Need help finding airfare please!
 

Hello:

I am a 30-year old attorney trying to get from Detroit to San Francisco Aug 5 to Aug 9 for a conference. Unfortunately, I cannot find any decent airfare. I would use miles, but the least amount of points I can find is 40,000. I also tried naming my own price on Priceline, but they were not any cheaper. I see spots for e-certificates on the airlines websites. Any suggestions where I can find one of these code? Or anyone have any ideas on how I can get out there? Thank you in advance! :D

What's your budget?

Have you searched flights into/out of other airports, including Oakland, San Jose, Toledo, Cleveland and Chicago?

I see you could fly from Midway to San Francisco on Southwest 8/4-9 for about $400.

Thanks for the replies! I could go as high as $300. I can't really leave from or fly into other airports because it would end up costing more in the long run to get there (the taxi ride).

Here are several thoughts -

First, I think it is extremely unlikely that you will find a roundtrip fare for anything close to $300 at this point.

Second, if you need to go and have the 40,000 miles, I do not see anything wrong in using them. To sit around and wait to use the miles for a trip you don't need to make just to get that trip for 25,000 miles seems silly. I know there are some on this board who think you should never use miles unless you can get the best deal theoretically available, but personally I don't agree and have often used higher mileage levels when I (or a relative) needed to travel and I had the miles.

Third, you didn't say which airline you had the miles on but several offer one way awards. I see quite a few 1 way flights for around $200 - so you could buy a 1 way ticket and use miles for the other direction. The fares returning on Aug 9 are lower than going on Aug 5, so you can decide which direction to spend the money and which direction to use the miles.

As mentioned, $300 is very unrealistic to fly most of the way across the country at short notice.

Best I can find is $416:

Depart – Thu Aug 5 2010
Delta
Flight 2235 Departs: 5:25p
Wayne County (DTW) Arrives: 6:24p
Minneapolis St Paul (MSP)
Coach | Fare code: UE10A0SJ | Airbus A319 (Narrow-body Jet) | 1h 59m | 60% on time | 526 miles | 1 seats remain
Layover in Minneapolis, MN (MSP) for 1h 01m
Delta
Flight 2705 Departs: 7:25p
Minneapolis St Paul (MSP) Arrives: 9:29p
San Francisco (SFO)
Coach | Fare code: UE10A0SJ | Boeing 737-800 (winglets) (Narrow-body Jet) | 4h 04m | 30% on time | 1585 miles | 1 seats remain

Return – Mon Aug 9 2010
Delta
Flight 2412 Departs: 1:30a
San Francisco (SFO) Arrives: 7:35a
Memphis (MEM)
Coach | Fare code: UE10A0SJ | Airbus A320-100/200 (Narrow-body Jet) | 4h 05m | 80% on time | 1802 miles | 1 seats remain
Layover in Memphis, TN (MEM) for 0h 55m
Delta
Flight 2308 Departs: 8:30a
Memphis (MEM) Arrives: 11:25a
Wayne County (DTW)
Coach | Fare code: UE10A0SJ | Airbus A320-100/200 (Narrow-body Jet) | 1h 55m | 70% on time | 610 miles | 1 seats remain


On a side note, a friend who works in the business tells me that the business model of airlines is such that you should never expect a sub-$400 fare for an 1800 mile trip.

I think this is way too big a generalization. It depends greatly on the routing, the advance notice, and the time of the year.

For example, I happened to recently book a roundtrip fare from SFO to MHT on CO for $280 roundtrip. That's almost 2700 miles each way. There are many other examples. A roundtrip fare on US from SFO to MCO is available for $249, a distance of almost 2500 miles. Even the itinerary in question - DTW/SFO - is available for $309 in early September on nonstop flights on DL.

Thank you everyone for your responses. JerryFF, that is a great idea about the one-way. I have Amex miles, so they can pretty much be used on any airline. The problem though, is that once I try to buy a one-way, the amount of miles/price goes way up.

I agree that I should probably just use the miles.

Guess they will cancel my Hartford to San Francisco tickets in September that cost $314 each when the airlines hear that line.

Better book a more expensive flight

Your friend may want to find a new line of work.

Yet another case where a customer has somehow come to define a "decent" airfare as well below what's reasonable and customary, let alone profitable, while a "reasonable" fare is viewed as out of the question.

The OP can go as high as $300? It wasn't so many years ago that short-notice, full-Y transcons cost $2,000. The going rate on DTW-SFO for the OP's dates is $416-$448 for one-stop connections, depending on time of day, which is incredibly reasonable for short notice at the height of summer vacation season.

I personally think it's a terrible waste to throw away 40k Amex points rather than pay $120 above your fantasy price point.

I also think than when we get down to three network airlines in this country plus a handful of gadfly cherry-pickers, and the majors acquire pricing power, we are going to get back to thinking of a "normal" transcon fare as $450-$600, which is where it was in real dollars not so long ago.

Not on Southwest (price).
Not on American (miles).

I dunno, he's tripled profits of his division since he's been running it. I'll go with him. :)

If you get a good price on an Oakland or San Jose flight, don't ignore it because you fear the cab fare. Plenty of shuttles run from Oakland across the bay. From San Jose, I've used Caltrain to get me to the city, and then picked up a cab.

:) The good thing about miles that expire in a year or two is that they remind you to use it or lose out on it! ;)

Use the miles, Luke.:)