# Airfare so high



## myip (Feb 2, 2012)

Usually, I book my air ticket early for Christmas and New Year when it just open up.  I found that the ticket usually the cheapest.  This year, the price is so expensive that I am so shock at the price.  For example, sfo to pvr direct flight with United is over $2000 and using Alaska air is  $900+.  Last year, I see ticket around only $600.  Is this normal now and should I just wait till later to buy air ticket.  I also see the summer ticket prices are also way too high.  Do you get refund if I buy ticket now and if the price go down on Alaska Air or United.  I see United says guarantee lowest price.


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## BevL (Feb 2, 2012)

I believe Alaska will give you a credit if the price goes down.  I always buy as soon as I know our plans are firm as we only fly Alaska so if I get a credit, it won't go to waste.

It might help if you post where you're planning to travel to.


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## Jimster (Feb 2, 2012)

*price*

Don't forget that now the price of the ticket INCLUDES most fees and taxes.


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## Passepartout (Feb 2, 2012)

Myip, are you comparing the all-in, complete prices you paid in the past with the new prices you are seeing. As Jimster said, the new prices as of earlier this week have to include taxes and fees. I will suggest the total prices are not that different.

Jim


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## myip (Feb 2, 2012)

Passepartout said:


> Myip, are you comparing the all-in, complete prices you paid in the past with the new prices you are seeing. As Jimster said, the new prices as of earlier this week have to include taxes and fees. I will suggest the total prices are not that different.
> 
> Jim


I am looking for fare from SFO to PVR around Dec 22 - Dec 29 or later...
Today is the first day open on Alaska Air Direct flight return.
There is no Best Deal tickets available at all.  There are plenty of seat available.  It has full Flex ticket which is fully refundable ticket.

In United the fare is over $2000 for direct flight.  It is never this expensive.


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## Talent312 (Feb 3, 2012)

myip said:


> I am looking for fare from SFO to PVR around Dec 22 - Dec 29 or later...
> Today is the first day open on Alaska Air Direct flight return.
> There is no Best Deal tickets available at all.  There are plenty of seat available.  It has full Flex ticket which is fully refundable ticket.
> 
> In United the fare is over $2000 for direct flight.  It is never this expensive.



Refundable tickets are ridiculously expensive.
IMO, your best bet would be to wait until 2-3 months b4 your departure date, look for sales, and buy a non-refundable ticket.  As you know, non-refundable tickets are still changeable, so you can use 'em later if you have to cancel.


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## PigsDad (Feb 3, 2012)

<duplicate post>


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## PigsDad (Feb 3, 2012)

Passepartout said:


> Myip, are you comparing the all-in, complete prices you paid in the past with the new prices you are seeing. As Jimster said, the new prices as of earlier this week have to include taxes and fees. I will suggest the total prices are not that different.
> 
> Jim


I don't know about Alaska, but United has always quoted their fares inclusive of fees and taxes, so that is not the case here.  Did you honestly think that the difference between the $2000 fare the OP is seeing now and the $600 fare they paid last year was just due to the fees and taxes?  

Kurt


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## Jimster (Feb 3, 2012)

*fees*

As a UA 1k i can assure you that UA has NOT quoted their fares as AI.  If you want to go back several years ago they did, but not recently-Not since JEff SXXX$ became CEO.  And i dont think that was used to suggest the entire difference but just so you could add apples and apples and oranges and oranges.  I think the key there is the word "refundable" as suggested above.  The refundable tickets come from a different fare bucket.  In any case, the "New United" doesn't look too much like the old United.  Probably one of the best ff programs available is slowly, bit by bit deteriorating.   To put it another way, I am seriously considering changing to the dark side.


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## BevL (Feb 3, 2012)

I'd check Alaska over the next few days.  I'm seeing return airfare, leaving on the 22nd, returning on the 29th at $616.57 per ticket.  Non refundable $200 on the trip down, refundable, $415 on the way back, the 29th.

