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Best way to find cheap last minute plane tickets?

Posted by (Michigan) on

Hello

My wife and I are teachers so our June-July-August is wide open. We have traveled to Europe in the past and plan to do so again next year for a 3-week trip. I am considering going back this summer for a shorter more spontaneous trip if I can find a really good deal on airfare.

We have 2-kids so would need 4-tickets from Detroit, Chicago or Cleveland to most anywhere in France, Italy, Germany or possibly Ireland. It is probably optimistic to hope for a $600 round trip but we could travel on a few days notice if something came up.

I have read many threads here about getting online fare alerts, using consolidators, putting in bids on Priceline, etc. Does anyone have recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

Posted by
2745 posts

Raise your price? I think based on what I am reading you are beyond optimistic for $600 a person UNLESS you did do priceline. You might try reading on www.betterbidding.com and see what you can find there on priceline!

Good Luck!

Posted by
3250 posts

Sign up for e-mail alerts on a site like www.kayak.com. Also sign up for alerts for specific airlines, for example, Aer Lingus has specials from time-to-time. You also might look at various airline vacation packages.

We've been watching early summer airfares since January and they haven't come down much.

Posted by
78 posts

It get emails from Continental and see some sub-$600 fares to Ireland in May, some $636 fares in early June but these are too early for me. I realize that I probably won't find a $600-ish fare during the summer without getting lucky.

I have read that good last minute deals can sometimes be found if a plane has empty seats. I may have to do more research into bidding on Priceline. I will also look into the "betterbidding" site. Thanks for the tip. That is one I wasn't familiar with.

Posted by
2745 posts

Those CO airfares in the emails are without taxes. Taxes start at around $100 per ticket and go up depending on the desitination, number of connections etc....

Posted by
873 posts

Since you and your wife are teachers (and I'm going to presume your children are under 26), you might want to look into STA Travel. I just got RT tickets to Amsterdam from them, for about $650. Granted, this is for October, but there still may be good deals for the summer.

Posted by
78 posts

Thanks for the help. This is exactly the info. I am looking for.

Posted by
3 posts

My daughter is a teacher and also went a few years ago during break, she was with friends and the flight was higher of course because of the summer months. They saved by backpacking and using the eurail passes. I would try priceline at all different times of the day and night and best on wed. and Thrus. for specials that might show up. Also put in your best offer (they will accept 20 to 30% off usually)good luck.

Posted by
3250 posts

These websites were mentioned on a local consumer radio program today (Clark Howard's show in Atlanta.) I'm going to check them out!

Websites/phone numbers mentioned:

STATravel.com - Cheap student travel deals available to non-students

StudentCity.com - Cheap student travel deals available to non-students

StudentUniverse.com - Cheap student travel deals available to non-students up to age 25

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