... in response to Who do you guys use for Cheap Tickets?, posted by MarkInTx on Jan 28, 2002
I have been monitoring the airfares to St. Petersburg on a daily basis at either
Travelocity, Orbitz, or specific airlines' websites (mostly Finnair & LOT Polish). For
weeks now, the fares between Sarasota, Florida & St. Petersburg, Russia have
been just slightly over $1189 for travel in April. Of course, you'll usually get a lower
fare if you book directly from New York to LED, and then from your home city to
New York. By checking the 2 individual fares, I was quoted a little over $1100, by
pricing Finnair & Delta Airlines separately.
However, those of you who read my nightmare travel report from August know that it
is extremely advisable to get your entire itinerary on one ticket contract. This
ensures that one airline or the other is responsible for you in case there is a delay or
missed flight, etc, anywhere in your itinerary. At least Delta was nice enough to
send me a $75.00 voucher as sort of an apology for my last trip hassles.
Finally, a few weeks ago Finnair cut fares by about $150.00 (on Travelocity & Orbitz) for
travel on 4/26/02. This was the slight break I was looking for. Current combined fares
on Orbitz showed R/T at $959.00. I decided to just call Delta & inquire about the
fares, in addition to receiving credit for my $75.00 voucher. After giving the C.S rep
my preferred itinerary with both Finnair & Delta, he surprised me by offering me the
complete itinerary for $923.00 minus the $75.00, for a total of $848.00 R/T from
Sarasota to St. Petersburg.
In my opinion, I don't think that anyone could substantially beat this price, while
giving me piece of mind on one contract, and convenience of preferred itinerary. For
those who aren't familiar, Sarasota/Bradenton airport is not exactly a huge hub or
very convenient airport, such as Tampa, Miami, Atlanta, etc. However, it's very
convenient for me to depart from there.
Ok, so what's my point, you ask? Continue to monitor your preferred flight itineraries
using a number of internet sources (travel sites, AND airline sites). It's usually
cheaper to check flights from New York to Russia/Ukraine, and then from your home
city to New York. Also, after checking the best internet published fares, it might be
advisable to have a travel professional see if they can do any better. The one I
contacted (Mark) could not, and just congratulated me for finding the best fare. Don't
rule-out calling the airlines directly. I was surprised by an additional savings just by
calling Delta.
Finally, I realize that some of you spontaneous fliers are finding better last-minute
bargains. However, I'm not going again until April, and I prefer to have my plans in
place months in advance, if possible. You know guys, this is one aspect of every
one of our adventures in seeking a RW or UW that we ALL have in common.
Eventually, every one of us has to set-out and plan our trips to Russia/Ukraine, etc.
Like someone above said, it's a shame there isn't a clear-cut winner in the travel
business with the most consistent fares.
