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I just wondered if you folks knew of any better places than Travelocity to book flights and hotels for the shows?
Ive been using Travelocity for a while now but it just dawned on me that there could actually be some better sites or services to use when it comes to booking flights and hotels for the various shows.
So what sites or services are you folks using to get your flight tickets and hotel rooms?
Regards,
Lee
Lee,
I used to travel A LOT for my "real job" and I always found that you could never beat the prices being offered by the airlines or the hotels directly. Even if I found a published fare somewhere else lower, a simple phone call to the airline or hotel and the fare would be matched. I suggest you at least try to book directly with the airlines and hotels and see how that works.
That being said, I sometimes would find good airfare/hotel deals with the airlines themselves, depending on the destination. Especailly resort type destinations.
Good Luck - Michael
I use Travelocity in my first search because it allows me to compare prices from several different airlines/hotels/rental car companies at the same time. Then I go directly to the website of the best fit and usually buy there.
If Travelocity says Continental has the best price/schedule combination, then I would go to Continental.com and buy there -- it sometimes saves $10 or more.
If it is local, southwest.com but if it is international I try to fly within star alliance.
Try Kayak and Hotwire, I use them a ton for airfare and hotels.
for most of the shows I use southwest.com, but we also check out http://www.sidestep.com/ I used that site as saved about 500 bucks on a trip to LA on hotel rooms.
Sidestep is my fav choice for published fares. But I sometimes check out ITASoftware.com (these are the people that developed the engine that runs underneath Orbitz and a couple other sites). Unlike Orbitz and Travelocity, ITASoftware is completely unbiased and gives you better raw data... but it doesn't sell tickets, so you have to go to the airline site to buy if you find a better deal.
Hotwire is sometimes good for unpublished fares if you can be flexible and take whatever time they give you for flights in and out.
Occasionally you can still get insane deals on the name-your-own-price on Priceline.
And Southwest is my very favorite airline. If I have a choice, I will always fly Southwest, even if another airline is a few bucks cheaper.
Southwest Airlines, aka Cattlecar Airlines, drives me crazy!
And unfortunately Austin's airport does not offer much in the way of discount airline alternatives. USAir has direct flights to Phoenix, and American has a nonstop to LAX, which is nice.
Otherwise, I fly Continental aka Incontinence Airlines everywhere else, and that is who I concentrate on building up travel miles.
Steve
The old cattlecar system at Southwest Airlines is no longer. What group letter you get assinged now depends on how much you pay for your ticket. You now have to pay full fare to be in group A and all those 30 dollar fares gets you group C.Quote:
Originally Posted by desslock
On top of that, if you are the first one to check in at Group A, B, C, you get to be the first in line in that group. So it is no longer just Group A, B, C but your bording pass says Group A1, A2, A3, etc. and you line up according to your Group letter and number.
So all those people who were paying 25 to 30 dollars each way and being the first to board is over. As it should be they now reward the ones who pay more.