Best place for last-minute airfares

[frazzledspice]

My husband's half-brother passed away, and he will be flying down for the funeral. We have not been close to his half-brother for many years, because he had many serious problems, and had estranged himself from most of the family (for example, when my mother-in-law was dying of cancer, he moved in "to take care of her" and stole the morphine the hospice program provided, leaving her in agony by the middle of the week....)

Nevertheless, he and his remaining siblings are getting together to mourn the person his half-brother used to be, and the person he never had a chance to be, and I think this is very important.

We always used to do well with last minute airfares on hotwire, but, after checking hotwire, 1800 cheapseats, and a few other sites, we've been unable to come up with anything better than about $506.

Even though we don't think that's a terrific deal, it's probably better than the bereavement fare.

Even Priceline seems to have gone to a system where they tell you what the best fare is rather than vice versa.

Even Southwest Airlines, which departs from an airport 90 minutes away, has a fare of about $528 before they add on all those taxes and fees.

I am trying to make a reservation, but after having been able to find really good fares for years, even the year when we had three long-distance funerals to attend as a family of five, I just hate to settle for $500 bucks.

Does anyone have any advice?

[jkarsoho[$]]

Last minute airfares are always very tricky. Priceline is good if you have ample lead time. For this situation, I would suggest browsing through the airlines' websites and look for promotions. Sometimes you maybe lucky to find the cheap fares. Good luck!

[theworm[$]]

try Orbitz or Travelocity.

Sorry for your loss.

[AuntieEmma[$]]

Does ATA fly out of your airport? I recently booked a flight on them (haven't flown it yet, so I can't say whether they're any good), and they were signficantly cheaper than everyone else.

[mrisch[$]]

What a bummer. Take a shot at priceline. I almost always beat their "suggestions" by a fair chunk, and worst case is you don't get the price you want.

[frazzledspice]

Thanks, everyone. ATA? Heck, we only have two airlines flying out of here--American and Northwest--on turbo props.

We can go to Tulsa, where there's a bigger variety, but usually we can do as well here as we do in Tulsa. I will try Priceline--thanks, Mike, and everyone else.

[poseidon]

Blech. I hate ATA. I will not fly them, even if they are the best price out there. Just having to deal with their layovers is punishment enough for going the cheapest route.

I've been getting some screwy stuff out of Hotwire. I tried to price Denver to Des Moines yesterday to fly out today, and was quoted almost $700 per ticket. I've also found better deals on Orbitz and Travelocity for Madison to Denver (for my father in law and his wife who are coming out around Christmas) than what Hotwire had to offer.

[AuntieEmma[$]]

Blech. I hate ATA. I will not fly them, even if they are the best price out there. Just having to deal with their layovers is punishment enough for going the cheapest route.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the plane isn't held together with chewing gum and duct tape. I've got a non-stop, so I don't have to worry about the layovers. So far, the only bad thing seems to be that (I think) they don't serve food, which means I have to bring something. Price was REALLY cheap -- about half what the regular airlines were charging.

[poseidon]

Have fun, and I hope you don't suffer the royal screwing that ATA is famous for.

Nobody serves food on planes anymore, with the exception of (a) long, long, long flghts (Denver to Miami does not consitute a "long" flight) and (b) flights were you can purchase food.

Whenever we fly, we pop off someplace on the way into the airport, unless we've got a layover somewhere, and then we buy something at the airport itself.

You can bring your own food on the plane.