I know it sucks that Southwest doesn't service the Atlanta area, but if you have to fly into smaller cities in the Northeast, Airtran is WAY cheaper than Delta. I'm a huge fan of Airtran and usually have better luck booking straight from the website than the so-called "discount" sites like cheaptickets.com and the like.

Not sure yet. My friend just bought a house in Durango-she just up and moved there from Austin because it was so beautiful. I wonder how it will be in winter though...I will not be visiting then:p.

Winter can be tough in terms of travel, etc. But it is still beautiful. Mountain people figure out how to deal with it.

If she can't live with the snow, etc. watch for her back in Austin in a year or two.

I've been booking flights lately and like every else has stated, you will usually find the best deals on the actual airline sites themselves.

In my case I had to book a flight from Vancouver to Vegas, Vegas to LA, and then LA back to Vancouver. For the latter I'm using points, but for the first two flights I searched around for deals. On Travelocity & Expedia it was going to cost around $120 to get from Vegas to LA - checked out SW Airlines, and they had an internet special for $49. Same with my flight down to Vegas. Expedia and Travelocity were coming up with $200 a ticket, so I checked out West Jet - they have flights to Vegas for $99.

Is Durango similar to Telluride?

-Rudey

Thank you. Was nothing at all.
Most, if not all airports have web sites now.
Just plug in their name into any search engine.

Sort of. Telluride is kind of in a box canyon off the "beaten path," while Durango is on the main highway from the Four Corners area toward Denver. And, of course, Telluride is a fairly major ski area. I can't remember how far apart they are, but are in the same general area.

I use Kayak.com and then go to the airline site, it really depends if kayak or the airline will be cheaper...its a toss up.

I prefer United and Southwest

Love Telluride. Bluegrass Festival pretty much every summer. Skiing is pretty dang good too.

I don't think anyone has mentioned this, but how far in advance you purchase your ticket online affects the price.

The price on airline tickets increases every day as you get closer to the time you want to leave.

I have always used yahoo travel and have gotten the best prices for my particular destination, while booking about 2-3 months in advance.

Good luck and have a great trip!

Yes and no.

While some tickets have an advance purchase incentive, the price doesn't increase because the day gets closer.

Airlines set different fare classes. For United, discounted Economy classes are K, S, T, W, V, Q, H, M (lowest to highest). Full fare Economy's Y, B, E. United First is F, P, A, Z. There are only X amount of space in each fare class. Once the all the inventory in the fare class is sold, the next higher fare class is then up for sale, and so forth.

Also affecting price is whether or not you're traveling in peak/off-peak season or if you're flying on a weekend or weekday.

I've found that booking a flight exactly 21 days prior gets you the best rate, as long as you stay over a Saturday. That is, unless there are a lot of seats left over by the Wednesday before the flight; then the deep discounts start (which is why I suggested receiving travel updates from the airlines you would use). But if you have definite dates to travel, it's a big risk to take.

Sometimes, the in-person representative has access to prices that aren't available on-line for whatever reason, such as an aircraft change that resulted in more seats being available on a flight. When my grandfather died and I had to go back to Florida on 3 day's notice, the cheapest on-line fare was $1,200 (the nonsense bereavement fare was even more!), but I called Delta and they had changed the aircraft that day, so I was able to get a ticket for $220 between my parents' house in North Florida and NYC.

Oh yeah--when you're trying to resolve an airline issue, and the person you're speaking to is in Bangalore, then you should ask to speak to their supervisor. If that person still isn't cutting it in terms of communication skills, then ask to speak to their supervisor. Eventually, you'll get to someone in the States. Of course, you can't make it sound too mean or snotty. It's worked for me every time. :)

I thought anyone with half a brain knew to use their "government name" when buying airline tickets, and not their nicknames. :confused:

Apparently not, because when I was buying my tickets, "Nick" spesifically asked "What is your name as it appears on your government issued ID?". Although, in retrospect, I'm kind of glad he did, because my social security card has my married name on it (hypenated), but I haven't had my driver's license changed yet (not going through NC DVM nonsence until I absolutely have to)...and I'm not going to take my SS Card with me, so I gave them my maiden name.

Well that's just something I noticed the numerous times I've purchased plane tickets! I never knew the reason, I just saw the price increase :confused: