Recommendations for Booking Airline Tickets

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TwoForFlinching

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Isn't Trivago only for hotels? I looked on their site and can't find anything about flights.

Not sure. That's what she said she used. She books. I just provide the card lol

Yeah, but it’s a 4 1/2 hour drive from Boston to Rockland. There’s a puddle jumper, Cape Air, that flys Boston to Rockland but I’d have to fetch and recheck luggage. Might not be worth the trouble.

Imagine the adventure though...
 

SPDguns

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Joel, my experience with those sites is this, every time you check the price, it will fluctuate. IF you see a price you like, book it. If you don’t, it will be different in 2 minutes.
CAUTION: When you price shop online, the airlines will raise the rate. We fly different airlines and when we price shop and come back to the airline we want, the rates will have risen within a matter of minutes. To combat this, clear your browser or use a different device when you get ready to book!
 

davek

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Airlines used to have 3 day, 7 day and 21 day advance purchase fares. I suppose now you are doing battle with some artificial intelligence in their yield management department to try to get the best deal.

Something to be aware of with some of these booking sites - when you book they charge your credit card immediately and then make the reservation with one of their credit card numbers. If there is a billing problem, you have to go through the booking company to get it resolved. If you book directly with the airline, hotel, etc. you don't get charged until you use the booking. This is a lot less hassle if there is some issue.
 

inactive

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Southwest flies to Portland, Maine. The travel sites don't scrub their fares, so get them direct from Southwest.com

They're not always the cheapest, but often are and usually are pretty close if they aren't. If you are checking any luggage at all, they give you 2 bags free (plus the carry ons) which at 30-50 bucks a bag, that freebie is worth quire a lot.

I use SWA a lot when going to Denver, Phoenix, Vegas, Burbank, San Diego (and St Louis, though I usually drive that). I'd use them to Houston but I hate flying into Hobby (my work there is adjacent to IAH, so I just go on United).

And as noted, the flights can vary in price but usually it's based on day of travel and time of travel. Early and late flights are usually cheaper. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and sometimes Sunday are usually cheaper. Stays over a weekend sometimes end up cheaper also as weekend stay shoppers are more shrewd and not the price-insensitive business travelers (this one doesn't apply to Southwest who prices and sells each flight leg separately anyway).
 

TerryMiller

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Check around other destinations sights. Back when I worked for Hertz booking car reservations, I got a call from a guy wanting to get a car in the NE to go see the Fall colors. Everything in the big airports were either booked up or very, very high in price. In this guy's case, the cars were all booked. I suggested he check with other airport destinations and see if he could get a flight into them. As it turned out, when he called back, it was just chance that he got me again. He had booked at a smaller airport and there were cars available there. He told me that he also had saved money by going to the smaller, regional, airport.
 

druryj

In Remembrance / Dec 27 2021
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CAUTION: When you price shop online, the airlines will raise the rate. We fly different airlines and when we price shop and come back to the airline we want, the rates will have risen within a matter of minutes. To combat this, clear your browser or use a different device when you get ready to book!

Good to know; thanks.


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druryj

In Remembrance / Dec 27 2021
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One thing I learned from reading reviews is that HOPPER, the phone app, gets poor ratings. I appreciate all the responses. I’ll just collate and follow the good advice here.


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