Air Fares

[john switow]

Hi all,
We’re wanting to get to the Sandy, UT area this summer.

[J.T. Griffin]

Did you try kayak.com? It’s a great site for checking prices on travel.

Maybe try switching to Thursday or Monday?

JT

[Eric Weller]

I second Kayak.

[Mike L.]

Airfares change from day-to-day and from week-to-week.

[jt benton]

Southwest flies to SLC.

[Mark Landerman]

I know a sweet little carp pond out in Sandy……………in case you need something to do when you are down there.

[Zach Matthews]

I use Kayak.com and select a date range, then also select area airports.  Farecompare.com is another good one.  You would be surprised at how much variation you can get in ticket pricing for small airports within a limited range.  For example, last year I flew to Jackson, WY from Atlanta for about $380 per ticket.  

I narrowly missed buying tickets into West Yellowstone for only $279 per ticket.  We delayed while waiting to see if we could work out logistics (we were traveling with a couple who had already bought tickets into Jackson).  The deal passed.

For a while, Idaho Falls was trying promote its airport and it was by far the cheapest flight in the Mountain West.  In 2008 I recall seeing one ticket into Idaho Falls for $179 from Atlanta round trip in the height of summer travel.

Generally speaking, tickets will decrease in price until they bottom out about 4 weeks before flight time.  Then, between 14 and 20 days before flight time, they will begin to increase until ultimately they will be the most expensive on the day of travel.  Contrary to popular belief, buying 4 months ahead of time is not going to get you the best deal; rather you’ll get the standard or average price for that flight.  

Be prepared to act quickly when you’re almost exactly 4 weeks out and you won’t be sorry.

Zach

[Mike L.]

Generally speaking, tickets will decrease in price until they bottom out about 4 weeks before flight time.  Then, between 14 and 20 days before flight time, they will begin to increase until ultimately they will be the most expensive on the day of travel.  Contrary to popular belief, buying 4 months ahead of time is not going to get you the best deal; rather you’ll get the standard or average price for that flight.  

This is not really accurate and assumes the expected number of tickets are sold by the airline.

[Mike Cline]

Although someone else always pays for my airfare, here’s an outstanding source for real-time flight information and fare information.

[Aaron Christensen]

Check out http://www.farecompare.com, which Zach has mentioned above.

[john switow]

Gentlemen,
Much appreciate the information.

[john switow]

Lando,
A little more thought and I remember that sight fishing for carp is best when the sun is high.

[ron snow]

John,

Sounds like a great trip.

My experience has been booking your flight directly on the airline’s website is the least expensive.

It is a lot more leg work, or in this case web work, but it has saved me hundreds.

I just booked a couple of flights after researching which airlines serve my destination airports.  

First, I will usually try something like KAYAK and they will give me ideas on which airlines to check. I note the prices they come up with,  go to those airlines and find acceptable flights they offer.

For the flights I just booked today, directly with Delta after checking two other airlines, I saved a little over $100.00 each way off of the best deal offered by the KAYAK search.  A hundred bucks each way more than paid for my research time.

One other thing-I sign up for all the airline email alerts that serve the airports I fly into and out of most often.  Delta, Frontier, Southwest all offer the deal alerts and I use them. I would think other airlines have a similar program. It has been very valuable.

Enjoy your trip,

Ron

EDIT: Did you look at the possibility of flying out of Nashville or Atlanta? Day of week can vary greatly as well, as someone suggested.

[john switow]

Ron,
Thanks I did look at Atlanta, not Nashville, will do that.

[Author]

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