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It seems like most people from the forum are from the New England area, but I was wondering if anyone flies from Chicago frequently. The last time we flew to STT ( 2005) we booked the tickets about 8-9 months in advance and did get what I thought was a good deal ( about $420 a ticket). This time we are taking the whole family and need 4 tickets. We are going in early June of next year. Do the tickets go up significantly if you wait until a few months before a trip? I have been looking on line and have seen as low as about $440 per ticket round trip. Is that a good price? Any advice as far as how to purchase tickets for the best deal?
Thanks.
Terri
We are going in June also. We bought 4 tickets for $429 each. This is the Sat. nonstop United flight.
I checked the United website and it was $516 per ticket. Where did you find your tickets? Are you going in early June or later June? I like the idea of non-stop, but most of the flights I have checked elsewhere seem to stop in NC.
I bought them on the United website. The nonstop flight leaves on Sat. from O'Hare and there is a stop on the return flight in N.C. We are going on June 16. These tickets were purchase in Mid Aug. I bet the prices will come down again.
We are heading to St. Thomas in about 7 weeks HeeeeHaaaaa!!!! 🙂 and flying out of O'Hare. Our fare this year is about $430ish pp on AA, I will usually check prices on Travelocity and when I find a good fare I check with that airline and the price is about $20-25 less per ticket. We've found tickets for less than $400pp in the past...keep looking 🙂
I don't fly from O'Hare - I fly from PHL...but here are my observations with many,many years of STT airfare on USAir....
A great fare is $320 or less R/t
A good fare is $460 or less R/t
Everything else is higher than I want
Buying sooner isn't always better - with USAir, it is never better. I have bought tix and then seen the fare drop 6 weeks before the flight - this is common with USair. It happened in 12/04 with a Christamas trip - fare dropped from over $800 r/t to less than $300 r/t in a matter of two weeks. It also happened with 7/05, 2/06 and 8/06 trips - fares dropped hundreds within last 4 weeks. USair will give a voucher for the difference, which you can apply to future travel - but you have to watch for the drop and call them about it. A recent low fare was still valid a month after I purchased it and was calid just two days before departure two weeks ago - so last minute fares can be really low.
Seems like you've learned that Travelocity and Expedia tend to be a little higher than airline direct. Nothing against them - but this is what I have found.
Does your airline fly non-stop to STT?
I would like to fly non-stop, especially on the way there. I haven't found many non-stop flights.
Do you have any experience through a travel agent? We would like to get travel insurance too. Do you have any experience getting that?
By the way Bluwater, nice pictures. I am getting excited about our trip, and it is almost 9 months away. I will drive my family nuts over the coming months because I talk about it so much. I will be visiting this forum a lot.
Thanks for your advise.
Hey Terri...I booked our tickets end of July for begining of December trip directly thru United. They were $314.50 outta O'Hare with a connection in Charlotte.
I'd wait til you get a price you like! You got time.
I think when we went in 2003, I got the airline tickets & the place to stay (Sapphire Beach) booked thru Travelocity for bout $700 a piece for 9 days. I thought that was a good price!
I've flown the United non-stop out of O'Hare many times. The prices I've typically paid vary from $405 to $450. Occasionally, they drop into the $300's if you wait, but I wouldn't count on it. IMO, anything in the $400's is a good buy.
I noticed that the nonstop United flight only leaves on Saturday. We arranged our trip around that.
We are leaving on a Friday, so maybe that is why I am finding flights with stops.
Thanks everyone for your information.
Terri...it'll be here before you know it! You'll be armed with everything you'll need to know if you hang around this forum.
I haven't used a travel agent. I have used TravelGuard for travel insurance. I used them on this last trip because I was concerned about hurricanes. The thing to remember is that they insure your trip PER PERSON. You have to make sure you have all names of the insured people on all of the items you purchase - hotel room, villa guest list, etc. If anything happens and you need to file a claim, you'll have to prove that each person was impacted...OR, just use one name, but make sure the insurance limit matches the amount of the expense under that person's name.
Example:
You and your hubby travel
Hotel room is in hubby's name only
You get insurance for you and hubby and split liability between the two of you
If something happens and you need to file a claim, the ins company may say that YOU are not entitled to the claim because your name was not on the room - and then you've only insured hubby for half, so you lose half of the claim.
