Help CLE-RNO in August
 

Looking to fly CO (not really interested in flying any other carrier, one reason I put this in the CO thread) to RNO for a bachelor party in Tahoe.

Flights

Outbound
Thursday 8/21
1045 CLE - IAH 6 am Dept 7:48 Arrival
357 IAH - RNO 9 am Dept 10:47 Arrival

Return
Sunday 8/24
128 RNO - IAH 11:37 am Dept 5:09 Arrival
644 IAH - CLE 6:45 pm Dept 10:31 Arrival

Right now it is pricing out at $463 All in.

Flight 357 IAH - RNO looks pretty full at the moment but all others appear empty.

Should I purchase this ticket today or wait and hope it comes down in price?

I apologize if this is in the wrong thread.

Please research:

- The lowest CO fare in the CLE-RNO market
- The lowest CO fare in the CLE-RNO market valid on your dates of the week
- The lowest CO fare available for your dates

Then you can come to your own conclusion based on your comfort level.

Thank you Channa.

Right now $463 is the lowest fare for my dates of travel.

I have searched...my question is based on CO's impenetrable logarithm is that price likely to increase or decrease.

I have been to sidestep expedia and to farecompare...it is the lowest currently...it is not the lowest historically. But 1 of the 4 flights is pretty darn full.

Those are the flights I will be on...should I purchase them today or is the price likely to go down.

This should help...
http://www.farecompare.com/search/ye...estination=RNO

i dont think your base fare is going to drop much. seems reasonable for summer fares to RNO. what you may want to do is wait another day or so to see if the most recent fuel surcharge is rescinded.

it hasnt been matched by all carriers yet. that'll save you $50.

I disagree. I would wager that the fare significantly drops for the OP's dates

You may also want to check flying to SMF. The drive is a nice one that time of year and shouldn't take more than an extra 45 minutes - hour, depending on whether you are staying North Shore or South. Looks like it is pricing out at $381 AI.

I actually fly to RNO quite a bit from IAH, and have for years. I'd say that fare is pretty reasonable, and you're not likely to get a lower one... one reason is there are only 2 flights per day to RNO from IAH (used to be 3 a year or so ago). You might try to search around for different days...use the lowest fare chart on CO.com

Regardless what you find...enjoy the heck out of Tahoe!! Feel free to PM me if you want any other info out there since it's kinda my second home!
Cheers!

FYI, In February I flew CLE-RNO and back via NWA....total cost was $481 all in. The actual route was CLE-MSP-PDX-RNO, and back was RNO-MSP-CLE. A very quick search shows this as currently pricing around $520 with a routing through LAX instead of PDX. I would expect summer fares to RNO to be cheaper than this since its the off season.

You mentioned the CLE-IAH is showing empty....by August this flight will be overbooked as it is daily....do not expect any upgrades on any of the flights or connections.

If you are hoping for upgrades then my advice is to look at the NWA routings. As with others upgrade %'s on NWA are higher for CO elites flying NW versus CO....However even as a plat I was UG'd only on 1/3 eligible flights, odd since I am usually 100% on NWA. I attribute the low percentage on this route to the season, it was ski season when I traveled to Tahoe/Reno.

One additional thought, years ago I would goto Tahoe every year for my summer holiday, I would fly to SFO then drive the 3 hours to Reno.

Cheers,
CLEHillbilly

I thought that NWA dropped all service to RNO back in 2006, and that currently no airline flies MSP-RNO non-stop.

I agree that Sacramento is a great option as there is more competition and service than Reno. Plus, if South Lake Tahoe and the casinos are your destination then the drive is not much different.

I disagree with the drive thing...unless cost is a huge deal. It only takes about 1 1/2 hrs to get to South Lake Tahoe from Reno (non winter), and it's a good 3+ hrs from Sacramento.

You just need to factor in whether your time is worth saving a few bucks on airfare, etc.

Forget the time issue. With the cost of gas these days the longer drive will have a significant $$ factor as well :eek:

PDX-RNO is a Horizon Air connection. I earned CO miles and Elite segments on the flight ( Alaska 2449Q ).

A Q400 but I survived for the short 1 hour flight.

I think Horizon/Alaska is now using Q400 on SEA-RNO now as well, in place of their retiring MD-80's. Anyway, your post says that you flew RNO-MSP-CLE on the return. I didn't realize that RNO-MSP was possible anymore.