Share your air travel tips to ports

We've always used our mileage for our flights to the ports and home again. However, we don't have as many miles now, and I don't know the best way to work the system.

We are going to Ft. Lauderdale next year for a Caribvean cruise.

1) how many months in advance gives the best price on flights, we don't want non refundable.

2) because I have a bad back, we always have gotten Business Class with our miles. I know some people pay for their flight, but then use their miles to upgrade to business class. Have you done this? Is it a good option?

3) if you have any good tips, I.e. Certain airlines always offer specials to Ft. Lauderdale at certain times of the year, or you especially like a certain airline and why. We are going from LA to Florida.

Thanks.

All I can say is that booking air is a difficult process, you have to keep looking. Since airlines use the dynamic pricing model, prices can change daily. Once we make the air decision we don't look back, no second guessing. Take a look at Princess EZ Air, they have some competitive pricing. Refundable fares most of the time are really high compared to the non refundable, flexible and non flexible ones.

We've always used our mileage for our flights to the ports and home again. However' date=' we don't have as many miles now, and I don't know the best way to work the system.

 

We are going to Ft. Lauderdale next year for a Caribvean cruise.

 

1) how many months in advance gives the best price on flights, we don't want non refundable.

 

2) because I have a bad back, we always have gotten Business Class with our miles. I know some people pay for their flight, but then use their miles to upgrade to business class. Have you done this? Is it a good option?

 

3) if you have any good tips, I.e. Certain airlines always offer specials to Ft. Lauderdale at certain times of the year, or you especially like a certain airline and why. We are going from LA to Florida.

 

Thanks.[/quote']

 

If you are planning to pay cash for the flights, there is no way to "work the system." You simply purchase your tickets when the price looks right to you. If you buy from a consolidator, your tickets will have hidden restrictions.

 

There is no magic formula when to purchase. Some folks swear by "Tuesday night during a full moon" or some such, but there is no mysterious, double secret sweet spot. But in general, lower cost seats to Florida tend to sell out early, especially for peak periods such as spring break.

 

You don't want non refundable? Then get ready to pay a high premium. Refundable tickets are very expensive.

 

On domestic flights, airlines will have only economy and first classes. There are a few flights on a few airlines that offer a business-type product domestically, but those tend to be true trans-cons. You could pay extra for an "economy comfort" type seat with just a bit more leg room. Otherwise you'll have to pay for first class to get a better than average coach seat.

 

My suggestion would be to prioritize. Which is more important: price, comfort, or schedule? More comfort leads to higher price, etc. Start searching http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ for possible flights. Then rank the flights according to your own priorities.

The good news is business and first class fares, are, in my experience, a lot less susceptible to change than those in economy.

Additionally AA offer a 3 class 777 with full international product on some of their LAX-MIA services. Definitely better to pick these flights compared to the 757s or 737s you may also see as options.

 

Start searching http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ for possible flights. Then rank the flights according to your own priorities.

Agree with everything you said.

One question:

never used this site. So thought I'd check it out and I just tried to search for a one way ticket to FLL and this is what popped up:

The search failed with Exceeded Boombox request quota.

Never have run across this before. What does it mean?

thanks

We've always used our mileage for our flights to the ports and home again. However' date=' we don't have as many miles now, and I don't know the best way to work the system.

*snip*

2) because I have a bad back, we always have gotten Business Class with our miles. I know some people pay for their flight, but then use their miles to upgrade to business class. Have you done this? Is it a good option?[/quote']

 

The answers to these 2 are very dependent on what program(s) you have FF miles with. Each program has its tricks, and there are a lot of experts here that can help you with various programs.

 

Agree with everything you said.

 

One question:

never used this site. So thought I'd check it out and I just tried to search for a one way ticket to FLL and this is what popped up:

 

The search failed with Exceeded Boombox request quota.

 

Never have run across this before. What does it mean?

 

thanks

 

It means the site is having tech issues :rolleyes:. Been happening to me for a few days.

 

Try again in a couple of minutes.

I appreciate your responses. I know with cruising I get the best price on the cruise when I book the launch fare, way ahead of time. Can you tell me if this happens with airfare as well? Or does it just not matter.

Cheap refundable business class is a contradiction in terms. You'll need to choose between cheap business or refundable.

Look at the credit card associated with your preferred airline(s). There are usually sign-up bonus miles and fee-waived for the first year. Cancel when the annual fee comes due. E.G. at one point, the Chase United Mileage Plus card was offering 50,000 miles as a signup bonus. That's enough for one saver R/T in domestic first. If you each sign up for a card, you should have enough miles for two. The Southwest card also has signup bonuses.

On United at least, upgrades require a copay in addition to your miles if you don't get a top-tier (Y or B class) economy ticket. For a cheap domestic economy ticket (class S, T, K, L, G, or N), you'll need 20,000 miles + $75 one-way. That's on top of the economy ticket. I don't feel the upgrade path is worth it to me. YMMV.

Domestic flights have never been a very good use of miles. I don't know what you mean by "work the system".

1. You want nonrefundable tickets or you're going to be paying an absolute fortune on flights. Do a dummy booking and you'll see.

2. As stated, most domestic flights don't have a business class; it's economy or first. Yes, some people use their miles to upgrade to F. Only you know if it's worth it. I will do it sometimes if there is no co-pay. You'd have to check the rules of your preferred airline.

3. I don't know any airline that ever really offers sale fares to Florida, but admittedly, don't check them. Book when you like the flight price and then stop checking it. Fares aren't always cheapest when they are first released.

