I Can't Find Low AirFares!

Goose,

I would recommend the following.

1. If you have no concerns about what time your flights leave, go to Hotwire.com. A friend recently booked a RT flight L.A.-N.Y. for $188 there, and the flights are usually great (nonstop, American Airlines, afternoon departure in his case...a $370 value per AA's site). Hotwire lets you plug in the dates you want to fly and then gives you a rock bottom price. You won't find out the TIME you are flying until after you buy, but they promise your flights will be in between 6 am and 10 pm.

2. If Hotwire doesn't do it for you, then work with Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity to determine the cheapest cities to fly in and out of. I know from my Ohio trip this past May that not only is Colombus, Oh. the cheapest in the region, but Southwest also flies there. You'll need to find the cheapest airport near you...I seem to recall Houston being a bit cheaper than D/FW, but that's a long drive to maybe not save that much.

3. Hit Hotwire and search every 48 hours (that's as often as they will let you search). Check Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity as often as possible (IE, 3-4 times a day)...rates change all the time. Be READY TO BUY as soon as you see something...I missed a huge rental car discount for Ohio on Hotwire because I hesitated.

4. Play with your flight times to find the cheapest fares. Flying out one day later or earlier can save you $60-100.

P.S. I just ran your flights on Hotwire (assuming you are leaving DFW on 8/17 for Colombus and returning on 8/21) and came up with $158 RT...

You might try flying into Detroit (DTW). It's a Northwest hub, as I believe Dallas is. You're about a 3 hour drive from Cleveland, though.

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So many coasters - so little time.

I have flown from DFW to Ohio 3 times in the last 2 years and have found that the fares into Dayton are usually lower than the 3 other major airports in Ohio. Dayton is only about a 3 hour drive into Sandusky. For some reason fares from DFW into Cincinnati or Columbus are usually outrageous and can vary by as much as $300 over the course of mere hours. Hope that helps and good luck in your search. *** This post was edited by LoneStarGator on 7/24/2001. ***

If you are flying from Dallas to Cleveland on the dates of 8/11 to 8/14 you can get round trip tickets from America Airlines for around $300. You need to put specific dates on here if you want anymore help than that or you should try expedia.com.

This might not help you for your forthcoming trip, but in the future do this:

Plan as far in advance as possible, like four or five months.

Watch the newspaper for Southwest Airlines' special fares of $99 or less (one way, plus some taxes) anywhere they fly, or check their Web site. When Southwest offers these $99 fares, the other airlines usually match them on the same routes, but the other airlines generally don't advertise these fares. For example, in May I flew from San Jose to Cleveland for $209 round trip, in June from San Jose to Baltimore for $245 round trip, and for December I booked a trip from San Jose to Orlando for $211 round trip. These were all on Continental, which, unlike Southwest, provides advance seat assignments and serves meals.

NOTE: After I wrote the above, I noticed that Southwest just started a $89 or less fare sale, but you must purchase tickets by July 30. Check their Web site, or check the other Internet travel sites. You're in luck if you live in or near a city that Southwest serves. *** This post was edited by merle on 7/25/2001. ***

You will have to call SWA to get routing. Due to the Wright Ammendment, Southwests operations are limited out of Texas. You will likely have to route from DAL to BNA to CLE.

try http://travel.yahoo.com click on air and just put in your starting point and destination(nothing else). They usually give you the lowest fares.

I once found round-trip airfare from O'Hare to Hopkins at 120$ You might try making a connection. For some reason all my results from the query Cincy to Chicago end up in the upper 500$ range.

I would try Skyauction.com. I had great luck with them, and I recently checked out prices to go to CP from Seattle. I found tix for $180 RT.
I just returned from Japan (rode the Steel Dragon) and only paid $504 RT. Those are killer prices man..... GOOD LUCK.

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;)Rollercoasters are like parrots...if you take care of them, they should outlive you;)