Low fare alert for specific dates and multi-destination

[World Gallery]

I am hoping someone may be able to recommend a website that can send alerts when a fare drops. I am aware of airfare watchdog and the alerts on the big web flight companies like Travelocity. Also, I know about Bing but they only do domestic flights.

The problem is, I can't seem to figure out if there is a way to receive alerts for specific dates on a multi-destination ticket. For example, we will need from New Orleans to Venice, then Barcelona to Copenhagen, the Copenhagen to New Orleans on specific dates. Is such an alert even possible?

[Bowie MeMe]

I've had the same problem and NO have not yet managed to figure it out. Thus I have visited the airline site 93 times in the last few months.:o

 

I would even be happier if I could get fare drops on a specific flight on a specific day since I usually have the flight I want and all the others have some problem.

[Globaliser]

For example, we will need from New Orleans to Venice, then Barcelona to Copenhagen, the Copenhagen to New Orleans on specific dates.

What I would do is to set up fare alerts for New Orleans-Venice round-trip, and New Orleans-Copenhagen round-trip.

 

This is because an open-jaw ticket flying A-B and then C-A is basically priced as half of the total cost of an A-B-A round-trip ticket and an A-C-A round-trip ticket.

 

I don't know how the fare alert websites work and what information they require of you. But at least you now know the routes you need to look for.

 

When you come to book, you may find that it's cheaper to buy the Venice-Copenhagen separately. But that may not necessarily be the case. I've just been looking at a ticket for your entire trip for random dates in May, which is simply priced using a New Orleans-Venice round-trip. The stop in Copenhagen uses a permitted stopover, as the fare allows one stopover in each direction for a $100 supplement. This is the sort of trick for which ITA may be helpful when you have found that fares have been filed that are acceptable to you.

 

Before you rely on all of this and stop searching for prices for the dates you need to travel on, make sure that the fares that you're seeing now are genuinely constrained by filed fares and not availability. I was shocked to see the prices quoted for a departure from New Orleans on 6 April, but that was an availability problem.

[World Gallery]

What I would do is to set up fare alerts for New Orleans-Venice round-trip, and New Orleans-Copenhagen round-trip.

 

This is because an open-jaw ticket flying A-B and then C-A is basically priced as half of the total cost of an A-B-A round-trip ticket and an A-C-A round-trip ticket.

 

I don't know how the fare alert websites work and what information they require of you. But at least you now know the routes you need to look for.

 

When you come to book, you may find that it's cheaper to buy the Venice-Copenhagen separately. But that may not necessarily be the case. I've just been looking at a ticket for your entire trip for random dates in May, which is simply priced using a New Orleans-Venice round-trip. The stop in Copenhagen uses a permitted stopover, as the fare allows one stopover in each direction for a $100 supplement. This is the sort of trick for which ITA may be helpful when you have found that fares have been filed that are acceptable to you.

 

Before you rely on all of this and stop searching for prices for the dates you need to travel on, make sure that the fares that you're seeing now are genuinely constrained by filed fares and not availability. I was shocked to see the prices quoted for a departure from New Orleans on 6 April, but that was an availability problem.

 

Does anyone have a recommendation for the best website to set up the alert from?

[parody]

You can track fare changes for specific multi-city flights by using yapta.com. I don't believe it is possible to do it for all flights on any given day without entering dummy information for each possible flight. Even if you have not yet purchased a ticket, use the section at yapta.com assuming that you have bought the ticket and are looking to track fare changes in hopes of getting a refund. (In their lingo it is "after you buy".) Of course, if you don't have a particular flight in mind, you can use their search feature ("before you buy") and then track fare changes.

[victoriaj]

Does anyone have a recommendation for the best website to set up the alert from?

http://www.yapta.com has always worked for me - even alerted me to a refund due when price went down on already booked airfare. Cheers !

[World Gallery]

You can track fare changes for specific multi-city flights by using yapta.com. I don't believe it is possible to do it for all flights on any given day without entering dummy information for each possible flight. Even if you have not yet purchased a ticket, use the section at yapta.com assuming that you have bought the ticket and are looking to track fare changes in hopes of getting a refund. (In their lingo it is "after you buy".) Of course, if you don't have a particular flight in mind, you can use their search feature ("before you buy") and then track fare changes.

 

Thanks for this info. I tried it out and for some reason, it doesn't show any Delta airlines flights. I tried several ways and tried looking specifically for Delta. Without Delta as an option, the flight price is almost double. With Delta as an option on sites like Travelocity and Kayak, the flight is much better and much cheaper. Any insights? Thanks.

