... in response to More info. please...., posted by El Diablo on Jun 13, 2002I do not have a background in travel so I am no expert but this is how I have been doing it and what has worked for me. I do belong to two travel groups with my timeshare but between them and calling various “expert” travel agents nobody has been able to do better than what I have been coming up with.
I use Travelocity and Yahoo travel as a base. They have a feature which allows you to check on fares if you are flexible with your time. I get this number and use it as a baseline on what I can expect to be the best fare. For me on average I can fly from the NYC area to Bogota in the $500-600. range. I will not pay more than that unless it is an emergency. I then go to the various websites of the airlines which are in my area. For me I use Continental because EWR is their hub. I also use Delta and American. Continental has a nonstop to Bogota which is nice. Their other flights usually have a connection in Houston. For Delta the connection is Atlanta, one of their hubs and American usually connects in Miami. These connections if I have to use them are not too bad because they are all headed in the same direction towards Bogota. For some of you people living in smaller rural areas you will always get hit with the connection flight which is first going to get you to one of the major city airports.
One thing I do know is that Domestic flights are different than International. With Domestic flights we get hit with a high fair usually if your travel is within 14 days or less but you can usually book a trip way in advance at a good rate. On International flights I have found that if you go out more than 6-8 weeks you are going to pay higher fares, but you can book a good flight closer to your trip. You are going to have to play with the system for your particular location. I do not spend many hours doing this. I know what my baseline fare should be and then I go from there. I have been doing this for the past 3 years and have seen this pattern be very consistent. So for me an example would be that if I am going to visit in November I will start looking for my flight in mid-September. I am comfortable that I will get something in the 500-600 range.
Find who are the major airlines at your or a nearby airport. Then log on to their websites and join their mailing list or travel club etc. They all have a notification system on hot deals. How I found my latest flight for $425 was that I knew when I was going to travel and I checked the flight on the Continental website. It was not there a few days ago but because some of the flights are less than 70% booked the airlines start to panic and want to fill these seats up. The price I saw regarding the LAX to BOG fare was when I went to the Continental section on Latin and South American specials. It was there in the list and I thought I would bring it to the board’s attention.
The bottom line: Go to your airlines website. Go to Travelocity, Yahoo travel, Expedia, Orbitz, etc… Plug in the dates and play with the system a little. You will then learn what you can reasonably expect to be your best case scenario and go from there. Then it is all a matter of how many connections, your flexibility, and how much you are willing to spend to determine what is best for you. Here is an example of how this travel stuff can be a game: I saw a great fare once. Three hours later I saw a huge price jump. I called the airline and said that I saw this great price but now I cannot find it, claiming I was having problems with my computer etc… They said that the cheap fare was no longer available. I waited to the next day and there it was again!!! Also, I have noticed that sometimes there are cheaper flights available in the wee hours of the morning and on weekends.
I hope this helps.
