker for these things. At some point, people will need to make deposits and pay for their tickets. When they don't pay or want to back out, they will come back to you. Friendships and business relationships fall apart over this stuff, so it is best to have a business person handle this and that is what the travel agent does. If people don't pay the TA, they don't go.

A TA can also arrange a van (or 2) for your group to and from the airport, perhaps a meal or two and other things which cost money. So, even though the TA will charge a fee, the TA may save you more in the end.

EmailKid

As someone in a different forum found out, cheapest GROUP rate may well be MORE expensive than cheapest fare for ONE person @:-)

While you may be getting a discount for the group, there are very likely only so many tickets available in lowest fare bucket, so when those are used up, you are forced to pay for more expensive tickets for those who did not get the low fare you see for one passenger @:-)

I know for a fact that UA has group rates, and suspect other airlines do as well - you can contact them via their web site.

Oh, and welcome to FlyerTalk.

Romelle

Emailkid makes a good point about rates for multiple tickets. When I used the largest number of fares possible (6 in both American and Expedia) the best rate I could find went up to just over $500 for your dates. There usually are only so many less expensive seats available at any one time, and asking for more moves one up into higher priced ones. But the airline group rates or a travel agent may get around this.

Low Roller

^ I never use a travel agent for individual travel, but 11 people takes a lot of co-ordination and too many things can go wrong. Why set yourself up as the person to be blamed? Get professional help on this one.

Bakpapier

1. Find out which airlines fly this route.

2. Go through all of the airline websites, search/google 'group bookings' and fill in the form/call in/mail them to get a quote for a group booking.

3. Book the best rate.


It's not difficult, our group has done a booking of over 30+ people through RyanAir, and it has been succesfull. I had questions about this too somewhere in this forum. We managed to get quite a good rate and everybody on the same plane (and a direct flight too).

One tip I would tell you: split your booking in two regular 6 person bookings. Those don't require the special group travel form. However the second round of booking will always be more expensive.

Another trick you could do for larger groups:

1. ask for a group fare quote of your group minus 9 pax or so (or whatever the max non-group booking is)
2. get the quote
3. in the meantime book 9 (or the max) pax through a regular booking, getting the cheap fares
4. then accept the quote.

I see that your route does not exist as a direct flight. That might severely complicate things.

Maybe you should consider hiring a group cab/small bus to Charlotte airport, then take a direct flight to Jamaica. I'd think that would be easier.

There is a direct american airlines CLT - Montego Bay flight, but it's fairly expensive currently.