My wife and I are planning a weekend in Wash DC in late Feb. Our plan is to fly in on a Saturday and stay through the next Monday. Perfect, perchance, for an e-fare.

Regular ol' flights to DCA are pricing at about $195. About the same to IAD and BWI.

I think we should be able to get a web fare on UA, US, or AA to one of the above airports for $139-149 or so.

My question is simple: would you buy at $195, or hold out for an e-fare?

Mike

PS. If no e-fare, our backup plan would be to redeem miles (I have many UA miles and am not flying UA anymore unless necessary).

Other opinions may differ, but I'd gladly pay the $195 to fly into DCA rather than wait on a possibly lower fare, which will likely be into BWI or IAD.

Assuming you won't be renting a car anyway (there's absolutely no need for one in DC), DCA is far and away the most convenient option -- right off the yellow and blue lines of the Metro, which will both take you into the heart of the city. Getting to/from Dulles requires a Washington Flyer bus (it can take an hour if traffic is bad), and BWI -- let's not talk about BWI.

Plus DCA is a far more pleasant airport than either of the other two as regards getting in and out (security is much more professional there than at Dulles, for one, and anyone can guess why!).

Nor would I blow 25K miles on a ticket that you can get for under $200. That's 0.8 cents per mile, not a very good value for money IMO. Save the miles and take your wife to Italy this summer instead.

Mook

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The future of US domestic air travel:
"Please watch your head as you exit the aircraft."

What airport do you fly from?

I often see AA with $139 to $159 e-fares for Sat-Mon travel into all three of the DC airports from ORD

$195 sounds high for a weekend flight. When I lived in DC, we used to regularly see roundtrips for $118+tax on southwest (MDW-BWI nonstop) and occasionally similar fares on UA and/or AA.

Have you checked the UA fares? They have a number of Chicago promotions, including flights from my SFO base for $150+

If you can't find something for $150, I would hold off as you won't have any trouble finding late-deals on hotel rooms in February.

Thanks for the comments. I fly out of ORD, to answer one question.

Good points about DCA vs. the other a/ps. I haven't been to DC in probably 10 years so I've forgotten the relative convenience of that airport.

I'll continue to monitor the e-fares.

Mike

Although maybe not a point giving airline, is there not a really cheap airline flying out of Midway?

For a short weekend use DCA.

Check Orbitz at mid-week. Sometimes funny things happen on UA flights.

ATA's hub is in MDW and they fly into DCA. Prices out at about $190 each.

I did quite a few DCA-ORD segments in my days living in Arlington, VA. I don't think a $195 R/T is all that bad. I would consider it unlikely that DCA fares would drop significantly lower. If you see a $149 e-saver, you'll still pay ~$175 when they throw the taxes on top. I'd take that $195 and see if either an AA discount code or a UA entertainment cert can make it a little cheaper, and book the flights you really want right now.

EDITED TO ADD: I just read the fine print on UA Entertainment, and those certs probably won't help much here. Minimum ticket $200, five percent discount from ORD.

The risk/reward in waiting isn't worth it if your goal is getting good flights in to DCA for a weekend in the city.

Also note that airlines usually consider MDW and ORD as equals when it comes to fare competition. (i.e., If Southwest drops a fare, UA or AA usually follow.) That helps you being in Wrigleyville - either airport is about the same in terms of convenience to you. However, in DC the airlines consider BWI a different beast from DCA. A Southwest sale won't cause DCA fares to drop.

[This message has been edited by pinniped (edited 02-07-2003).]

I completely concur.

ORD-DCA comes up pretty often for the last-minute weekend fares, but if you can get a sure thing for sub-200, go for it, since the alternative just gets more expensive if it doesn't come up as an e-saver.

If you haven't been to DCA for ten years, you're in for a treat. The new terminal is a beauty and it's right at the Metro. Now we know why they built the Metro station so far from the (old) terminal, they were thinking ahead (hahahahaha, DC joke).

While DCA is the better choice, if you end up in IAD check with Priceline for a rental, we have done it many times down there for $17 a day, fly in on a Saturday, pick up the car, do what we had to do (the hotel we usually use doesn't charge for parking), get the car back within the day, and it's way less then getting to the city and back. Even when we are there for two nights, the car's sole purpose is to get us to the airport and back, never touch it.

It' one area I think Priceline shines in.

PCLN does nice for hotels too, depending on the zone and how picky you are.

Sure stinks for flights though, doesn't it?