Matrix webpage has had lots of issues for a while. Try using Kayak if you can't get Matrix to work, just to do fare comparisons. Remember that Southwest has to be searched on its own webpage.

Another clarification needed. When you say "not non-refundable", do you mean that you want 100% of your purchase price refunded? The reason for asking is that there are "non-refundable" tickets where the purchase price can be used to apply towards a different ticket, less a steep change fee. Or on Southwest, without the change fee - though they only have one class of service (so no "business').

Such helpful information. I really appreciate all the suggestions and will check into everything suggested. As for my non refundable statement, I am used to booking our cruise a year in advance, and know I can cancel before final payment. However, we don't know what life will bring a year from now. So buying airline tickets that are non refundable too early would not be prudent. I can see getting them a few months before, but would there be a problem finding a flight if I wait that long?

Sorry if I sound lame, it's just that I've never purchased airfare before and I know with our miles we have to do it so far in advance to assure getting a flight.

Sorry if I sound lame' date=' it's just that I've never purchased airfare before and I know with our miles we have to do it so far in advance to assure getting a flight.[/quote']

 

Not necessarily. It may mean being more flexible with times/connections, but I've been able to book some nice awards fairly close in. For instance, I booked 2 one-way business tickets home from Europe after our January QM2 crossing in November.

 

Sorry if I missed it, but did you ever mention what airline you have miles with?

Delta

Your first post indicates that you are low on miles, not 'out' of miles.

Have you considered buying enough miles to make up the difference?

Your first post indicates that you are low on miles, not 'out' of miles.

 

Have you considered buying enough miles to make up the difference?

I was wondering about that. Yes, we do still have miles. Can you tell me how that works? For example, if we buy coach seats how do we use our miles to upgrade to First?

However, we don't know what life will bring a year from now. So buying airline tickets that are non refundable too early would not be prudent.

Buy insurance. :)

Make sure you check flights into either Ft. Lauderdale or Miami. Only about 40 minutes apart. Shuttles between can be had pretty cheap - about $15-$18 pp for shared ride. (Although remember that when figuring out your total for air.)

If you can use Southwest (only flies into FLL), free bags. And if the fare goes down, you can get the difference in a flight credit that is good for a year. But they only offer economy seats. The other thing is that they only open flights up a few months in advance. So if you wanted to get air taken care of, you might just want to book something when you see a fare you can live with; or take a gamble and wait for Southwest.

All depends on what is more important for you. :)

When we cruise from FLL or MIA we generally arrive a few days early and rent a car. We do one way rentals in Florida-never paid more for this. More than once we have flown in to FLL and back from MIA or vice versa. My BIL has found a few good deals thru PBI.

So, we always look at air to/from FLL, PBI, MIA etc. Sometimes there is a saving to be had shopping these about. Same with your origin if it is possible.

I was wondering about that. Yes' date=' we do still have miles. Can you tell me how that works? For example, if we buy coach seats how do we use our miles to upgrade to First?[/quote']

 

All this info is right on DL's web page:

 

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/skymiles/use-miles/mileage-upgrade-awards.html

Such helpful information. I really appreciate all the suggestions and will check into everything suggested. As for my non refundable statement' date=' [b']I am used to booking our cruise a year in advance, and know I can cancel before final payment. However, we don't know what life will bring a year from now.[/b] So buying airline tickets that are non refundable too early would not be prudent. I can see getting them a few months before, but would there be a problem finding a flight if I wait that long?

 

Sorry if I sound lame, it's just that I've never purchased airfare before and I know with our miles we have to do it so far in advance to assure getting a flight.

As already stated, if you buy 100% refundable tickets you are likely going to pay a FORTUNE. If your health or other issues are such a big question mark as to make the cruise a big question mark, then just wait and book airfare a few months out, when you're more assured of actually getting to go on the cruise. Otherwise, in most cases in would be FAR more affordable to buy a regular (cheaper) "non-refundable" ticket, and then if you can't go on the cruise, change the ticket to some other trip (usually needs to be within the next 12 months) and eat the change fees. All but the very cheapest discount tickets will generally allow you to do this. (Keeping in mind that if something so big as to cause you to cancel the cruise has taken place, you probably have far more important things to worry about than a few hundred dollars in lost change fees.)

I was wondering about that. Yes' date=' we do still have miles. Can you tell me how that works? For example, if we buy coach seats how do we use our miles to upgrade to First?[/quote']

 

Very often, you won't be able to do this with any old coach seats. You will have to buy coach seats that are in a higher fare class than regular discounted coach seats, in order to get seats that are eligible to be upgraded with miles. Those higher fare class coach seats can cost almost as much as first class seats.

Thank you waterbug, I didn't know that so your information is very helpful.

Thank you waterbug' date=' I didn't know that so your information is very helpful.[/quote']

 

You're welcome. Just call the airline and ask about booking seats that can be upgraded with miles. Search online prior to that though, and see what a basic discounted coach fare will cost as well as what first class would cost, and you'll be able to see how much extra you're being charged for the upgradeable seats. (My only experience with this is Delta, by the way. Possibly other airlines allow less expensive seats to be upgraded with miles). Good luck!

Such helpful information. I really appreciate all the suggestions and will check into everything suggested. As for my non refundable statement' date=' I am used to booking our cruise a year in advance, and know I can cancel before final payment. However, we don't know what life will bring a year from now. So buying airline tickets that are non refundable too early would not be prudent. I can see getting them a few months before, but would there be a problem finding a flight if I wait that long?

 

Sorry if I sound lame, it's just that I've never purchased airfare before and I know with our miles we have to do it so far in advance to assure getting a flight.[/quote']

 

Just buy trip insurance.