We anticipate birth of a grandchild in San Diego, but of course the date is uncertain. Also, as I'm retired, I am buying my own tickets and watching every dime. I do have a companion pass from the privilege pack.
My original plan was to buy H fare tickets. I read the conditions on changing the tickets and basically it said there is no charge unless the current fare is higher (if its lower, they apparently give a refund of the difference). Not a bad deal for $598 if I use the pass. I thought the problem was solved, but I wanted to check whether the fare goes up as you get closer to the date of the flight. I plugged in some dates to leave Thursday of this week, and got only two flights available, and the only tickets Y fares for $798, still not a bad deal if the upgrades are available.
The money is a secondary problem; now I am very concerned about being able to get a flight on short notice.
What are some good techniques for getting seats on short notice, and of course, saving money in doing it?
My original plan was to buy H fare tickets. I read the conditions on changing the tickets and basically it said there is no charge unless the current fare is higher (if its lower, they apparently give a refund of the difference). Not a bad deal for $598 if I use the pass. I thought the problem was solved, but I wanted to check whether the fare goes up as you get closer to the date of the flight. I plugged in some dates to leave Thursday of this week, and got only two flights available, and the only tickets Y fares for $798, still not a bad deal if the upgrades are available.
The money is a secondary problem; now I am very concerned about being able to get a flight on short notice.
What are some good techniques for getting seats on short notice, and of course, saving money in doing it?
I would say that this week isnt a good week to look at these things. Simply since most flights into & out of The Northeast were cancelled yesterday, some on Sat others this morn. That everyone had to be rebooked and that would have taken away any availability and possible cheaper fares.
that being said one can usually get a cheaper fare if its at least 7 days out, but that also depends on the mkt. A flight to FLL for yesterday was $168 last Sun, after 1am (it was then Mon morn) it went up to $218 , since there wasnt a 7 day advance any longer. good thing I decided for other reasons not to go. We had alittle snow here in NY yesterday. Of cause with JetBlue flying there also from EWR it helps to keep the fares down.
since it seems that you are from CLE , Id check fares out of Akron, Toledo, and even DTW. It might not be on CO but you might beable to save some $$$
that being said one can usually get a cheaper fare if its at least 7 days out, but that also depends on the mkt. A flight to FLL for yesterday was $168 last Sun, after 1am (it was then Mon morn) it went up to $218 , since there wasnt a 7 day advance any longer. good thing I decided for other reasons not to go. We had alittle snow here in NY yesterday. Of cause with JetBlue flying there also from EWR it helps to keep the fares down.
since it seems that you are from CLE , Id check fares out of Akron, Toledo, and even DTW. It might not be on CO but you might beable to save some $$$
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My original plan was to buy H fare tickets. I read the conditions on changing the tickets and basically it said there is no charge unless the current fare is higher (if its lower, they apparently give a refund of the difference). Not a bad deal for $598 if I use the pass. I thought the problem was solved, but I wanted to check whether the fare goes up as you get closer to the date of the flight. I plugged in some dates to leave Thursday of this week, and got only two flights available, and the only tickets Y fares for $798, still not a bad deal if the upgrades are available.
The money is a secondary problem; now I am very concerned about being able to get a flight on short notice.
What are some good techniques for getting seats on short notice, and of course, saving money in doing it?
You are obviously a CO Onepass member, but if you are over 65, Southwest offers some VERY good senior fares. They are totally changable, somewhat capacity restricted but have never had any problems with finding a suitable flight. The major airlines used to match these fares. You might ask if CO (or NW or DL) has them in your market.Originally Posted by clevelandbrown
We anticipate birth of a grandchild in San Diego, but of course the date is uncertain. Also, as I'm retired, I am buying my own tickets and watching every dime. I do have a companion pass from the privilege pack.My original plan was to buy H fare tickets. I read the conditions on changing the tickets and basically it said there is no charge unless the current fare is higher (if its lower, they apparently give a refund of the difference). Not a bad deal for $598 if I use the pass. I thought the problem was solved, but I wanted to check whether the fare goes up as you get closer to the date of the flight. I plugged in some dates to leave Thursday of this week, and got only two flights available, and the only tickets Y fares for $798, still not a bad deal if the upgrades are available.
The money is a secondary problem; now I am very concerned about being able to get a flight on short notice.