[parody]

Delta Air Lines is one of the many airlines that Yapta tracks. In doing a limited search or two, I find that Delta flights show up in the results. If you find that they do not, you can always email yapta and ask why. I have found them to be helpful. But, in answer to your original question, I would use them for their tracking abilities rather than their search abilities. For the later, I might suggest kayak.com and/or southwest.com as the latter flights rarely show up in any airline search site. And, as one would expect, Southwest flights cannot be tracked on yapta.

[Budget Queen]

For your Intra Europe flights, I would just use one of the low cost airlines, Flybe, Easyjet etc.

 

The rates on these can be very low.

[Globaliser]

For your Intra Europe flights, I would just use one of the low cost airlines, Flybe, Easyjet etc.

 

The rates on these can be very low.

Sometimes, the headline ticket price is low. But not always.

 

And for someone with cruise luggage, this is often not a good option to take, because of the impact of baggage fees.

 

For example, on a single easyJet flight, checking in one 50 lb suitcase will cost you €41 = $54.

 

Checking in a second 50 lb suitcase will cost you something like a further €221 = $295.

 

As you need to take two easyJet flights to get from Venice to Copenhagen, you'd double those numbers (because you have to pay again for the second flight).

 

Frankly, if you have two 50 lb suitcases with you, you could probably fly business class on another airline for less than that.

[Ashland]

I tried the yapta search and input the dates/flights I'm watching to purchase (June 29-July7th LAX-LHR)..an unknown/secret carrier popped up with lower prices but thru an unknown TA..anyone have any info on this and how it works..I usually buy directly with the carrier and am concerned about consolidators and unknown TA's...Am leaning towards BA and waiting for possible lower prices than $1450pp..Am I expecting something that will never happen ???

[World Gallery]

I played around with Yapta a bit more. The only way I can get the Delta flights from New Orleans to Venice, then Copenhagen to New Orleans, to show up (and it is the lowest) is to leave out the middle leg from Barcelona to Copenhagen. I have no idea why that would effect it. The middle leg (midtrip) is a non-stop flight on Spainair. Why would this matter?

I am going to keep looking at the low cost airlines for Barcelona to Copenhagen. Right now, when add it in on the entire ticket (on Kayak), it only adds $100 per person to the total trip and I think that is what I may be paying when I add in baggage costs to the low cost airlines (we will all have a carry on and probably need to check in 2 bags total for 7 people. I will have to do laundry somewhere!)

If we did decide to use a low-cost airline, what is the best one with non-stops flights (best mean best safety record and newest planes).

[parody]

If we did decide to use a low-cost airline, what is the best one with non-stops flights (best mean best safety record and newest planes).

 

Hard to know why the results vary with and without the Spanair segment as that is one of the International airlines that is tracked by Yapta. In terms of researching low fare local carriers, you can check out http://www.whichbudget.com/

[Globaliser]

I played around with Yapta a bit more. The only way I can get the Delta flights from New Orleans to Venice, then Copenhagen to New Orleans, to show up (and it is the lowest) is to leave out the middle leg from Barcelona to Copenhagen. I have no idea why that would effect it. The middle leg (midtrip) is a non-stop flight on Spainair. Why would this matter?

I don't know how Yapta works and I don't have an account to play with it.

 

But I suspect that a possible answer is that trying to keep track of too many fare components is too complex. So it's confining itself to returning results only where it can do a straightforward single open-jaw price.

 

That, already, is one step of complexity more than my original suggestion, which was to track New Orleans-Venice-New Orleans fares and New Orleans-Copenhagen-New Orleans fares separately.

If we did decide to use a low-cost airline, what is the best one with non-stops flights (best mean best safety record and newest planes).

You're not going to have a lot of choice, frankly. Try http://www.skyscanner.net to see how limited your choices will be.

 

I misread your original itinerary; I thought you were flying from Venice to Copenhagen. As you're going from Barcelona, that makes the overal pricing trickier. If you can still see a fare for the whole itinerary that is only $100 more than the New Orleans-Venice/Copenhagen-New Orleans fare, then you're unlikely to beat that by much even if you use a low-fares airline and nobody checks any bags. And remember that the cost of checking even one bag can be pretty eye-watering on some of the low-fares airlines (which is why I call them low-fares, not low-cost).

[Budget Queen]

Sometimes, the headline ticket price is low. But not always.

 

And for someone with cruise luggage, this is often not a good option to take, because of the impact of baggage fees.