If the flights have just been loaded, they may change a bit in the next few days.  That happened to me last year when I was looking for airfare for Hawaii on exactly the 330 day mark.

Edited to add:  Sorry, just noticed that if you're wanting a direct flight, airfare on Alaska is $645 plus $115 in tax for a total price of $760 all in.  A little better than the over $900 that you mentioned in your original post.  

If I knew for sure I was going no matter what, I'd book the outgoing now at the $200 and wait for a bit for the return.


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## dougp26364 (Feb 3, 2012)

For the last year or so, I've found that airfare's on the release date to be higher than norm. Many times flights that I typically get for $250 to $300 are priced out at $600 to $700 for the first few weeks or couple of months before they start to return to "normal". In fact, I've started sitting on a route until maybe 3 to 6 months before our departure date. Even then I'm not usually getting the best price as I've seen them continue to go down as the departure date approaches. A recent study I read stated the best prices can often be found 6 weeks before departure.

Because I can never rely on the airlines schedules, I'm finding that booking later rather than earlier may pay off further by reducing the number of flight/equipement changes. More and more I'm less inclined to buy our tickets early and I certainly haven't been buying them at the earliest possible date. 

Of course pricing can be affected by the popularity of a particular route, route consolidtion to eliminate seats and holiday pricing. Still, I'm not seeing the best prices anymore at the furthest dates out like it use to be.


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## Carolinian (Feb 4, 2012)

Jimster said:


> As a UA 1k i can assure you that UA has NOT quoted their fares as AI.  If you want to go back several years ago they did, but not recently-Not since JEff SXXX$ became CEO.  And i dont think that was used to suggest the entire difference but just so you could add apples and apples and oranges and oranges.  I think the key there is the word "refundable" as suggested above.  The refundable tickets come from a different fare bucket.  In any case, the "New United" doesn't look too much like the old United.  Probably one of the best ff programs available is slowly, bit by bit deteriorating.   To put it another way, I am seriously considering changing to the dark side.



Do you mean the dAArk side?  I am in the process of doing a challenge myself with AA to Plat.  CO was okay, but when the merger started with UA things started downhill in both UA and CO's ff programs, especially for elites and especially for low and mid tier elites.  For CO golds / UA 1P's, the new UA reducing bonus milage from 100% to 50% was major, especially when AA and even DL still give that same level 100%.  For CO silvers / UA 2P's, the free checked baggage reduction was also major.


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## Jimster (Feb 4, 2012)

*dark side*

Yes aa is what i mean.  the changes in UA some of which you point out are some of the reasons to change but there are even more'  UA is getting cheaper in their ff program.  They now have a fourth tier and the decrease of bonus points are just two of the problems


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## myip (Feb 12, 2012)

I did get my ticket but not for the days that I want Dec 22 - Dec 31.
Instead, I got Dec 29 - Jan 6.  The price is $465.57 vs $943.57.  I will have to spend extra $199 to cancel my reservation and rebook it for another week.
Next year, I will book my airline ticket before confirming an exchange.


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## Timeshare Von (Feb 12, 2012)

myip said:


> I did get my ticket but not for the days that I want Dec 22 - Dec 31.
> Instead, I got Dec 29 - Jan 6.  The price is $465.57 vs $943.57.  I will have to spend extra $199 to cancel my reservation and rebook it for another week.
> Next year, I will book my airline ticket before confirming an exchange.



Is there a typo in here somewhere?  It is never wise to book airline BEFORE you are certain about your dates, which the exchange would affect.

When you cancel & rebook, not only do you incur the change fee, but also whatever the difference is in the airfare.  If $199 is that total, you did pretty well.

Also, I was just reading up on the rest of your posts.  When an airline guarantees the lowest price, usually that means on their flights.  In other words, you won't find their routes/flight cheaper on some site like Expedia.  It's been a long time that I've heard of airlines promising to be the cheapest as compared with another airline and doing a price match.


