Look for last min RDU->BUF, week of Mar 8-12

[schumia]

Hi there,

I'm trying to book a last min flight in week of Mar 6-12. Normally from RDU-BUF costs $150 round trip but due to the last min nature, I was only able to find around $460.

The date is likely to be Mar 8-12, departing early from RDU and if possible, returning same day from BUF in the evening. (late evening ok)

Key is there should be sufficient time in between two flights so I can go about doing business.

Does anyone have any good suggestions, I tried the major search engines but am wondering if I can find better deals.

Jeff

[GM Mike]

Did you check hotwire? Sometimes they'll offer opaque flights that let you select a time of day range (usually a few hours)... So you could conceivably leave in the "Morning" and return in the "Evening".

What about Southwest? There's availability on the 8th depart 6:30am return 5:50pm $305 all in. Slightly more other days in your range.

[powerplantop]

Key is there should be sufficient time in between two flights so I can go about doing business.

Jeff,

Can you tell us how long you need for that? I have conducted business with less than two hours between arival and departure. I have also needed that long just to get to an office.

Airtran on the 7th arrive BUF 11:11 am depart 4:35pm all in $237. Thats 5 hours in BUF but a long day.

Continental on the 7th arrive BUF 1:20pm depart 3:14 all in $245.00 less than 2 hours but a much shorter day.

Delta on the 8th arrive BUF 9:56am depart 5:04pm all in $305 once again a long day.

[schumia]

Dear GM Mike and powerplantop,

THanks very much for your replies. Here I will provide a few more info. I mentioned that my travel dates will be Mar 8-12, but now it seems like I won't make it 'til at least Fri, Mar 10, so I'm hoping I"ll fly sometime between Mar 10-12. I'm looking for a same day flight hopefully.

1. I tried Hotwire but I guess it doesn't allow same day flights. Typically, will a two day flight be cheaper than one in same day? But in a two day flight I have to pay car rental and hotel stay too, so I 'm not sure which one will be cheaper.

2. It seems that Southwest are done on departure on same day flights on both Fri and Sat. So I tried departing Sat and back on Sun, comes to $309.70. Not too bad considering the last minute nature of my flight.

3. powerplantop: I think I'll need at least 5 hours in between flights to do my things. Is this the reason why I'm not finding good deals? I've searched on carrier's websites and often I'd see cheap deals if I come back from BUF before 3pm on Fri, but later then that the price just hikes up like crazy.

4. I'm newbie to this forum. But it seems to me most of the discussion is on bidding for hotels, is there a section somewhere on "bidding for air" that I did not see? It just seems quiet when it comes to airfare

bidding.

Thanks very much guys for all your responses.

Jeff

[GM Mike]

schumia -

Looks like, at this point, your best bet is to take that southwest flight and priceline a hotel for the overnight. If you want to do that, start a thread in the new york priceline forum after you've booked the flight and we'll help you.

There is a section here on bidding for air but it's not nearly as popular among people here. Generally, for us, it's much easier to be flexible about where we stay than when we get there/come back.

You could try a lowball priceline bid for the flight but then you get no choice of times. You could get stuck flying out, say, Saturday night and back Sunday morning.

Keep in mind also that if you book the southwest flight, it may be fully refundable, or at least if you cancel it could be applied to another flight later. If you're serious about making the trip, I'd book. Now.

Let us know what you decide.

[schumia]

Dear GM Mike,

THanks very much for your swift response. I've spent a few hours this morning trying to look up some cheap flight from Mar 10-12, and guess what, I think the college student's spring break this week is creating a big vacuum that most are sold out or else I have to pay ridiculous amount of money for!!

I think you're right that in my case it's probably not a good idea to bid on tickets since I need to have exact times of departures. Good Point!!

I may very well have to travel change my plan to fly early next week, on Southwest for next Tuse, Mar 14, it's $55 one-way for a total of $149.70 !! It's almost funny how a few days makes a BIG difference!!

Thanks very much for your help, I'll keep coming back for my future flights to this wondeful forum =)

Jeff

[powerplantop]

Delta on the 14th arrive BUF 9:56am depart 3:05pm all in $145.20. Yes a few days does matter. Friday afternoons, Sunday afternoons and Monday mornings are always bad.