Questions about Air fares and availablity

kaliman91 · 12-06-2006

I am looking for a flight for June6th thru June 12 leaving STL to CUN and the cheapest i have been able to find is USA3000. But they only have the 6th open for departure and nothing for return home on the 12th.
But as i started looking around and doing some searching on their site and other sites they have flights still available but only when booking the hotel and air together.
My question is do they hold a certain amount of seats for people who book the hotel and air? Its makes sense since they would be making more money off of them.
Just wondering because the best i can find is 840 for 2 people round trip with 1 stop and usa3000 is like 200 bucks cheaper and is a nonstop flight.
I have looked on all the different sites sidestep kayak and went to Continetal United AA and Frontier and nothing comes close????
Any thoughts or info you could share?

himynameisjan · 12-06-2006

"edit" ooops, as I read further I see you already checked kayak. my bad. Try North West Air, I think St Louis is one of their hubs. They have flights for your itinerary in the low $500's, but they all have one stop

If I knew the answer to airlines pricing policies, I would write a book and retire on the profits. I think even the people who set the prices are confused. What works the best for me is to go to kayak.com. You can check the prices of all the airlines with one query, then you go directly to the airline to book, saving the charges from sites like expedia and travelocity. My travel agent hates me now. I only use him for very complex trips. Sorry in advance for that comment shammy!

palmtreegirl · 12-06-2006

Try www.funjet.com They have flights out or St Louis and the book seats on the USA 3000 planes. Always the same flight numbers and times. Also try Continental.

Jan&Chas · 12-06-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by palmtreegirl

Try www.funjet.com They have flights out or St Louis and the book seats on the USA 3000 planes. Always the same flight numbers and times. Also try Continental.

That is what I don't understand. I go to funjet and price out air only from Chicago, same dates etc. and then go to USA3000 and price out the same time frame. Funjet's quote is almost $600.00 p/p and USA3000 is $270.00 per person. Mind you, this is peak season in February. I have never seen anything so cheap to Cancun in my life. It does change from day to day, because I saw that same price about a month ago for about a week then it changed, now it is back again. I really don't get it but it doesn't get any cheaper than that! But still, USA3000 is the cheapest airfare from Chicago! Kayak didn't come close to that.

palmtreegirl · 12-06-2006

I agree, the prices between those 2 websites are all over the place. I never have luck with Kayak, they don't even come close to what I find for wherever I'm flying from the airlines websites and sometimes even yahoo.travel. I do know that alot of airlines discount fares on Wednesday nights. Boy, sometimes it just takes a lot of time to find good airfare!!!

Jan&Chas · 12-06-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jan&Chas

That is what I don't understand. I go to funjet and price out air only from Chicago, same dates etc. and then go to USA3000 and price out the same time frame. Funjet's quote is almost $600.00 p/p and USA3000 is $270.00 per person. Mind you, this is peak season in February. I have never seen anything so cheap to Cancun in my life. It does change from day to day, because I saw that same price about a month ago for about a week then it changed, now it is back again. I really don't get it but it doesn't get any cheaper than that! But still, USA3000 is the cheapest airfare from Chicago! Kayak didn't come close to that.

k, I just check that website again and it did change. It is now (with the WQED promotion code) around $333 p/p which is still cheap!

**Shammy** · 12-06-2006

Kayak.com isn't selling you the ticket - it's directing you to another site that WILL sell it to you (airline web site, Orbitz. etc.). They're just a middleman so to speak.

biznkitty · 12-06-2006

www.cheaptickets.com at $412 per person, including taxes and fees, on your travel dates with one stop.
Biz

kaliman91 · 12-07-2006

Even funjet is almost 1100 bucks.

Its still early but i am a planner. I like to have everything planned out in advance with no surprises. So i guess its either 820-830 with 1 stop or 1100 with no stops.I dont think changing the dates is an option so i dont know what i can do.
Thanks for the replies guys N gals!

chgofd68 · 12-07-2006

I've always booked online and do a lot of shopping, I'm going June 19th and was able to get the cheapest fare through an travel agent give one a call and try it

solcats3 · 12-07-2006

If you CAN be flexible with your dates, you have a lot more options. For example, on USA3000, travelling 6/9 - 6/16, the fare is $342.67 round-trip/nonstop (using discount code WQED), all taxes included. Hard to beat.

kaliman91 · 12-07-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by solcats3

If you CAN be flexible with your dates, you have a lot more options. For example, on USA3000, travelling 6/9 - 6/16, the fare is $342.67 round-trip/nonstop (using discount code WQED), all taxes included. Hard to beat.

Yeah thats my only option right now is to change the dates. We already made the reservations for the hotel. We could change but we are trying to keep it so we dont miss a whole week of work and only miss part of one week and part of another. Sounds crazy but this way i get paid time off if i dont miss an entire week off from work.
So missing only 3 days on the first week and 3 on the following week i still get full salary for both weeks.
So in reality it would save me 200 or so bucks but i would lose out on entire weeks salary if i did that.
I guess i will wait i have plenty of time i will just keep checking the siet everyday and maybe something will open.

MWC · 12-07-2006

Try actually calling USA3000 directly, and see if a rep can help you for the date you want. Sometimes USA3000 acts as a charter for travel agencies (up my way, it's Apple Vacations), so they may have set aside seats for charter.

