Best way to fly cheap?

[krue]

My wife and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary in May. Looking to fly to the northwest the week before Memorial Day and rent a car to go exploring. What are the tips for finding cheap tickets?

[Grumpy old man]

need to know what airports and what dates ? Always buy weeks in advance but some more info will help in finding the best deals

I fly from Knoxville to Fl a Lot even just to have lunch with my daughter using Allegiant airlines , If I have the time I can drive down to the airport and buy my tickets using CASH at the gate and have bought tickets for as low as $38.00 one way purchasing tickets online and you'll incur all those transaction fees that can be as high as $50 added to each ticket for each leg of your flight $200 ? It's funny walking up to the counter paying cash when many airlines don't even have a cash drawer at the ticket line anymore .

[harpo231]

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...1&d=1518374512

[mongocanfly]

grumpy..I didn't know they would take cash anymore.....bout like hotels...they want a card no matter what...

[PanelDeland]

You can also set up a price watch for different airlines. It'll e-mail you when the price drops (some you can set an amount). And surprisingly, some Travel Agents will have good rates but it's a sellers market (some will hide fees).

[krue]

Looking to fly from New Orleans or Gulfport to Sacremento, Seattle or in between.

[Chevyland]

If you fly to SFO or Oakland
It will be much cheaper than Sacramento
Search Expedia or one of the other travel sites
Every day
It will lay it all out there, just like
Search tempest does when you are looking to buy a chevy truck
If you end up in wine country, look me up

[Chevyland]

Just a guess, but I bet it will be the least expensive, out of
New Orleans to San Francisco

[krue]

Thanks, she's never been in the PNW, I've been to Seattle, Olympia and Victoria, BC. So we're looking to do some loafing and looking. Is mid to late May a good time weather wise?

[67ChevyRedneck]

The third party travel places will have the best rates, but if there's a problem, expect to be "helped last." Priority is given to those that purchased through the airline. Learned that lesson last year when we arrived in Seattle 14 hours later than expected and missed an entire day of our trip. We exclusively use American for work (seem to be OK on time because we always fly first thing in the morning - but seem to have issues with time later in the day). My inlaws swear by Delta, so we went with them for this years big trip.

The larger airports typically have lower rates when flying in. When I was checking PNW flights SEA typically had the best rates.

This may sound odd, but if you live in a puddle jumper area you may get better rates on flights. I live +/-2 hours from both Atl and Charlotte, and almost every flight I've taken it's been cheaper to fly out of GSP (Greenville/Spartanburg) than if I drove to ATL or Charlotte (the small flights will have a stop in ATL or CLT then you get on your big plane). They do this to encourage people to use their secondary carriers to keep them full. I love it because GSP is 10 minutes from my house. Typically, it doesn't really add much time to the overall flight time as most layovers are 45-90 minutes and GSP is small enough I can arrive 30 minutes before a flight (but get to a large airport MUCH earlier).

Also it seems the time of "wait until the last minute" is about gone. It seems airlines have their stuff together and prices just go up and up before a flight.

We've flown to Sea and drove down the PCH to LAX in 2016 & 2017. This year we're flying to PHX, going to the grand canyon, hoover dam, then spending the week of the 4th in Huntington beach (there's going to be so much car stuff!!!) and I watched flights creep up for a couple months. I got the flights I wanted timewise for around $1,100 total (it's the week of the 4th, it is what it is) and now the flights I chose are either booked or $100-200 more... And I saw the same trend over the past couple of years, the slowly creep up and seem to cap at $800-1000 EACH the week or so before the flight.

In both 2016/17 our total cost for flights for our out west trip was $900-950 with SEA being $50-100 more than LAX both times.

I also prefer to fly first thing in the morning in, and take a redeye home. If you can get a 5:30/6AM flight you should be there around 9:30/10 AM and have that entire day to use. Those tickets seem to be cheaper as well. The "work hours" flights (8am to 8 PM) always seem to be more expensive.

[Chevyland]

Originally Posted by krue

Thanks, she's never been in the PNW, I've been to Seattle, Olympia and Victoria, BC. So we're looking to do some loafing and looking. Is mid to late May a good time weather wise?

May is a great time to visit
Anywhere on the west coast
Probably a little bit more of a chance of rain the further north you are
Portland is also a very beautiful city
Down our way in the Bay Area, most of the rain is over, and it is still early enough where it is not blazing hot yet
Have fun planning your time away!
Wherever you end up, I’m sure she will enjoy

[JON67]

Originally Posted by krue

Thanks, she's never been in the PNW, I've been to Seattle, Olympia and Victoria, BC. So we're looking to do some loafing and looking. Is mid to late May a good time weather wise?

April, May, June and July Showers bring August Flowers.

[Coley]

May is a very nice time of year in the PNW....noting that we are in Victoria and you pick up an extra temp degree about every 50 miles you head south.
Regardless....the PNW...very, very green with lots of stuff in full bloom....
That said it depends on what you expect and what you like. A lot of folks from warmer climates think of 60-65° as 'cold'...where as someone from Alaska or Northern Canada thinks that is summer, lol.
A lot of this would really depend on you and your wifes personalities and what you like to do.
ie: 'nature'.......or 'shopping' lol

Coley

[67ChevyRedneck]

We saw that too. We've been in May and September. It was low 60's in may and actually almost 70 in September (but of course it was raining), but being from SC I was wearing long sleeve shirt, pants, and hoodie. There was people walking around in shorts and tees.

