People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

My DH and I have a hotel booked in Vegas from Thursday, March 21st through Sunday March 24th. We booked the hotel through Hotwire probably about 9 months ago, and because of some unforeseen circumstances, we didn't think we would be able to make the trip. We were just going to eat the money for the hotel since there is no canceling/transferring reservations with Hotwire.
Long story short... we decided we're going to try and make the trip. I would be flying out of Ft. Lauderdale or Miami, and my DH would be flying out of Milwaukee or Chicago. We're looking up flights now and they are CRAZY expensive! In your experience, have you found that prices for flights go down at all the closer the date gets (our trip is only 23 days away now), or do they just keep getting more and more expensive to take advantage of those last minute travelers who have no other choice but to pay whatever the price is?

We'll probably end up not going if the prices stay where they are now. We're not really interested in spending AT LEAST $1200 on flights for just a weekend trip to Vegas. We'd rather just lose the $500 we've already spent on the hotel.

Any help would be great.

People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

I think the problem you might be encountering is that you are heading into a weekend that could be considered "spring break" time for many schools. Easter is the next weekend and some colleges will do spring break the week before easter and you will have a lot of people heading to Vegas and other spring break spots. That is likely why the rate is so high and I don't see it going down by much unfortunately.

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

Will the hotel let you switch the dates? Sometimes u can do that and not get a penalty or lose money.

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

According to my DH (who travels A LOT! He's packing as I type) they just keeping getting more and more expensive.

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

They generally get more expensive, especially since it might be considered spring break around the time you're going.

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

That's interesting
I feel like hotels get cheaper and cheaper as you get closer- because they want to sell unsold rooms
Yet flights get more and more pricey.
You would think they would want to sell the seats- being that the plane is flying whether it's half full or totally full- and incurring the cost of the flight (fuel, salaries of the crew, etc)- so why not bring in more revenue?
Yet they don't
It's odd

Message edited 2/26/2013 10:58:11 AM.

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

That weekend is NCAA Quarter and Semi Finals. Its a big thing in Vegas at that time (my brother goes every year). Between that and Easter break- I wouldnt expect prices to go down.

People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

Sorry but they do get more and more expensive the closer you get to the date.

You can ASK if they will let you change the dates but I know I got bumped off a flight once with Hotwire (not my fault at all) and the entire itinerary was cancelled. Even tho the airline let me leave from JFK to St. Louis.. by the time I got to St. Louis, I had no flight to Omaha, or the round trip back Omaha to St. Louis or JFK. I was stranded! I was able to work a deal out with the airline but it was definitely a lesson learned.

I can't complain tho. haha we got bumped from our standard economy seats to first class haha Gotta love some mess ups. I did have to find a place to stay that night in St. Louis but in our case it was worth it.

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

I think they get more expensive & you're traveling during spring break.

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

They will get more and more expensive unfortunately. 23 days is very short notice and at this point it looks like a "business" flight to most airlines as most meetings are not planned months in advance. Sorry

People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

They definitely get more expensive as you get closer. Once you are less than 14 days out, the airfare rises a great deal. Could you try to fly back on a Monday? Flights tend to be cheaper then as opposed to Sundays (it might be cheaper to do that and book an extra night at a hotel).

People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

If you check flights on kayak one it lists them it shows a chart on the left hand side and gives you the %chance the flight price will increase. Also show price trend for the last few weeks.

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

Airfare is getting more expensive.
I just finished booking my biz trip to Portland Oregon and was really surprised that it is only $622rt, that for direct flights, economy comfort upgrade and no red-eyes.

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

I'm so MAD about this trip!!

We were supposed to be going with a group of friends... they gave us the date so we booked our hotel with Hotwire. A couple of weeks later the friends all decided they wanted to go a different weekend (because one of the wives couldn't get off of work the original weekend). So that was that... leaving us in the dust. We confirmed with them multiple times before booking that those were the dates we were going. MULTIPLE TIMES!! They're all going a couple of weeks later now. We tried to have our reservations changed in any way possible, but Hotwire just doesn't work that way. They won't allow it. We tried reasoning with the hotel but they said there was nothing they could do.



Thank you for all the responses.

People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

Have you tried contacting Hotwire directly to see if you can work something out? They've got to have an 800# you can call. Also, I remember reading in Travel and Leisure that there's a very small window RIGHT before traveling where flights drop significantly, but it's like a day or two before leaving, maybe check for flights then? If no one will budge on the hotel, what have you got to lose? Keep tracking fares and you might find a deal.

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

I JUST got this email from Travelzoo:

NEW YORK--FEBRUARY 26, 2013-- For two days, Virgin America is cutting nonstop West Coast fares from New York City to $139 each way for spring travel. This is the first time the airline has discounted fares into June.
These sale fares are valid for flights to Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco and are available most Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, March 20 - June 12, excluding Memorial Day travel. Surrounding dates start at $20 more each way. For Las Vegas, the best availability starts in late April.
The sale ends at 11:59 p.m. CT Wednesday.

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

Message edited 2/26/2013 5:31:27 PM.

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

I'm sorry that your plans changed.

We book directly through hotels and airlines to get a bit more flexibility. Hotwire is just not worth it unless we're 10000% sure our plans will work and we're willing to take the loss if something changes.

Have you looked into booking each flight segment as separate one-way trips? Are there alternate airports you could try (like Miami and West Palm instead of Ft. Lauderdale)?

Good luck!

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

Ughh. Hotwire is tough because they reallly don't back you up.

The PP who spoke about spring break was dead on. I have clients who booked air in September for that week and paid a fortune, and it just keeps going up. It would be $1000 more now. Occasionally there are fare saes, but especialy for hoiday trave, the rates tend to keep increasing

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

How about calling the hotel directly? Can try and post the hotel room for say 100.00 less than what you got it for and ask the hotel if you could switch names on the reservation?

Re: People who travel by air a lot... I have a question.

Would this help?