Airline information

[gstepic]

I thought I would pass this on and put this in a seperate thread from the one I have asking for airline opinions. I was about to book with US Airways and I am having second thoughts after reading this -

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-08-20-airlines-with-most-staying-power_N.htm

This really is a consideration, especially since our trip is not til end of October. Going cheap can end up being very costly. I am not really an alarmist but I think in this economic climate the risk is probably high of more airline failures.

Isn't the internet wonderful! You can research just about anything so easily.

Gary

 

[LisaRex]

I would be very reluctant to fly cheap airlines in this economic climate. However, this article was written in August, before the price of jet fuel collapsed. Too bad people have cut way back on travel which would have given the airlines some much needed revenue.

 

[Darlene]

I'm not sure what you mean by "cheap airlines".

We just booked airfare to Hawaii with USAirways. We really couldn't afford Delta at over $1200, and United at $1000. USAirways wasn't cheap either at $668, but we've paid as much before for a holiday week (Easter).

I have not heard that they are in Chapter 11 or 13 bankrupcy, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

[gstepic]

Cheaper to book directly with airlines

I always assumed it was cheaper to go through Travelocity or Expedia but I am discovering I seem to have more options with better pricing going directly through the airline web-sites. I am thinking if there is a problem down the road it will be easier to deal with if there is not a third party involved such as Expedia. Of course I could be wrong.

I have noticed fares are still going down a tad and many flights have only a few seats booked. I think with sevices such as Travelocity you have to actually pay for the ticket before you have the option of checking what seats are left while the airlines allow you to see on their sites before you buy (of course you can go to the airline site to check seating for a flight then book on Travelocity).

I think this year it may not hurt to wait a bit before booking, last year prices really started to spike in February or March when gas prices went crazy. From everything I have been reading I don't think the same thing will happen this year with fuel prices, even though there may be some increases due to typically higher demand during warmer weather.

I checked the financials of a couple of airlines for the third quarter of 2008 and US Airways lost several million while Delta made a few million. Hopefully all the airlines did better in the fourth quarter and there should be some results soon. I like to book far in advance but after Aloha and ATA shut down I am a little more cautious.

I am very interested in how US Airways does in the fourth quarter. Even though the article I provided a link for seems to indicate US Air is one of the more financially risky airlines they seem to be doing a lot of things right. They obviously have some good pilots!!!! Their service is among the best as they have the best on time record which tells me they are doing some things right, and their fares are among the best.

I hope my airline posts are not boring everyone but airfare is such a huge part of our vacation budget I think it is worth talking about.

Gary

I guess my concern is not that anal after all -

http://www.eturbonews.com/2136/check-your-airlines-financial-health-buying-a

 

[linsj]

I don't know if other airlines let you reprice tickets when the price drops, but United does. I booked my Feb. flight with United in October when the price was still high but I wanted to be sure of getting an upgrade. I had 2 vouchers from previous price drops and a $25 certificate and paid about $250. Last week I repriced that ticket and got a voucher for $332, so I feel like I made money on this flight.

 

[gstepic]

I may call United

United was one of the airlines on the not doing so great financially list but they had some good flight times and prices. When I say good flight times I mean we spend less time between airports and I think they have flights where we are not up all night getting back.

If they do allow you to adjust ticket prices this could be a deal maker for us. I did not check how they did financially after the third quarter. I really do not want to be anal about worrying about an airlines going out of business but I do not think it is foolish being a little concerned.

I may also call Delta to see what there policy is. Someone mentioned Alaskan Airlines and for us it really did not help as fees were on the high side. Using them from Albuquerque would require many stops and catching them in LA did not really save us anything.

So far our cheapest options is to take Southwest to LA and then Delta to Honolulu. I prefer to use the same airline though and we will not be able to book Southwest for several more months. We would have to grab our luggage then check back in.

Gary

 

[WalnutBaron]

You may wish to consider Hawaiian Air. They've had some good sales lately, especially if your travel dates are flexible. One thing I really like about their website is that you can see the dates during a ten-day period, for example, where fares are least expensive.

I recently booked from Oakland, CA to Lihue with a connection in Honolulu on Hawaiian Air for $385 round trip.

Best time to look for these fares is at midnight Hawaii time on Monday nights.

 

[gstepic]

I have been checking them out as well

The problem is timing, we would have to go out of Phoenix or La so to get a connecting flight in time we would have to get a room for a night. But if the fare is low enough we would consider this.

I am basically just going to keep checking flights and hold off a few more weeks at least. I did find out United and Delta will give vouchers for future flights if fares go down after booking. There is a limit on how far the fare has to drop, I think Delta said $150. The problem is we would have to use it within a year and not sure if that will be practical.

Gary

 

[WalnutBaron]

I am basically just going to keep checking flights and hold off a few more weeks at least. I did find out United and Delta will give vouchers for future flights if fares go down after booking. There is a limit on how far the fare has to drop, I think Delta said $150. The problem is we would have to use it within a year and not sure if that will be practical.

Gary

There is a great service on the Internet called Yapta.com. Once you book a trip, just provide your itinerary and the price you paid for the ticket and Yapta will track price changes and alert you if the price has fallen enough to claim a rebate or credit from the airline.