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According to Charlie, right around Thanksgiving will be when the "new airline travel reality" of high costs and few options will "hit the flying public smack between the eyes," most likely leaving many of us feeling more like a turkey being led out behind the barn than someone looking forward to a feast. Despite all this, he still believes that "travelers looking for flights on Turkey Day will be finding far more bargains than normal."
I wish I could be quite as chipper, but the costly Thanksgiving Day ticket I just bought has left me grouchy and Scrooge-like. I'm paying as much as 80 percent more than the going fare last year on the route between New York City and Milwaukee.
In addition to taking with me the recipe for the best cranberry sauce recipe in the world, this year I'll also try to carry on a whole bunch of patience and goodwill. Everyone's going to need even more of that than usual.
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There are still some deals out there to be had. I have been looking for weeks to get a ticket for a friend coming to join us for Thanksgiving (flying LA to Chicago roundtrip). Just this past Monday, I came across an amazing deal on Northwest for $232.00 roundtrip, flying here on Tuesday the 25th, and returning in the evening of Friday, the 28th. Of course, now the deal is gone from their website; however that does not mean others carriers won't offer these "fare sales" in the coming 4 weeks before the holiday.
Posted By Jim L. on October 23, 2008, 12:20 PM
How much did your ticket MLK-NYC cost? You could take the train (via Chicago) though it'd be an overnight trip and you might arrive 12 hours late with all your plans ruined--an experience I've had several times on Amtrak.
Posted By Roger Williams on October 23, 2008, 12:45 PM
I usually wait until about 2 weeks before thanksgiving and book my flight then, hoping for the customary price drop. Do y'all think that's a bad idea this year? Last year I went from New Orleans to Detroit for about 280.00, purchased the week before.
Posted By Jules on October 23, 2008, 12:50 PM
I don't think this is a completely new phenomena. I am a retired Northwest Airlines pilot and probably 10 years ago my schedule had me working as a DC-10 co-pilot over Thanksgiving. I had been in that lucky position several times previously due to my lack of seniority, notably around 1991 while on the 727. On that occasion we flew 3 legs Thanksgiving day. The early morning departure was pretty full. The one mid-morning was probably 70% full and the last flight we did to Boston in mid-afternoon had something like 8 people on it. We put them all in first class! Flash forward maybe 6-7 years and we're on a DC-10 with twice the number of seats and the morning flight was full. The afternoon flight was from MSP-PHX (Phoenix) and I thought we were going to see another one nearly empty. Not even close!! we must have been 30-40 people shy of a full load and that flight got in around 4 PM! So the travel trends have been changing for a while and with prices going up a lot more people are looking for the "off-peak" fares. And when that happens guess what??......they don't look so "off peak" in price anymore.
Posted By Jerry Robichaud on October 23, 2008, 12:51 PM
I knew I was flying to FL from Pacific Northwest for birthday. So last month I checked my frequent flyer miles & got a r/t ticket for 30,000 miles. I think I did well!
Posted By Emanon on October 23, 2008, 1:45 PM
I have found that AirTran Airways almost always has the best fares. They also have a great people and their average fleet age is less than 5 years so you don't end up on a 25 year old aircraft like some of the bigger airlines.
Posted By ronny k on October 23, 2008, 6:11 PM
I realise this is a little out of the norm as it is a flight from London Heathrow to Washington Dulles but I fly it ever year on Thanksgiving Day. This year, I bought the ticket in August for close to $900. The price has since come down 3 times and is now around $525. (And, yes, I rang up and got a refund coupon for the difference to use on a future flight). Granted, the last flight of the day on Thanksgiving is usually quite light, but the price is in line with what I've paid in previous years.
Posted By Ed F on October 24, 2008, 5:35 AM
I got 4 non-stop/roundtrip tickets on Northwest from Orlando to Detroit leaving Tuesday returning Sunday for $247 each....I thought that was a deal.
Posted By Tricia on October 29, 2008, 9:55 AM