LGA/BOS to ORD questions

[KatiesMom]

I'm putting together a trip to Chicago, 6/15/12 - 6/23/12 and could use some advice.

Some of us are traveling from the Connecticut/New York City area (LGA may be cheapest but open to other airports including HPN, BDL, JFK, EWR).

The rest of us will be leaving from BOS. Dates are not totally carved in stone and can be changed one day here or there if it is cheaper.

Using the airline checker on this site and kayak, it looks like a round trip, non-stop, will cost around $200-$220 per person from either LGA or BOS.

I have not flown in several years and am woefully out of touch. The last time we flew (to Arizona) my husband got quite sick with Lyme disease. Our travels since have been mostly car trips to places like Toronto, Cape Cod, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and such. But we want to fly for this trip.

If you can help with these questions, I would appreciate it:

1. There are a tot of airlines to choose from in the same $200 to $220 price range: US Airways, United/American, Continental, JetBlue, Spirit... Any of these considered generally better than the other? Any that should be avoided?

2. Any other sources to look at for good airfare deals?

3. Will be looking to get a rental car in Chicago. I assume ORD would be fairly easy to deal with for that and have a lot of options?

Thanks for any help and guidance.

Trish

[Romelle]

Getting through security is much more of a challenge now. General TSA rules are here:

www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel

And it would be a good idea to look at the specific airline rules also, after you settle on a carrier.

Any liquids and gels in your carry-on bag can't be more than 100 ml or 3.4 ounces. These have to be grouped together in a 1 quart plastic bag - Ziplock type. You have to have them out of your luggage and let them go through in one of those plastic bins.

There are some medical exceptions, but do look the rules up if you need to do something like that.

Consider just buying the stuff at destination.

The usual no metal on your body - belt buckles, coins, etc. But in addition, if they want you to go through one of those scope things, you can't even have a Kleenix in a pocket.

Even with the fuss, it still can be preferable to just have carry-on luggage since lots of the airlines charge pretty hefty fees for checked baggage now. And with carry-on, you don't have to wait at the other end for the checked luggage to come off the plane.

Jet Blue and Spirit might have the most restrictive rules concerning carry-on luggage, but I'm not really sure. The details are on the airline web sites.

Those $200+ fares are probably pretty good ones. I personally don't see a huge amount of difference (although I'm sure others do) between the different airlines. I think I'd pick based on the convenient schedules and easiest-to-get-to airport and such.

Romelle

[KatiesMom]

Thanks for the tips Romelle!

[dahammer]

You may also want to check Southwest which has service to Midway airport from BOS And LGA. They let you check two bags for free and have fares as low as $44 each way plus taxes and fees. Southwest does not allow third party sites like kyak, Orbitz and the like access to it's fares, they are trying to drive customers to use the Southwest site. I only fly about twice a year, but the biggest changes to air travel in the past three or four years has been the various fees that are added for baggage. Southwest and Spirit actually charge for a seat assignment. Spirit charges for water, snacks, luggage, seat assignment, and I understand they are looking at outfitting the bathrooms with magnetic card readers so you will have to swipe a credit card to visit the loo. :lol: Just kidding, but I hope I didn't give upper management an idea for a new revenue stream! Unfortunately, baggage adds weight to the aircraft and a heavier plane burns more fuel, so these fees have generated hundreds of millions in revenue and mean the difference between a profit and loss for carriers.

You can avoid paying a seat assignment fee on Southwest by checking in 24 hours before the flight. You will be assigned a boarding group and number. There are three boarding groups and about 55 or so numbers for each group. On my last SWA flight, I checked in just at 23:30 before my flight and received an "A" boarding group and number 40. Exit row seats always fill up fast, but I pretty much had the pick of the plane.

You will need to check in for your return flight as well to get a boarding assignment, but if you have a smartphone, you can do this on SWA's mobile site. About 4 years ago when I had a BlackBerry, I was at one of the Disney water parks and ran to my locker to use it to check in, I got four "A" boarding assignments for my family and we were able to all sit together. That was a gee whiz moment!

Finally, don't forget to check "vacations" on Southwest or American if you will need hotel accommodations, you may be able to save a few bucks.

