Are there certain days of the week that get best air fares? I'm trying to get the young doctor from Prague to here and back this summer without spending three months' wages.
Good luck! I'm not that experienced a flyer but I've found that mid-week is usually a bit cheaper.
What I'd do is go to expedia.com and plug in various choices of dates to get an idea of price differences and which airline offers a lower fare. I'd then go to that airline's Web site to doublecheck fares and proceed to book the flight.
I just told it "price round-trip flights from PRG to either SJC, SFO, or OAK during the month of June for about a week" and it gave me some $1340 options on British Airways (PRG-LHR-SFO). Still definitely not cheap, alas. Asking it for "1 month" stay instead gives similar pricing; there's a slightly cheaper ($1331) Aer Lingus option flying PRG-DUB-SFO with overnights and long layovers each way.
It's worth a try, in any case, since it costs nothing to search. To ask for multiple airports, use "SJC;SFO;OAK" in the destination box. Most of the options I'm seeing are into SFO.
[Disclaimer: I'm going to be working there in less than two weeks, but I liked their software long before I even thought about working there.]
Most airlines give some kind of discount for a saturday stay-over. Red-eyes are also usually cheaper.
But truly, the best way to get the cheapest possible fare is to deal directly with the airline -- and not through the website. They will often charge a fee for the service (for Northwest it's $10) but it can be worth it.
Start with jantemk's advice to do some comparative shopping. Once you've picked your airline, call their booking number and deal with an agent.
The advantage the phone folks have over the website is that they have real-time view of fare class adjustments. Case in point: Making reservations to get from Detroit to SFO on Northwest, the agent and I talked about several options. We went for the first one -- between the time she started booking me and the final decision, that fare had risen (5 minutes.) She had the ability of over-riding that fare increase and giving me her original quoted price.
It's been a while since I traveled internationally, so my experience is mostly domestic. Caveat emptor.
I haven't found a reliable key, but weekends in holiday season appear to be more expensive. For Ryanair, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday appear to be best, for instance.
Best to give yourself a week's gace and simply look through the fares. Virgin Atlantic will give you this cute little matrix, for instance, +/- 3 days - and you can get a flight from London to San Francisco for anything between 628 and 1011 pounds, depending on the days of travel... (OUCH).
And, although it's a hassle, he might want to look at splitting the flight and doing shorthaul fllights. Heathrow to LA (departure until 30/6), for instance, will cost you £357. I don't know whether that's practical, or even worth the hassle, but it might be useful to look into it.
I'd consider browsing around the forums, and then eventually asking, on Flyertalk. That's a place with the highest concentration of experienced flyers anywhere on the net, and many of them are big on finding discounts.
hmmm. I'm most familiar with United--their website gives you a grid comparing day-combinations. Looking at FRAnkfurt to SFO I'm seeing $1300. FRA to JFK for $1000.
But London (LHR) to JFK = $600, and LHR to SFO =$755. So if you can Ryan / cheap-and-painful airlines to London, that might do him alright. (This is for a grid of leaving June 10-14, returning June 18-24. You can change those date ranges).
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
What I'd do is go to expedia.com and plug in various choices of dates to get an idea of price differences and which airline offers a lower fare. I'd then go to that airline's Web site to doublecheck fares and proceed to book the flight.
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I just told it "price round-trip flights from PRG to either SJC, SFO, or OAK during the month of June for about a week" and it gave me some $1340 options on British Airways (PRG-LHR-SFO). Still definitely not cheap, alas. Asking it for "1 month" stay instead gives similar pricing; there's a slightly cheaper ($1331) Aer Lingus option flying PRG-DUB-SFO with overnights and long layovers each way.
It's worth a try, in any case, since it costs nothing to search. To ask for multiple airports, use "SJC;SFO;OAK" in the destination box. Most of the options I'm seeing are into SFO.
[Disclaimer: I'm going to be working there in less than two weeks, but I liked their software long before I even thought about working there.]
no subject
But truly, the best way to get the cheapest possible fare is to deal directly with the airline -- and not through the website. They will often charge a fee for the service (for Northwest it's $10) but it can be worth it.
Start with jantemk's advice to do some comparative shopping. Once you've picked your airline, call their booking number and deal with an agent.
The advantage the phone folks have over the website is that they have real-time view of fare class adjustments. Case in point: Making reservations to get from Detroit to SFO on Northwest, the agent and I talked about several options. We went for the first one -- between the time she started booking me and the final decision, that fare had risen (5 minutes.) She had the ability of over-riding that fare increase and giving me her original quoted price.
It's been a while since I traveled internationally, so my experience is mostly domestic. Caveat emptor.
no subject
Best to give yourself a week's gace and simply look through the fares. Virgin Atlantic will give you this cute little matrix, for instance, +/- 3 days - and you can get a flight from London to San Francisco for anything between 628 and 1011 pounds, depending on the days of travel... (OUCH).
And, although it's a hassle, he might want to look at splitting the flight and doing shorthaul fllights. Heathrow to LA (departure until 30/6), for instance, will cost you £357. I don't know whether that's practical, or even worth the hassle, but it might be useful to look into it.
no subject
hmmm. I'm most familiar with United--their website gives you a grid comparing day-combinations. Looking at FRAnkfurt to SFO I'm seeing $1300. FRA to JFK for $1000.
But London (LHR) to JFK = $600, and LHR to SFO =$755. So if you can Ryan / cheap-and-painful airlines to London, that might do him alright. (This is for a grid of leaving June 10-14, returning June 18-24. You can change those date ranges).
no subject
no subject
Someone might have a non-changeable ticket for sale.
*shrug*