 

For example, on a single easyJet flight, checking in one 50 lb suitcase will cost you €41 = $54.

 

Checking in a second 50 lb suitcase will cost you something like a further €221 = $295.

 

As you need to take two easyJet flights to get from Venice to Copenhagen, you'd double those numbers (because you have to pay again for the second flight).

 

Frankly, if you have two 50 lb suitcases with you, you could probably fly business class on another airline for less than that.

 

I've flown cheaply with both Easyjet and Flybe several times, and don't know where you are getting you luggage information, but it is 15 pounds fee, for a 44 pound bag. It is darn simple to pack light, if you choose to.

[wcook]

I have used pretty much all the fare alert sites. But even with an alert in place, I've still found the best deals by obsessively checking websites myself.

 

For an expenisve flight, the possible savings are worth spending a minute checking every day or two. For me at least. I also set up fare alert just in case. Another reason for the aleart is that they often indicate "something is going on" and it's worth extra effort to find a deal.

[Globaliser]

... don't know where you are getting you luggage information, but it is 15 pounds fee, for a 44 pound bag.

From easyJet's website, which (like "the beginning") is a very good place to start.

 

I took Barcelona to Gatwick, as it's close to the OP wants to do. (EZY's luggage fees are route-dependent.) It's €14 for one bag up to 44 lbs.

 

But if you take 50 lb in one bag (as many cruise passengers will do, given the main trans-Atlantic allowance), that goes up to €41.

 

Some cruise passengers will take two 50 lb bags. Flying trans-Atlantic on BA, for example, you'd pay £34 or $51 or €43 each way to check that second 50 lb bag. (The first is included in your ticket.) That's not a bad rate to pay. If they're on a very long trip, sometimes one 50 lb bag just won't do for some people.

 

But if you take that second 50 lb bag on the EZY flight from Barcelona to Gatwick, it will cost you a total of at least €262 one-way, which makes it €221 for the extra bag.

 

I'm sorry that I can't make the arithmetic any clearer than that.

 

Good for you if you can pack light. But when advising other people, remember that their world doesn't revolve around your abilities.

[World Gallery]

Thanks for all of this great information. Yes, I think I have started obsessively checking. I will do both. I have set up fare alerts (at leaset I think I have done it correctly for each leg separately). Since we need 7 tickets, a small drop makes a difference. As for packing, if all of us can have one free carry-on and one personal item (purse), then we should be okay. Do all airlines, budget and regular, allow a free carry on and one small personal item? I would still have two checked pieces. It is going to be very difficult to pack for 7, for a 28 day long trip! The lightest will be two checked bags.

[Globaliser]

Do all airlines, budget and regular, allow a free carry on and one small personal item?

No. You have to check each airline's website to see what they will allow.

[parody]

Do all airlines, budget and regular, allow a free carry on and one small personal item?

 

While most airlines allow free carry-on bags (although it doesn't hurt to check their websites), Spirit Airlines was one of the first to charge for carry-on bags. Fees range from $20 to $45 depending on whether paid online or at the gate. Travelocity has a list of fees by airline at http://www.travelocity.com/info/info_popup/0,,TRAVELOCITY|BAG_FEES,00.html

[Globaliser]

While most airlines allow free carry-on bags (although it doesn't hurt to check their websites), Spirit Airlines was one of the first to charge for carry-on bags.

However, Spirit does not charge for all carry-on bags. Spirit's help pages say:-

Remember, we always provide one personal item free of charge per customer. Personal items (e.g. purse, small backpack, briefcase, etc.) must fit underneath the seat, so the dimensions must not exceed 16 x 14 x 12 inches (40 x 35 x 30 cm).

[parody]

However, Spirit does not charge for all carry-on bags.

 

To be very particular about it, Spirit Airlines charges for all "carry-on bags". According to their website: "Carry-on bags must fit in the overhead bin, so the dimensions must not exceed 22 x 18 x10 inches (56 x 46 x 25 cm). We may require that a carry-on bag travel as a checked bag if it can't be safely stowed on a particular flight."

 

While it is true that one carries-on a personal item, those are not charged as described in a previous post. So, by Spirit's standards, there is a distinction between carry-on bags and personal items.

[FlyerTalker]

Thanks for all of this great information. Yes, I think I have started obsessively checking. I will do both. I have set up fare alerts (at leaset I think I have done it correctly for each leg separately). Since we need 7 tickets, a small drop makes a difference.

ALERT!!!

 

I hope that you are NOT trying to purchase all 7 tickets at one time, on one reservation. If so, you will likely have trouble getting "a deal". Why, you may ask....

