Any true "last-minute" flight deal sites?

[lendaddy]

Searching Google leads me to various sites that appear to be nothing more than fronts for normal fare requests. In other words their "last minute deals" are no different than the normal deals available at the normal travel sites.

Does there exist an actual clearing house for flights unfilled? I'm considering Grand Rapids, MI to Orlando for 1-3 days and can literally leave last minute if need be...but I would need a killer deal to tip the scales.

I seem to recall some "$89 to Vegas" or "$59 to Ft. Lauderdale" deals back in the day... I'm guessing those days are over? Thanks much

To put it in perspective I have found ~$300 round trips but was hoping to do better. I know that is a fair price and I'm not complaining, just that I am hoping to do better.

[Rick Lee]

I'm trying to get a decent fare from Phoenix to Pittsburgh in April and it's north of $350 now. I just set up a price alert on Kayak and will watch for the email.

[Tim Hancock]

Best prices I have found lately were on Spirit airlines out of Detroit. After I fly with them, I get lots of e-mail from them with limited time only dealssent to me via e-mail. Unfortunately the deals are never for where I need to go for work.

[lendaddy]

Hey Tim, how have you been? I should pay you to fly that death machine...I mean airplane of yours up here and we'll both go.

[scottmandue]

Just my two cents...

Wife and I did the long distance relationship thing for three years (she moved in last year).

Portland OR. to Los Angeles.

After extensive research we found the four to two week formula, if you are trying to book more than a month in advance they know you have plans and they have you by the short hairs... anything shorter than that they know you are making last minute plans and have you by the short hairs.

The only other thing would be to sign up for emails from your favorite airline(s) and they have "sales" for times of year when flights are slumping.

For instance the flights from LAX to PDX could run from $100 to $350 depending on the time of year.

YMMV

To answer you question more directly my experience was no... there is no magic website... I would search all of them but would always end up booking directly with the airline (Alaska or JetBlue) for the exact same price (we were on FF programs with both those airlines)

[motion]

If you think about it, the airlines are pretty smart and are not going to make it easy for anyone or any site to have access to advanced, cheap fares. They are barely hanging on now as it is, and fares are pricey these days. Planes are full, too. Giving everyone easy access to the cheapest fares would put them out of business overnight.

I fly quite a bit, and am always looking for cheap fares. I've found that if I enter alerts in all the popular flight sites, I can keep a lookout for good deals just by skimming through the flood of email alerts I get every day.

I also use flights.google.com extensively. It has some great tools to explore fares to various areas on various dates. I love that site.

What I would really LOVE to see is something that would allow me to search a bit obtusively. Something like this scenario:

I want to fly out of Billings, MT some time in the next 15 days to some place with a beach within 30 minutes and a mean average temperature of at least 72F for less than $500 roundtrip per person. I would kill for an app like that!

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by lendaddy

Hey Tim, how have you been? I should pay you to fly that death machine...I mean airplane of yours up here and we'll both go.

The "death machine" has been in the heated hangar all winter. I quit my old machine design engineering job of 21 years and now work closer to home for a company dealing with their new product line of gas/oil linear rod pumps. Many trips on the airlines later, I find myself hoping I can convince the company president to buy a nice Bonanza or something that I can use when visiting well sites around the country. I hate the fact that it typically takes a whole friggin day to travel from Detroit to Texas on the airlines.

[scottmandue]

To add to what Motion said...

Modern air travel is very cut throat, flight are typically full or over booked... not unusual for a plane to touch down, they rush the customers off, rush the new customers on, and be back up in the air in 30 minutes (with dirty Kleenex stuffed in the seat pocket)...

Unfortunately the era of "the luxury of flying" long gone and dead.

Your only chance for a bargain is like I said, sign up for email alerts with carriers that fly where you want to go... and be prepared to fly mid week and non peak season.

[gprsh924]

That would be perfect Richard.

I flew spirit last weekend. The first and hopefully the last time. Felt like I was riding the city bus. In this situation was 50% the cost of the next cheapest fare, so I had to fly it and that type of savings is the only way I will fly it again.

[Rick Lee]

If I'm flying for personal reasons and paying for it myself, I also check the +/- 3 days option on each end and also other airports nearby.

While I do find most flights to be full these days, I really don't think flying is that expensive. I've already flown to the east coast twice this year and both times, roundtrip flights were under $500. Think about that. 5000 miles roundtrip for under $500. That sounds pretty good to me. I flew to San Jose and back last week for $200. I couldn't do it cheaper on the motorcycle in 5x the amount of time.

[lendaddy]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

The "death machine" has been in the heated hangar all winter. I quit my old machine design engineering job of 21 years and now work closer to home for a company dealing with their new product line of gas/oil linear rod pumps. Many trips on the airlines later, I find myself hoping I can convince the company president to buy a nice Bonanza or something that I can use when visiting well sites around the country. I hate the fact that it typically takes a whole friggin day to travel from Detroit to Texas on the airlines.

Very cool, I hope you're finally getting what you're worth.

Right at the end of my companies life we were trying like hell to land a gig making pump liners for an oil company out of Texas Was a great project, I wonder if it landed down by you?

Anyway, I really do need to stop by one of these days and see your place/meet you saint of a wife. I may be headed to the 24 hours of Lemons at gingerman in April (just to see if some buddies and I are interested in participating n 2014). How far are you from there?

[9dreizig]

keep looking,, I just booked a RNO-ATL-ORLANDO flight cheaper than round trip to RNO - ATL.. $560 all taxes included

[gduke2010]

I just do Southwest. I got fed up looking at the deals. Nothing ever worked. The days were always unavailable.

[89911]

I realize that this may not help last minute bookings, but statistically I just read that the best fairs are obtained 49 days before your date.

[TheMentat]

Originally Posted by 89911

I realize that this may not help last minute bookings, but statistically I just read that the best fairs are obtained 49 days before your date.

As soon as that report was published, the airlines probably re-jiggered their pricing algorithms to take advantage of everybody who read it!

[Lapkritis]

Clear your tracking cookies... they're watching you and your searches. Prices won't change if your humping their glass.


-Andrew

[Rusty Heap]

Travel Deals: Flights, Hotels, Vacations, Cruises, Local Deals | Travelzoo

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by lendaddy

Very cool, I hope you're finally getting what you're worth.

Right at the end of my companies life we were trying like hell to land a gig making pump liners for an oil company out of Texas Was a great project, I wonder if it landed down by you?

Anyway, I really do need to stop by one of these days and see your place/meet you saint of a wife. I may be headed to the 24 hours of Lemons at gingerman in April (just to see if some buddies and I are interested in participating n 2014). How far are you from there?

I don't have a clue about pump liners. Our rod pumps replace beam pumps. We make 86", 100" and 120" stoke units that have a max lift of 30,000 lbs and powered by up to 100hp electric motors. They are a dual rack and pinion design and they automatically adjust speed to maximize production.




I am southwest of Toledo..... About the same distance to Gingerman as it is to Grand Rapids from my place, but should you ever get down this way, by all means give me a buzz.

[red-beard]

Continental used to send out a weekly fare deal which really had deals.