Need creative fare solution
 

I'm pretty sure this belongs in a different thread/board which I couldn't find, so please move if so.

Just wondering if anyone can spin their magic and find some cheapy fare from BDL to PDX on 6.28, one way. Dotbomb has it over $400, but when I do a multicity thru EWR, it drops a few bucks (why this option isn't offered on a normal search is beyond me). So that tells me there must be some other multicity pairing that might get the fare even lower, with the added bonus of xtra miles. I tried HOU and LAS, usually a good bet, but not this time. If there were a crazy deal, I could swing BOS-PDX, but not preferred.

Thanks!

You're doing the right thing. Search by concentric circles around BDL (BOS, LGA, JFK), carriers and times of day. Needless to say, you need to then factor in the cost of your time and any associated local travel. Travel sites such as ITA can be helpful in locating deals using these methods.

I wouldn't spend too much time delaying here. 6/28 is just before a high-demand week (Independence Day) so lots of travel.

ITA's fare engine (http://matrix.itasoftware.com/) is pretty good at doing this kind of heavy lifting. For BDL-PDX on 6/28 it gives me a $353.70 BDL-DCA-IAH-PDX, priced as a HFD-WAS fare plus a WAS-PDX fare.

That is the Friday before the July 4th week. So, I think fares are high for a reason. Try NYC-DEN and DEN-PDX on separate fares as DEN is very competitive nowadays. LGA-DEN has some really low fares sometimes. It seems you can get it down to the $300 level but how much is the hassle to NYC and using 2 fares worth the savings?

Is only $199 from BOS...

I'd also endorse the use of the ITA Matrix before you try anything else. You can provide comma-separated lists of airports that you'd be okay flying from, and they have a nice little nearby airports function built-in.

Looking at the published fares BDL-PDX, it's a pretty wacky lot. There are lots of fares that expire on 6/8, and some round-trip fares thrown in the mix. Consider trying to price it as a R/T, though looking at the restrictions on the fares, I'm not sure that's going to help you any. I'd consider waiting for new fares to be published, since so many of the current ones will be expiring, though availability may get you down given the holiday.

$243 LGA-IAH-PDX departing in the afternoon... bus or train ride in the morning would get ya there.

I assume you need the miles or have status thus the desire to fly UA.

B6 (Jet blue) is nonstop from BOS for $200...

Use kayak. BDL to PDX is $383. Providence to PDX is $363. Not worth the 20 dollar savings. Both on UA through EWR and SFO.

Sadly its not UA, but try this:

BDL-DFW AA 619 V 28JUN 1245-1545 738
DFW-PDX AA1961 V 28JUN 1730-1930 M80

You'll need a good agent - perhaps at AA or perhaps at at travel agency.

The space is available for each segment seperately, but does not come up in Sabre when requesting BDL-PDX. Have each segment booked seperately on the same PNR in V class and then the agent should through price it.

I've checked fare rules and see no restriction for travel on 28JUN nor restriction for travel via DFW.

Fare basis is VA10ERR1.

Fare 126 + 27.91 peak travel day surcharge

FYI, this prices out correctly using multi-dest search on aa.com. Really weird that it's pricing out incorrectly even on the ITA Matrix using one-way mode. Married segments issue maybe?

Those people at MIT who started ITA's pricing tool are good, but not perfect. I suspect the people at Google who took them over are less perfect.

Matrix is a good place to start when looking for a quick answer. But for real searching, I always also look at the tarriffs in KVS and then look for inventory to meet the fare.

You can do this on .sux and flightstats.

The availability part. The fare part (esp. routing rules) is much tougher.