Good luck!

[KatiesMom]

DaHammer, thanks. I plugged my travel dates into Southwest (LGA to Midway) 6/15 and 6/23 and was surprised that their cheapest fares were substantially higher than the others, around $300 per person, compared to $200 - $220. Thanks for the tip on Spirit. I'm crossing them off the list (for now). Your idea for the magnetic potty swipe doesn't sound as bizarre as it should to me. That's just sad. ;-)

[KatiesMom]

DaHammer, thanks. I plugged my travel dates into Southwest (LGA to Midway) 6/15 and 6/23 and was surprised that their cheapest fares were substantially higher than the others, around $300 per person, compared to $200 - $220. Thanks for the tip on Spirit. I'm crossing them off the list (for now). Your idea for the magnetic potty swipe doesn't sound as bizarre as it should to me. That's just sad. ;-)

I'm getting ready to book airfare. The party in Boston is out, they aren't coming. So it's just me and my husband. Our travel dates are 6/14 to 6/23, LGA to ORD. I'm thinking of going with Delta, round trip $210. As another poster questioned above, does this seem like the time to book or is it worth waiting? This is just an opinion, not holding anyone to their thoughts.

Before I book, I'm also going to check out airfares from Hartford, Westchester... just to do due diligence. We live in Connecticut and have flexibilty on airports. So far though LGA is the cheapest of the NYC.

Betterbidding doesn't have a special airline link right?

[thereuare]

This isn't a route that i follow, but it's hard to find aifare for $200 to just about anywhere these days, but i think fares on this route can sometimes be had for $150-$200. Personally i'd wait for something closer to $175, but as i've recently posted about airfare, it's a crapshoot. I'd also be more inclined to wait if you're also open to other airports (like EWR and JFK).

Also, if possible you may also want to check Southwest options (locally or even out of Islip, NY into Midway)... if you're traveling with luggage Southwest offers a free bag or two which can save you up to $25 per bag to ticket, which if you're calculating your true total cost is a consideration.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases. (we have some airfare links on the bottom right of the Support Page)

[Romelle]

A fare in the $200 range for 1/2 the continent is probably a pretty good fare. As thereuare said above, sales do show up. It is more a matter of how you value having things all set.

While there isn't a Betterbidding link to Delta, there are links to several of the general sites (Orbitz, et al) under the Support Page (top left).

Romelle

PS - my all-time favorite for checking airfare is matrix.itasoftware.com (no www at the beginning, just as is). You can't buy airfare from it, but I find it wonderfully effective for searching out options. One of the features is the ability to add other airports in a selected mile radius. If I'm looking at something in Europe and really have decided what I'm going to do, it actually lets me search all airports in a 300 mile radius! In your case, the 50 or 75 mile radius would probably do what you wanted. Another feature is doing month-long searches. As an example, a 3 day trip starting anywhere from July 14 to Aug 14.

[AaronJB]

If you did fly into Midway, it's also easy to get downtown - the "L" trip from Midway to downtown is probably about 10-15 minutes quicker than the trip from O'Hare to downtown.

[KatiesMom]

Thanks for the tips, I think I'll wait a couple more days and check things out thoroughly. So far airfare to Midway is much more expensive. Southwest is about $100 more expensive. It seems like you can save time or money but not both. I'll let you know how things go.

[dahammer]

I'm not sure if Stuart airport in Newburgh is an option for your travel plans.

[KatiesMom]

Yes, Stewart would be an option. It's almost $200 more though. ;-(

Midway not in the mix for some reason. Flights I want seem to only go to ORD.

[dahammer]

Romelle, Thanks for the tip! As it turns out, there is a free iPhone ap for this! I downloaded it to my iPad and used it recently to search flights for a trip to Florida. B) I was trying to find a deal into Miami for a trip to Key West, I was able to plug in up to 3 departure airports and three arrival airports. I ended up saving about 50% by flying direct into Ft. Myers from Atlantic City on Spirit. I even joined the $9 fare club to save a few dollars on checked baggage and get alerted to future fare sales. This will be my first Spirit flight experience, so I am prepared to aim low and not disappoint myself.