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## bogey21 (Feb 12, 2012)

Higher airfares is one of the reasons I have curtailed by travel and sold my TimeShare Weeks which required travel by air.

George


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## timeos2 (Feb 12, 2012)

bogey21 said:


> Higher airfares is one of the reasons I have curtailed by travel and sold my TimeShare Weeks which required travel by air.
> 
> George



Higher airfare is a big reason why for years it has been a (not always well received) TUG mantra to buy where you an drive to if needed. Of course if your preferred vacation areas aren't USA domestic that doesn't work but for the majority it does.  And it also means that what was once the cream premium spots like Hawaii - a tough trade despite usually higher annual fees due to the isolated nature of the area - have become much easier to obtain as even owners can't/won't pay to get there!  Rentals are also on a downward trend for areas requiring flights despite ever increasing fees.  It is a great time to get a formerly "tough trade" or expensive rental and is likely to only get better as fares continue to rise. 

It's NOT a great time to own resorts that you must use expensive transportation to reach.  More and more rental & purchase prices are reflecting that reality and they continue a free fall.  Drive to areas/resorts are the ones in demand now.


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## HudsHut (Feb 12, 2012)

myip means that she will cancel her RCI exchange for Christmas week, and instead reserve New Year's week to match the flight that she has purchased.

myip:
Is insurance still available on your exchange? If so, buy the RCI insurance before cancelling. Then  you only lose the cost of the insurance, which is less than $199.


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## myip (Feb 12, 2012)

Timeshare Von said:


> Is there a typo in here somewhere?  It is never wise to book airline BEFORE you are certain about your dates, which the exchange would affect.
> 
> When you cancel & rebook, not only do you incur the change fee, but also whatever the difference is in the airfare.  If $199 is that total, you did pretty well.
> 
> Also, I was just reading up on the rest of your posts.  When an airline guarantees the lowest price, usually that means on their flights.  In other words, you won't find their routes/flight cheaper on some site like Expedia.  It's been a long time that I've heard of airlines promising to be the cheapest as compared with another airline and doing a price match.



No typo here... It costs me $199 exchange fees - to cancel my Christmas week Interval reservation   and now rebook it for New Year week using RCI.  I have no idea why Christmas week is so expensive in airline ticket compare to New Year week.


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## myip (Feb 12, 2012)

hudshut said:


> myip:
> Is insurance still available on your exchange? If so, buy the RCI insurance before cancelling. Then  you only lose the cost of the insurance, which is less than $199.


I didn't buy any insurance..  Does insurance allow you cancel the week for any reason?  I thought it has to be sick, death or something serious?


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## Timeshare Von (Feb 12, 2012)

myip said:


> No typo here... It costs me $199 exchange fees - to cancel my Christmas week Interval reservation   and now rebook it for New Year week using RCI.  I have no idea why Christmas week is so expensive in airline ticket compare to New Year week.



Christmas week is so expensive because school's out and people travel then and need to generally be back by the first of the year.  After the first of the year, prices plummet.

Thanks for explaining the $199 since you were mentioning it along with airline prices, it was confusing.


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## HudsHut (Feb 15, 2012)

myip said:


> I didn't buy any insurance..  Does insurance allow you cancel the week for any reason?  I thought it has to be sick, death or something serious?



Look at your exchange in RCI. If the option is still there to buy insurance, then buy it. Yes, RCI's insurance works even if you just change your mind.

II's insurance requires proof of illness, etc.


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## falmouth3 (Feb 15, 2012)

Last night I heard on the news that Southwest Airlines is going to abandon their Boston to Philly route and that US Airways is going to be the only airline with non-stop, direct flights so the airfare will jump.  I did a quick check this morning because I do fly that route to visit family.  For a random overnight in March, the RT airfare is $560.  From Manchester NH to Philly, with competition, the US Airways fare is $230.  Guess I'll be leaving from Manchester from now on.


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