Domestic flight price sticker shock :(

[cabri]

Southwest into Denver $300 or Salt Lake from Philly $400 R/T depending on day of week and lead time

Expedia shows $500 from Phl into Jackson Hole with a lead time.

 

[K1052]

Just at a glance I can find a $550 rt PHL-BOI with one stop in PHX a couple months out or direct PHL-SLC rt for $480ish.

 

[cabri]

Just at a glance I can find a $550 rt PHL-BOI with one stop in PHX a couple months out or direct PHL-SLC rt for $480ish.

Either option will generate a 4+ hour drive; however, the scenery along that drive will be pleasant

 

[dmcowen674]

Domestic flight price sticker shock

Yikes. As some of you know, I've been looking at visiting out west from Jersey here to the Yellowstone Nat Park area and possibly Grand Teton area based on some of the great advice here. So I went on the various flight price sites like Kayak, Priceline etc.... Ugh. What happened to the cheap flight prices lol? Cheapest I saw flying from either Philly or AC into Jackson WY, (seems to be the closest airport) was basically $1000 with 2 layovers for 2 people flying economy. Ugh. Might as well drive and make a cross country road trip out of it. Am I missing something? I could've swore flight weren't that much.

Silly Wabbit

Flying is only for the rich.

 

[Naeeldar]

It's getting pricier but its the price of fuel. Keep in mind we pay for $4 a gallon now for premium. 6 years ago that wasn't the regular price.

The other thing is you have to pick where you fly to carefully. For instance I'm doing philly to LA because it's cheaper than Philly to San Diego. Certain airports in various regions will always be cheaper due to them being hubs. Wyoming is just to small an area to fly too. Few flights means the price is higher.

 

[kranky]

People miss flights so it's usually not a big deal, but if you do it intentially it's called "hidden-city ticketing" and is usually against the agreement you get signed up for when you purchase a ticket. According to the agreement the airlines could ban you from future flights if you do it often, but there doesn't seem to be much risk.

The risk is they backcharge for the fare you should have paid (allowed by rule) but I don't know how often it happens. I do know one co-worker got blindsided some years back. He was doing the hidden city thing any time it saved him some money - not only did they backcharge him for the last incident, they terminated his FF membership (and he lost his FF miles) which hurt a lot more than the backcharge.

 

[K1052]

Either option will generate a 4+ hour drive; however, the scenery along that drive will be pleasant

I'd probably opt for SLC since it's a shorter drive and a direct flight.

 

[Dumac]

Book a flight at the start of June from CA to LA for $200. I thought that was a good price.

Sounds like yours isn't much more, and it is a lot further. I don't see a problem really.

 

[OCGuy]

That sucks considering I'm flying LAX-Munich in July in First/Business RT for $1700

 

[Midwayman]

On a side note, what would happen if we didn't board the flight in Houston to Dallas? Is there some rule or law against that, or would everything just be fine? Curious if there is a tool out there to search for flights that have layovers in your destination city as a layover instead of as a destination which could prove to be a cheaper flight.

I've done that when a delayed flight would have made it about an 8 hour delay vs a 2 hr drive. When I didn't board the second leg they canceled my return ticket without telling me. Luckily I was able to still get on the same flight, but it could have ended badly.

 

[cronos]

Timing makes a huge difference, too. Meaning both the dates of the travel and how far you are from the travel dates. Low season + less than a week from now = you can get some tickets for really cheap (of course this example doesn't work for a well planned travel).

 

[Ns1]

That sucks considering I'm flying LAX-Munich in July in First/Business RT for $1700

that's an amazing price.