We flew USA3000 down to CUN last Xmas. Great flight, but we were surprised to see how inexact their booking-count was. Online the flight showed as sold out -- but it was, in reality, about 3/4 full. So there could be some flexibility that could be exercised by a real-live person, as opposed to online.

solcats3 · 12-07-2006

I believe Apple Vacations owns USA3000. Thus it makes sense that they would hold out some tickets for their charter/package plan customers (hotel/airfare together). Shammy has the full scoop on how this works.

kaliman91 · 12-07-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by MWC

Try actually calling USA3000 directly, and see if a rep can help you for the date you want. Sometimes USA3000 acts as a charter for travel agencies (up my way, it's Apple Vacations), so they may have set aside seats for charter.

We flew USA3000 down to CUN last Xmas. Great flight, but we were surprised to see how inexact their booking-count was. Online the flight showed as sold out -- but it was, in reality, about 3/4 full. So there could be some flexibility that could be exercised by a real-live person, as opposed to online.

Huh thanks i will give them a call thanks MWC

12-06-2006	#1 (permalink)
kaliman91 into ruins Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: St. Louis Mo. Posts: 70	Questions about Air fares and availablity I am looking for a flight for June6th thru June 12 leaving STL to CUN and the cheapest i have been able to find is USA3000. But they only have the 6th open for departure and nothing for return home on the 12th. But as i started looking around and doing some searching on their site and other sites they have flights still available but only when booking the hotel and air together. My question is do they hold a certain amount of seats for people who book the hotel and air? Its makes sense since they would be making more money off of them. Just wondering because the best i can find is 840 for 2 people round trip with 1 stop and usa3000 is like 200 bucks cheaper and is a nonstop flight. I have looked on all the different sites sidestep kayak and went to Continetal United AA and Frontier and nothing comes close???? Any thoughts or info you could share?

12-06-2006	#2 (permalink)
himynameisjan añejo Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Playa del Carmen Posts: 2,924	"edit" ooops, as I read further I see you already checked kayak. my bad. Try North West Air, I think St Louis is one of their hubs. They have flights for your itinerary in the low $500's, but they all have one stop If I knew the answer to airlines pricing policies, I would write a book and retire on the profits. I think even the people who set the prices are confused. What works the best for me is to go to kayak.com. You can check the prices of all the airlines with one query, then you go directly to the airline to book, saving the charges from sites like expedia and travelocity. My travel agent hates me now. I only use him for very complex trips. Sorry in advance for that comment shammy! Last edited by himynameisjan; 12-06-2006 at 04:48 PM..

12-06-2006	#3 (permalink)
palmtreegirl beachaholic Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Ohio Posts: 266	Try www.funjet.com They have flights out or St Louis and the book seats on the USA 3000 planes. Always the same flight numbers and times. Also try Continental.

12-06-2006	#5 (permalink)
palmtreegirl beachaholic Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Ohio Posts: 266	I agree, the prices between those 2 websites are all over the place. I never have luck with Kayak, they don't even come close to what I find for wherever I'm flying from the airlines websites and sometimes even yahoo.travel. I do know that alot of airlines discount fares on Wednesday nights. Boy, sometimes it just takes a lot of time to find good airfare!!!

12-06-2006	#7 (permalink)
Shammy Travel Insurance Tester Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: The Joisey Shore Posts: 18,680	Kayak.com isn't selling you the ticket - it's directing you to another site that WILL sell it to you (airline web site, Orbitz. etc.). They're just a middleman so to speak.

12-06-2006	#8 (permalink)
biznkitty way into it Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Playa del Carmen Posts: 109	www.cheaptickets.com at $412 per person, including taxes and fees, on your travel dates with one stop. Biz

12-07-2006	#9 (permalink)
kaliman91 into ruins Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: St. Louis Mo. Posts: 70	Even funjet is almost 1100 bucks. Its still early but i am a planner. I like to have everything planned out in advance with no surprises. So i guess its either 820-830 with 1 stop or 1100 with no stops.I dont think changing the dates is an option so i dont know what i can do. Thanks for the replies guys N gals!

12-07-2006	#10 (permalink)
chgofd68 way into it Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Chicago Posts: 200	I've always booked online and do a lot of shopping, I'm going June 19th and was able to get the cheapest fare through an travel agent give one a call and try it

12-07-2006	#11 (permalink)
solcats3 beachaholic Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 444	If you CAN be flexible with your dates, you have a lot more options. For example, on USA3000, travelling 6/9 - 6/16, the fare is $342.67 round-trip/nonstop (using discount code WQED), all taxes included. Hard to beat.

12-07-2006	#13 (permalink)
MWC añejo Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Connecticut Posts: 6,500	Try actually calling USA3000 directly, and see if a rep can help you for the date you want. Sometimes USA3000 acts as a charter for travel agencies (up my way, it's Apple Vacations), so they may have set aside seats for charter. We flew USA3000 down to CUN last Xmas. Great flight, but we were surprised to see how inexact their booking-count was. Online the flight showed as sold out -- but it was, in reality, about 3/4 full. So there could be some flexibility that could be exercised by a real-live person, as opposed to online.

12-07-2006	#14 (permalink)
solcats3 beachaholic Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 444	I believe Apple Vacations owns USA3000. Thus it makes sense that they would hold out some tickets for their charter/package plan customers (hotel/airfare together). Shammy has the full scoop on how this works.