best airfare options? need a ticket for this weekend :(
 

I am looking for advice on getting a good price on an airline ticket from Jacksonville to Cleveland round trip, leaving Fri afternoon and returning Sunday evening. An old friend passed away today and I want to be at the services on Sat and driving is it of the question.

Anyone have a RT mileage voucher they would consider selling?

Just hit the travel sites, kayak, travelocity, orbitz. You can also try calling the airlines and tell them the purpose for the travel, while you're not family and many no longer offer bereavement fares, some will give you a bit of a discount and usually allow you to fly unrestricted (meaning if you change your flight for some reason they won't ding you for change fees).

Sorry about your friend. Good luck getting there.

Sorry to hear about your friend. :( Wish I could help. While I usually book direct with the airline when time permits, I've been satisfied with Travelocity in a pinch.

Through Travelocity US Airways is the cheapest around $470ish.

Southwest Wanna Get Away fares are about the same.

I've been using Kayak lately -- similar prices to Travelocity, but it allows direct booking with the airline (and thus the usual 24-hour refund rules apply).

I have been hitting all the sites. I have tried calling airlines but end up in hold purgatory :(. Cannot get a chance to speak with a person! Also can't seem to crack $469

Try bidding $300 on Priceline (Friday to Monday to be safe, since flights can be any time). They still do the "name your own price" thing.

Might be tough since I think there are still lots of people stranded at airports due to canceled flights in the east. Might be possible if you drive to a bigger hub like Atlanta.

That sounds like a good price with no notice.

Dang, I forgot about that. I've got a buddy from OR who has been stranded with his family in MD since last Fri. The earliest reasonable flight (time, stops & cost) back he could get is tomorrow.

I just went through this with someone in the same situation. In my line of work all travel is handled through a travel agency, but in this case I had to foot the bill.

What I found was: On the travel sites you can get a cheap fare, but you will get killed on fees and crammed into a tiny jet and have about three layovers to deal with. And plan on paying extra for checking bags, snacks, everything.

American Airlines has a great site where you can see the price and times of flights for a few days before and after your desired travel date. Sometime the price from one day to the next will vary by as much as 50%.

I finally went with Southwest. Two checked bags for free and only one layover. By the time I added up all the fees on the puddle jumpers they were more than flying Southwest which at least uses real airplanes.

^^^

I actually PREFER the small planes. Get on a 737, and they cram you in like sardines in a Spam can.

The seats on a Dash-8 turboprop (I took the EWR-IAD shuttle semi-regularly which was a Dash-8 about 50% of the time) are actually more comfy than tourist class on most larger planes. Even better, an ERJ-135/145 doesn't have much headroom, but you get one seat on the left side of the aisle. If you get the "A" seat, no chance of a lard-butt stank-arse seatmate, and you can stretch your feet into the aisle when the drinks cart isn't passing. The only "small" jets I don't like are the Canadairs, which seem to have an odd curve to the cabin that limits shoulder room with a window seat.

Checked luggage? What's that? A laptop bag (aka murse aka personal item) and a frameless ALICE pack fit the requirements for carry-on, and have generally fit enough "stuff" for even a month-long trip to Europe -- including my cousin's wedding in London :)

The only time I checked a bag in the last few years was when I was flying cross-country to renovate a rental condo and had a large duffel bag full of power tools that weighed exactly 49.5 lb.

I would try Kayak or ITA Software ( the engine behind it). Not sure if Southwest shows up on Kayak now (didn't used to, so check that ).

Wife and daughter just came back from a marathon 24 hour flight junket. Odessa-Moscow-JFK-Orlando. Just missed the ugliness on Jet Blue. You can't get there (Odessa) from here.

lastminute.com.... flexible dates.

Southwest is on their own site so you always have to check it.

Info on the smaller planes is handy to have. I noticed a lot of sites list the type of aircraft to be used (perhaps this has been the case for years, I don't really know) but if you don't know anything about the aircraft it is still just nothing more than a small aircraft. As dumb as this might sound: It appears there are some major differences between them and knowing the differences could save you some real money.

Information is power.

I managed to get a decent flight on US Airways. Thanks to all for the suggestions and kind words.