starting to look at booking some internal flights in the US for our trip next Feb, just want to get yall take on the best airlines out there, also cheapest and guess best value for money. also want to know if we are best to book some, or wait? will prices change? from what I have heard Feb is low season for travel at the moment need flights from LA to NY, Chicago to Phoenix, Phoenix to Houston, Houston to San Fran and San Fran to LA also while I am at it, any more accommodation suggestions for New York, will to pay a reasonable amount but not ridiculous, assuming we get a bed with friends in other cities.
These are all merely my opinions, I do quite a bit of travelling. For flights my favorite site is www.sidestep.com. It searches all the major airlines for fares at once. Since you're booking well in advance you should be able to get some really great deals. I tend to book at the last minute and end up paying quite more than I should. As far as airlines go, I lean towards Continental, expecially for the longer flights (LA - NY, HOU - SF). They have pretty much the newest planes and lots of nonstop flights. For the shorter trips, check out Southwest. In NY, if it's in your price range, check out the W Hotel in Times Square. It's very nice. If you want to stay near the WTC or Wall St. area, check out the Hilton Financial Center.
la to ny- Jetblue anything from chicago- try ATA or Airtran anything to or from Houston- you might as well go Continental southwest is good to for phoenix
LA to NY - not sure, have heard great things about Jetblue which my sister uses to come from Seattle to NY. Also, make sure you look at flights that go to Newark NJ as well, I actually prefer to fly in and out of there rather than JFK or LGA because it's a little less crowded, there's less traffic, and you can take the NJ Transit Airtrain there in and out of Penn station, in manhattan in about 35 min. Chicago to Phx - yeah ATA flies cheap out of Chicago-Midway, as does Southwest, and I think they both mihgt go direct to PHX from there. You should be able to get a very cheap ticket Phx to Houston- guessing, but Southwest is probably the cheapest Houston to SF - hmm not sure of any budget options on this one. SF to LA - not sure either, but I'm sure some regional carriers must do this for cheap.
they also fly out of Burbank and Ontario... all three airports are within 30-45 minutes from downtown L.A. every seat is leather and has Direct TV satellite....
Southwest has good fares, but I don't like the boarding. I would fly America West for Phoenix. I've heard good things about JetBlue and Frontier. In many ways, I think Continental, Delta, United and American are indistinguishable (except American might be a tad roomier...on United you can purchase more legroom for a nominal fee). Stay away from AirTran like the plague. It's really ValuJet, changed their name after crashing their Jet into the Everglades due to a litany of safety violations. I was unaware of this when we had to fly for a funeral and booked my sisters on it. AirTran/ValuJet delayed their flight for hours before cancelling their flight, were incredibly rude and did not help them find other flights. Ended up using my miles to get them on an American flight. AirTran sux.
they certainly are the cheapest, but i guess the question is do we really want to arrive at LAX after flying 16 hours and then have to get to another airport to use them unless there is some quick way to get from LAX to longbeach, Burbank or Ontario
Heh...that could suck. If it happened to be a Friday afternoon ... could take you another 16 hours just to get to the Ontario airport from LAX (well, maybe just 2 or 3). Depending on time of day, the Long Beach commute from LAX could be quick. LAX is close to the 405 and Long Beach is even more accessible. About 20 miles apart, so could literally take just 25 minutes if lucky. If any accident on the 405...forget it.
our flight arrive to LAX at 9:30am the jetblue flights to NY are out of longbeach, there is one at 11:30am and then 1:15pm there is also an American airlines flight from LAX at around 11:30am and is about $20 more guess another option is to do something in LA that day and get a late jetblue flight, think there is one at 9:45pm, and fly during night and save on a night accom, but not a big LA fan and then we would also have to deal with our luggage..... btw anyone used the your stay apartments in New York (www.yourstay.com) , seem like a pretty good deal, around $170 a night from some pretty good looking place, Sam and Across 110 please advise
damn the search for a NY hotel continues, everytime you think you find one, you stumble on a pile of bad reviews found this tonight Solita Soho Hotel clarion Collection seems a good price and good reviews
not exactly, they went under new ownership and bought an entirely new fleet of jets... but yes, sometimes they are extremely late and their Atlanta hub reminds me of the 7 divine stages of hell...that everglades crash happened in 1996 I found them because of their X-Fares program back in the late 90's(the crash was almost ten years ago)..they had great deals for young travelers(and still offer them) check this out... http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/features/2003/2003-08-18-airtran.htm
Unfortunately there is one other big unknown (other than traffic) ...how long to get your bags in LAX. Figure 5-10 mins to baggage claim, so another 10-30 for the bags to arrive ... prob around 30 mins so far (again, depends on your airline's baggage handlers, how many flights just arrived). Only 5 (up to 10) to walk out and get cab (don't forget to figure in the price of the cab...maybe there's a cheaper shuttle service to Long Beach? Could add more time though). My wife thinks 1 hour total in LAX; I don't think that long but could be close. Prob around 30-35 mins to Long Beach (watch the traffic! that time of day would take an accident to cause a prob though) Small terminal w/ convenient drop off, check-in lines vary during day, maybe 10-20 mins in line ... usually relatively short security lines... I don't recall more than 10 mins, but again if there are lots of flight leaving I don't think they have much capacity. If I were you I would think that I could prob make the earlier flight, but it's risky and stressful. You could land, eat at LAX (don't recall much food at Long Beach, but it's been a few years since I've been there), then catch the cheaper shuttle over to LB. Or you could schedule the later flight, then if you get your bags quickly and traffic is good, go ahead and rush over to LB and see if you can get on the earlier flight. good luck
well, its going to cost around $20 for a cab to the other airport, you might as well eat that and you would be at the airport of your departure... but i was going to suggest option two- spending a day in L.A> then taking the red eye to NYC- you save on accomodation and you arrive in NYC in the morning.... do your really want to fly for 5 and a half hours right after a 16 hour flight?? I'm not a big L.A. fan myself, but surely you could enjoy a day at Santa MOnica or Venice Beach... as for accomodations, I'm not the expert on hotels or yourstay.com... my mom stayed in the Metro, in the 30's near where the previously mentioned LaQuinta is located... we should get together for a game regardless...
