I am not sure where to post this question, since I am trying to find the best fare from those cities to ELP.

I have a consultant that can leave from any of those cities, and what I am looking for is for him to arrive in ELP around noon on Mondays, and leave on Fridays at noon, without having to pay the $800 price tag that I am seeing right now.

Thanks for your help

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Another evil plot for world domination through the use of points and miles.

It appears as if BUF is the lowest, with CLE a close second.

I am finding RT "walk-up" fares (no advance purchase) from BUF in the low $600s, from CLE in the mid $600s. With a 1-week advance purchase, the BUF fares drop to the mid-$400s, and with 2-week advance they drop to the low $200s.

So if your consultant is going on a regular basis, it would seem as if you could save a lot by buying 2-week advance purchase tickets and then changing them if he/she doesn't go. And remember, if you use Southwest, they have no penalty for changes.

Feel free to email me if you have more questions or need help.

Hey, thanks for the help, I will drop you a quick note just to see which site you are using to find those fares

Thanks

If this is going to be a regular thing, it would be worth buying a roundtrip ticket to ELP with a long return date (which will likely get discarded), and then booking all future roundtrips originating in ELP so that all of the tickets have Saturday night stays.

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More Room Throughout Coach: the Website of Free Miles and Free Markets

I grew up in that triangle of cities, and there are some smaller airports that could be useful (and a shorter drive).

Akron OH - CAK
Youngstown OH - YNG
Erie PA - ERI
Jamestown NY - JHW

And I second the idea of working in Saturday night stays. Another way of doing it is pair booking.

For example:
Ticket 1 - 11/4 CLE/ELP, 11/15 ELP/CLE
Ticket 2 - 11/8 ELP/CLE, 11/18 CLE/ELP
Ticket 3 - 11/11 CLE/ELP, 11/22 ELP/CLE

This should get you lower leisure fares by having Saturday overnight and longer than one weekend stay.

Also, beware of Orbitz's 100 mile radius search. YNG 100 miles should pull CLE, PIT, CAK, and ERI, but it doesn't.

Instead try Travelocity's fare finder using CAK or ERI. Just type in the city pairs and hit enter (or search now) without entering dates.

My search indicates CLE/ELP might could be your best bet with some Friday and Monday eligible fares pricing < $300. I say "might" because availability on your dates is always the issue.

Finally, another good resource at times is http://www.air-fare.com/, but unfortunately they don't cover ELP.


[This message has been edited by Rut Dog (edited 11-04-2002).]

Actually, in these markets (CLE-ELP and BUF-ELP) the fares are dictated by Southwest. Therefore, the lowest fares, matched by most of the major carriers, do not require a Saturday night stay.

This would be a violation of the terms and conditions of every airline out there and would expose you/your travel agent to additional charges and penalties. See "back-to-back ticketing".

http://www.ityt.com/library/fom-serve/cache/123.html

"So what are the penalties if someone is caught with back-to-back tickets?

In some cases, the airline has billed the offending travel agency as much as $100,000. The offending passenger can have his or her ticket confiscated and may end up having to pay the full fare. In addition, they may have frequent flyer privileges revoked."

Book a 1-way outbound the first week. Then book Friday to Monday round-trips every subsequent week. Same effect, except for the first week, and legal.