 

When you attempt to purchase more than one seat on a ticket, the computer system looks for the lowest fare bucket that has inventory for ALL seats. In other words, if there are only 6 seats left in the lowest bucket and you request 7, the system will NOT give you 6 at the lower price and one in a higher. It will pull all 7 from the bucket that has inventory for the complete request. You will miss out on the lowest pricing.

 

How to avoid this? Well, you need to try to pull up different numbers of seats. If you get one price at 3 seats and a higher one when you ask for 4, it's a tip-off that the bucket has only 3 seats available. At this point, you can buy 3 on one reservation and then try again for the other 4, repeating as necessary. Looking for 7 tickets might have you with up to 7 different prices.

 

As an example, here's inventory for an upcoming flight from SEA to DTW:

F2 P1 A0 Y9 B9 M9 H9 Q9 K6 L5 U4 T2

On this flight, if you request 7 tickets, you will be priced into the Q bucket, totally missing out on fares from T/U/L/K classes. Since most fares are subsets of higher priced buckets, on this flight you would most likely have 2 in T, then two more left in U, then one more left in L, then one more left in K and one last one in Q.

 

This can be a sticky issue if you are buying for someone outside your own family. Who gets the cheaper ticket and who pays more? Do you average? Do you just not tell them about the difference in pricing? All of which leads to my advice that within "groups" everyone should be responsible for their own air tickets. You don't mention if this is all your family or a combo.

 

Is this more work? Yes. Is it worth the effort? Only you can say. And, if you want to be able to directly research the inventory in the various buckets, look to a subscription to ExpertFlyer and/or KVS. Knowing what flights have what availability can easily pay for the service fees.

[World Gallery]

Whew! I am not sure I understood all of that but I am trying. When I have been checking, I have only put in one ticket. I check places like Expedia, that lets you view the seats available (at least that is what my TA said. I booked the cruise with a local TA but he doesn't seem to be able to get flights any cheaper than what I see them for). My TA told me to keep checking Expedia since they let you preview seat selection and when I see the flight filling up, I better book. Right now, I don't see the flights filling up.

The tickets are all for my family. We are a family of 7. We have 5 kids ages 11-18. I did notice that I can't book more than 6 at a time. I was wondering about this. I can't take chance and book 6 then not get the 7th one. How does one make sure this doesn't happen? We have to be on the same flight (not necessarily right next to each other but in groups of maybe 3,2,2).

Thanks for all of the advice. I do not know much about booking and it is very confusing and frustrating!

[FlyerTalker]

I check places like Expedia, that lets you view the seats available (at least that is what my TA said. I booked the cruise with a local TA but he doesn't seem to be able to get flights any cheaper than what I see them for). My TA told me to keep checking Expedia since they let you preview seat selection and when I see the flight filling up, I better book. Right now, I don't see the flights filling up.

Your TA is not up to speed on airline travel. Seat maps are a notoriously inaccurate gauge of inventory. Unless you have access to inventory buckets, you are guessing at best. And just because a flight is "filling up" is not a measure of the pricing that is available for YOUR itinerary. Especially if you are on a connection, where bucket availability for the complete itinerary is what is important, not just for one segment.

 

The tickets are all for my family. We are a family of 7. We have 5 kids ages 11-18. I did notice that I can't book more than 6 at a time. I was wondering about this. I can't take chance and book 6 then not get the 7th one. How does one make sure this doesn't happen?

The six seat limit may be a limitation of Expedia. You can most assuredly avoid that problem by booking directly with the airline, either online or on the phone. And, your problem may be with fares, not with a sold-out flight. Most flights will sell out in the "cheap seats" long before they completely sell out. Also, you may be finding that decent price for one seat, but it "goes away" when you try to get more. I really think that a monthly subscription to EF for a couple months may be very worthwhile for your situation. (DISCLAIMER: I am not affiliated with either EF or KVS, other than being a very satisfied user of both for a number of years.)

 

We have to be on the same flight (not necessarily right next to each other but in groups of maybe 3,2,2).

Is there really some reason why one adult could not take 2 kids and the other take 3? Wanting 7 seats on a flight may cut down on some of your options unless you are willing to pay more for seats. Keep that option in the back of your head. Remember....all conveniences have a price trade-off.

 

Thanks for all of the advice. I do not know much about booking and it is very confusing and frustrating!

Ask questions and do research. There are more wrinkles than you might first think, but the answers are out there. Feel free to post followup questions.