lorrayne
Cathlete
Tips for booking the best flight and finding the best airfare
Summertime on the East Coast brings afternoon thunderstorms. These afternoon thunderstorms cause cancellations and delays of flights, both departing and arriving. And our Road Trip weekend will officially kick off with festivities at Cathe’s gym starting late Friday afternoon. You want to get to the hotel in time to check in and catch the bus to Cathe’s!
So we strongly recommend that you plan to arrive into Philadelphia International Airport by early to mid afternoon on Friday -- before 2 PM if you can. Some Road Trippers choose to arrive on Thursday afternoon/evening to be sure they’re able to make the Friday Meet & Greet. If you plan to arrive on Thursday, you’ll also be able to use Cathe’s gym during the day on Friday, take her regularly-taught Friday 9 AM step class, or go shopping and to lunch with some fellow Road Trippers!
If possible, pick the first flight of the day from your departing airport. If you can afford it, always choose a nonstop flight. If you don’t have a direct flight to Philly, allow at least 2 hours in between connecting flights to ensure you make that connecting flight. You could have (like I did
) a weather delay on flight #1 and end up missing flight #2 if you haven’t allowed yourself that nice long interval in between! [font color="red"]We don’t want any of you to be stranded in an airport due to weather related delays/cancellations.[/font]
For those of you on the East Coast, consider taking Amtrak instead of flying to Philadelphia. You can sit back and relax and let the train take you to the historic 30th Street Station in downtown Philadelphia. Rapid Rover offers transportation from this train station to our hotels. Please see our Rapid Rover post for pricing information and how to reserve the Shuttle.
Here are some tips to help find the absolute best airfare for you.
[ol]
[li] Subscribe to your favorite airline for airfare specials to be mailed to you for your local airport. Airlines typically send out airfare specials on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.
[li] Airlines don’t release all seats or all pricing categories to third-party fare vendors — they’ll keep some of the best seats and best deals for their direct-booking customers. So your first step should be: Go to your favorite airline’s website, find a flight you like, call your airline directly and book the flight you want. Most airlines will allow you to cancel that reservation WITHOUT penalty if you cancel within 24 hours of booking the reservation. BUT CHECK THAT CANCELLATION POLICY FIRST with the airline before you book the reservation.
[li] Now let your fingers do the typing on your keyboard and check online sites for third-party fare vendor prices that might beat your existing reservation.
[li]THE GREATEST LITTLE-KNOWN FACT ABOUT ONLINE AIRFARE BOOKING: The absolute best prices to book a flight online will be available between 10 PM on Wednesday and 6 AM on Thursday. The absolute WORST days to book a flight are Saturday through Monday.
[li]Use a flight booking tool that will search multiple sources at once. OneTime.com will allow you to enter the information and check all sites you want to search at one time. When the “Deal Providers” list appears on OneTime.com, be sure to click on SideStep.com so as to include low-fare airlines (e.g., Southwest and JetBlue) in your search results.
[li]When performing your search, always click on the Alternate airports option. Flying out of an alternate airport could save you hundreds of dollars. For example, if you live in or near Chicago, Southwest Airlines offers some reasonable rates but flies out of Midway Airport instead of O’Hare Airport. If you only search flights out of O’Hare, you may only get results with higher cost airlines such as United.
[li]If you do book your flight online after booking with your airline directly, remember to call immediately to cancel the reservation you made directly with the airline to avoid paying for two seats!
[/ol]
Hope these tips are useful. Please share with us any other tips you find helpful.
Lorrayne
Summertime on the East Coast brings afternoon thunderstorms. These afternoon thunderstorms cause cancellations and delays of flights, both departing and arriving. And our Road Trip weekend will officially kick off with festivities at Cathe’s gym starting late Friday afternoon. You want to get to the hotel in time to check in and catch the bus to Cathe’s!
So we strongly recommend that you plan to arrive into Philadelphia International Airport by early to mid afternoon on Friday -- before 2 PM if you can. Some Road Trippers choose to arrive on Thursday afternoon/evening to be sure they’re able to make the Friday Meet & Greet. If you plan to arrive on Thursday, you’ll also be able to use Cathe’s gym during the day on Friday, take her regularly-taught Friday 9 AM step class, or go shopping and to lunch with some fellow Road Trippers!
If possible, pick the first flight of the day from your departing airport. If you can afford it, always choose a nonstop flight. If you don’t have a direct flight to Philly, allow at least 2 hours in between connecting flights to ensure you make that connecting flight. You could have (like I did
) a weather delay on flight #1 and end up missing flight #2 if you haven’t allowed yourself that nice long interval in between! [font color="red"]We don’t want any of you to be stranded in an airport due to weather related delays/cancellations.[/font] For those of you on the East Coast, consider taking Amtrak instead of flying to Philadelphia. You can sit back and relax and let the train take you to the historic 30th Street Station in downtown Philadelphia. Rapid Rover offers transportation from this train station to our hotels. Please see our Rapid Rover post for pricing information and how to reserve the Shuttle.
Here are some tips to help find the absolute best airfare for you.
[ol]
[li] Subscribe to your favorite airline for airfare specials to be mailed to you for your local airport. Airlines typically send out airfare specials on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.
[li] Airlines don’t release all seats or all pricing categories to third-party fare vendors — they’ll keep some of the best seats and best deals for their direct-booking customers. So your first step should be: Go to your favorite airline’s website, find a flight you like, call your airline directly and book the flight you want. Most airlines will allow you to cancel that reservation WITHOUT penalty if you cancel within 24 hours of booking the reservation. BUT CHECK THAT CANCELLATION POLICY FIRST with the airline before you book the reservation.
[li] Now let your fingers do the typing on your keyboard and check online sites for third-party fare vendor prices that might beat your existing reservation.
[li]THE GREATEST LITTLE-KNOWN FACT ABOUT ONLINE AIRFARE BOOKING: The absolute best prices to book a flight online will be available between 10 PM on Wednesday and 6 AM on Thursday. The absolute WORST days to book a flight are Saturday through Monday.
[li]Use a flight booking tool that will search multiple sources at once. OneTime.com will allow you to enter the information and check all sites you want to search at one time. When the “Deal Providers” list appears on OneTime.com, be sure to click on SideStep.com so as to include low-fare airlines (e.g., Southwest and JetBlue) in your search results.
[li]When performing your search, always click on the Alternate airports option. Flying out of an alternate airport could save you hundreds of dollars. For example, if you live in or near Chicago, Southwest Airlines offers some reasonable rates but flies out of Midway Airport instead of O’Hare Airport. If you only search flights out of O’Hare, you may only get results with higher cost airlines such as United.
[li]If you do book your flight online after booking with your airline directly, remember to call immediately to cancel the reservation you made directly with the airline to avoid paying for two seats!
[/ol]
Hope these tips are useful. Please share with us any other tips you find helpful.
Lorrayne
