Good points, Zuk, but in this case $190+ for a ticket is about as low as he may see.A few cheap ticket kinda sites:
cheaptickets.com
pinpoint travel
lowestfare.com
lastminutetravel.com
I would also try the following:
1) look at alternative airports. If you are renting a car there or if someone is picking you up, look within the acceptible driving range. For example, flying into Houston from NYC was 1400 round trip this week. 2hrs away, Austin Tx, 700 round trip and the car rental was $200 cheaper for the week.
2) check some of the major carriers (www.aa.com) and see if they have cheaper flights on days +/- 1 or 2 days of your needed arrival/departure. Most of the main airlines will show you prices in a grid with this info. If you can go a day earlier or at ugly travel times, you can possibly save a bit of cash.
3) Avoid "hub to hub" flight routes. These would seem to be the cheapest routes since the airline flys them all the time, however these are most often the most expensive routes they have because they are direct flights. See item #1 above and then check airlines that will give you a connection flight. Another possible option, book a flight to omaha that connects in st louis and just dont get on the connection. The problem doing that is they probably wont let you on the return flight in st louis
4) Look online wed morning, like 1am ET for any deals. I would try to book 14days out, however thats usually when the 'cheap' rates get loaded into the systems and there's almost always deals to be had.
Another thing... unless the orbitz, lowestfare, etc have a drastically reduced rate, try to book with the airlines directly. The reason is *IF* you have any issues, booking via a 3rd party means you have to deal with the 3rd party. If you book directly with the airline, they will service your issues at the airport (should you have any) and get you on your way before the people that booked via 3rd party groups.
FWIW, I am on planes at least 4x a week, generally 8+ flights a week so let me know if you need more info
1. When you're facing $1,400 tickets then flying to an alternate airport and driving an hour or two may be a viable option. Sometimes I've had friends who will fly into Orlando and drive an hour to Tampa...of course they still have to rent a car so you have to factor that in as well as gas nowadays.
2. Very good alternative if you have a flexible schedule to see for example if it's cheaper flying out on Friday vs Sat.
3. Travel sites will list all lowest fairs first, which typically involve 1 stop and already account for this in the pricing so he shouldn't have to decipher this.
4. Yep, every Wednesday. And people can sign up on-line for these deals with their departure city so these last second getaways will be sent to their e-mail. I get them every week from Delta, US Air, etc. Sometimes you may find such a good deal on a Wed. that you may actually take an unscheduled flight that weekend because you were able to get a round trip ticket for $99 to visit your friend in CA.
In regards to going directly with the airline, good and bad. Anymore you're really held hostage by the airline you're flying with. Overbooked...tough! Missed your connection due to weather...too bad! Unknowingly switched gates and you were late...sorry!
I remember when after going through an extra long security line the door agent for my flight came to me and asked, 'Who here is on this flight?' I was 2 feet in front of him, raised my hand and said, 'I am.' Grab my bag, put my shoes on, and as I'm walking to the door the guy closes the freaking door! 'Sorry sir, once the door is closed we can't open it.' I wanted to rip the guys heart out and Delta wouldn't do sh!t about it. They told me I would have to wait stand by and there were only two more flights out that day! Got on the phone with the "3rd party" I booked it through they said there was a seat open on the next flight took the info to the Delta counter and they said 'Oh yeah, we do have that seat open.'
My point is that the airline agent is doing what's best for the airline not for you and sometimes you are better off going through a 3rd party. Especially if you are traveling on business and your company has a dedicated travel agency (very rare anymore).