What are some good techniques for getting seats on short notice, and of course, saving money in doing it?
You also don't mention if you have any CO miles in your account. I have found that standard availability for the transcons is sometimes open on very short notice -- try flying to Orange County (SNA) instead. There are people on this board who don't believe in using miles for these flights, but w/o advance purchase, you would be spending $1000+ per ticket. Save the companion pass to visit the grandchild!
I plugged in some dates to leave Thursday of this week, and got only two flights available, and the only tickets Y fares for $798, still not a bad deal if the upgrades are available.
I am a little confused. If you can buy a Y fare why not do it now. It is fully refundable, and if you can't use it, cash it back in for a ticket you can use. No one says that you have to use CO if you have to change your flight date. You may even be able to pick up a CO special fare if it's over the weekend. At the very worst, you have fixed the cost of your seat to whereever you are going.
I am a little confused. If you can buy a Y fare why not do it now. It is fully refundable, and if you can't use it, cash it back in for a ticket you can use. No one says that you have to use CO if you have to change your flight date. You may even be able to pick up a CO special fare if it's over the weekend. At the very worst, you have fixed the cost of your seat to whereever you are going.
Another option would be to look at flights from LAX or Phoenix to the Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, a town about 25 miles north of SAN on the 5. I think only United and America West serve this airport with turboprops, but you get the added flexibility of a small airport with car rentals, free parking, and no lines anywhere. Congrats in advance as well!
I think your best bet is to just purchase the cheapest available ticket for the anticipated flight dates now. The lowest published CO fare on CLE-SAN in March is $263 + taxes, in "T" class. It looks like almost all the discounted fares on this route have a $100 change fee. Once the child is born and you can firm up the dates, you'll have to pay the $100, and if "T" class isn't available, then you'll have to "buy up" to the next lowest available fare. In all likelihood, that will still end up costing less than the $600 H fare, unless the availability is really really tight, and you have no choice but to buy up to the H or Y fare (plus the change fee). But you should be able to find cheaper seats on SOME itinerary, connecting through IAH or EWR.
BTW, that H fare is more or less unrestricted, meaning you don't have to worry about fare changes once you purchase the ticket. If you need to change the just the date/time, then all there needs to be is "H" availability. The fare rules regarding changes/penalties are confusing, just because. So you'd certainly lock in the $600 fare (barring the lack of H availability), but I think you can still do better!
BTW, that H fare is more or less unrestricted, meaning you don't have to worry about fare changes once you purchase the ticket. If you need to change the just the date/time, then all there needs to be is "H" availability. The fare rules regarding changes/penalties are confusing, just because. So you'd certainly lock in the $600 fare (barring the lack of H availability), but I think you can still do better!
I should have given more information in my original posting.
My wife and I are both OP silver, and we have had pretty good luck with upgrades, so we want to keep our status. However, when you don't fly on business, making the 25K each year can be a challenge, so we try to use CO for all our flying. The birth will be about the end of August, so I have plenty of time to plan. We have plenty of miles, but don't use them for award travel, since we need to earn miles from each flight to get to 25K, although I suspect we will be making more visits in the future, so I will keep that in mind.
One of the attractions of the H fare is the bonus miles and an even better chance of being upgraded. Another is that I have to use this companion pass, and after I got it I read the fine print and found it was not valid for our recent Fairbanks trip, as that involved a codeshare on Alaska Air. Our prior trips to SAN have usually cost about $335 each, so H fares at $598 plus $99 plus taxes is quite reasonable.
My wife and I are both OP silver, and we have had pretty good luck with upgrades, so we want to keep our status. However, when you don't fly on business, making the 25K each year can be a challenge, so we try to use CO for all our flying. The birth will be about the end of August, so I have plenty of time to plan. We have plenty of miles, but don't use them for award travel, since we need to earn miles from each flight to get to 25K, although I suspect we will be making more visits in the future, so I will keep that in mind.
One of the attractions of the H fare is the bonus miles and an even better chance of being upgraded. Another is that I have to use this companion pass, and after I got it I read the fine print and found it was not valid for our recent Fairbanks trip, as that involved a codeshare on Alaska Air. Our prior trips to SAN have usually cost about $335 each, so H fares at $598 plus $99 plus taxes is quite reasonable.