[KatiesMom]

Romelle, I can't thank you enough for that matrix link. I booked our trip this morning: 6/15 - 6/23. JetBlue: JFK to ORD, $217 per person nonstop roundtrip, and according to its website allows a personal carry bag (like a handbag), a small bag (like a computer) which can fit under the seat, a carry on bag, and one checked bag per person all for free. Excellent!

This flight might have been added within the past week because until now there was no Jet Blue flight listed for this timeframe. Until now I was considering Spirit also for $217 per person, but when you add in the price of their fare club - $9 which allows you to pay $20 for one carry on bag and more for a checked bag - well it just wasn't worth it. I don't need bells and whistles and snacks and such but I do need to take my luggage. While I don't love JFK, fortunately a friend is driving us and he doesn't mind going there... YAY!

Nice tips everyone!! Makes traveling much easier. I'm a former NYC destination expert for Trip Advisor so feel free to send me a message if you have any NYC questions.

[Romelle]

Nice work! I see you also have your hotel set.

For that luggage, if you haven't done it already, do read the fine print on the Jet Blue site. I don't think they are as tricky as some airline like Ryan (10 kilo limit), but worth being careful.

Enjoy your trip!!

Romelle

PS - that matrix site was an amazing discovery for me too.

[KatiesMom]

Thanks Romelle, I will confirm the luggage limits with JetBlue. And yes, airfare booked, hotel booked... still have rental care to book (need it for just five days of the trip) and of course I still have baseball tickets to buy (Not available until March 8). This trip is a labor of love. I'm looking forward to it.

Thank you again for your helpful suggestions.

[Romelle]

I haven't rented a lot of cars, but what I usually do is check HOTWIRE for the size I want and write down the total $$, not the per day rate. Then I notch down a few dollars on the per day rate and start bidding PRICELINE. If I get up to the Hotwire total level and still am not successful on Priceline, Hotwire it is.

All the time comparing the totals between the two, since the add-on taxes and fees are different.

You probably already know this, but I think it works better to just bring the car back freshly filled with gas. Trying to bring back a near empty tank just guarantees you'll give them several gallons of gas.

I've never rented in ORD, but it seems the major airports have the process pretty slicked down.

Romelle

[KatiesMom]

Thanks again!

Trish

[AaronJB]

Cubs tickets can be difficult, so you may want to be aggressive and try phone and online - if you are going to purchase tickets online, you may want to consider signing up for a cubs.com account in advance. If it's like years prior, there will be an online waiting room and customers will randomly be allowed to buy.

From last year's ticket sale:

"A virtual waiting room will be used for all online orders on cubs.com. All online orders will require a valid cubs.com account. We recommend that customers sign up for an account prior to first sale date."

I've tried to buy tickets online a few times on the first day of sale, and I've had instances where I've gotten to buy within a reasonable time period and I've had one year where it took what seemed like forever before I was allowed to buy.

[KatiesMom]

Cubs tickets can be difficult, so you may want to be aggressive and try phone and online - if you are going to purchase tickets online, you may want to consider signing up for a cubs.com account in advance. If it's like years prior, there will be an online waiting room and customers will randomly be allowed to buy.

From last year's ticket sale:

"A virtual waiting room will be used for all online orders on cubs.com. All online orders will require a valid cubs.com account. We recommend that customers sign up for an account prior to first sale date."

I've tried to buy tickets online a few times on the first day of sale, and I've had instances where I've gotten to buy within a reasonable time period and I've had one year where it took what seemed like forever before I was allowed to buy.

Thanks for the tips Aaron! From my other thread:

I have been in touch with the Cubs' box office because one member in our group (my mom) is going to one game and will require a wheelchair accessible seat. I'm to call them the day before tickets go on sale to the public, so hopefully I can buy tickets for at least that game. If not, Plan B is to try to buy them the second they go on sale online. Plan C is StubHub. I've been through the "Virtual Waiting Room" experience buying Red Sox tickets. It's pretty horrendous. Can take hours to get through and when you do the seats are usually terrible, obstructed and such. This is one reason I cut our trip down one day, to save some $$$ for tickets.