If you do head down to portland, I highly recommend VooDoo Doughnuts! Try a bacon maple bar!

https://www.voodoodoughnut.com/doughnuts/

[Coley]

That is actually pretty interesting and funny....differences in temp in terms of perceived comfort and/or familiarity.
As a Canadian....I've never minded the cold at all. That said, I live in Victoria which has the mildest climate in Canada....probably very similar to West Virginia or something like that.
As an example....we have had almost zero snow this year...and spring has started to show around these parts. We actually never really have much snow but, like Seattle.....we get rain and dampness.
By contrast I was in South Carolina a couple of years on business and the temps were in the low-mid 90's....that just about killed me, lol.
It was all I could do to get out of my Air Conditioned hotel...to go onsite to a local mill...where the guys working there, didn't even break a sweat.
Go figure....lol
A really nice summer day for me is in the 70's....maybe just into the 80's....but beyond that, It starts to feel 'hot' to me.

Coley

[67ChevyRedneck]

You didn't get any snow??? It snowed in SC 3 times this year with one storm droppng 4-12" depending on where you lived (we got +/-4".)

I thought snow, maple syrup, and hockey were mandatory up there

[krue]

Originally Posted by Coley

May is a very nice time of year in the PNW....noting that we are in Victoria and you pick up an extra temp degree about every 50 miles you head south.
Regardless....the PNW...very, very green with lots of stuff in full bloom....
That said it depends on what you expect and what you like. A lot of folks from warmer climates think of 60-65° as 'cold'...where as someone from Alaska or Northern Canada thinks that is summer, lol.
A lot of this would really depend on you and your wifes personalities and what you like to do.
ie: 'nature'.......or 'shopping' lol

Coley

I loved Victoria when we pulled in there (actually I think the place was called Nanaimo?). I was on a submarine based out of Pearl Harbor and about froze to death in 40F weather. I remember renting bikes and riding a rails to trails that went up a coastline. Gorgeous scenery. We are more outdoors and natural beauty than city and shopping types.

[PanelDeland]

Since you're going to rent a car to sight-see, leave destination options open a bit. You may find you can fly into Oregon cheaper than Washington or vice versa. You may also find a package deal that's a bit cheaper than booking airline/car separate. Another idea is to maybe make a stop at a business related place and write off the whole trip on taxes. When I go to Texas, I stop by the rental agent for my property there and that makes it a business trip.

[Coley]

The PNW has some great places.
I really enjoy Portland...that's a very cool city in my opinion...lots to do.
My wife and I were down there last spring for the Portland Swap meet and did an 'Air BnB' in the 'Alberta/Arts' district (I think that's what is is called?)...fantastic time and we will probably go back again this year!
As for the Victoria, B.C angle....if its a consideration, I would take the Port Angeles (car) Ferry from Washington state and land directly in the harbour of Victoria....about 1-1/2 hr trip.
Some of the good news in this is the great advantage you get with U.S dollar vs. the Canadian dollar right now....meaning $100 USD buys you $126 Cdn....which helps with just about everything.

Getting back to 'flight advantages'...the bigger and more well known or popular the city is you fly into...the more likely you are to get a deal. So if you stick to say Seattle or Portland...as your fly in point, you are more likely to save money in most cases.

All good
Coley

[crakarjax]

Sign up for 2 Chase southwest credit cards offering 50k SW points each. Spend the $2k on each immediately required to get the 50k bonus (on car parts). This gets you the 'companion pass' -- sign your wife up for it. Now she flies free whenever you do for the next 2 calendar years.

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by krue

Thanks, she's never been in the PNW, I've been to Seattle, Olympia and Victoria, BC. So we're looking to do some loafing and looking. Is mid to late May a good time weather wise?

We were out there last May and the weather was great. I think it is a crap shoot but we hit it just right. The only problem we had was that Mt. St. Helens was completely fogged in the day we went up there.

You need to time it with the Monroe Swap Meet and meet up with CG, Liverat, Pickumup, and the rest of the PNW group. They are a great bunch of guys.

If you are thinking about eating at the restaurant at the top of the Space Needle you will have to make advance reservations. There is a snack bar on the level below the fancy restaurant that has good food though.

That was the first time we had been in the PNW and we loved it.

Edit: The wife and I couldn't believe how many flowers were in bloom on the western side of Washington state....

LockDoc

[crakarjax]

You can come to the c10 meetup at XXX RootBeer at the end of April -- should be about 200+ c10s there!

https://www.facebook.com/events/310248839494975/

[krue]

Date is pretty locked in, my youngest graduates May 18th, so we're going to do our thing since he's opted to do a cruise for graduation.
We are more wanting to see the outdoors, waterfalls and mountain type stuff, not big on city sight seeing.