Travellers - Booking Accom And Flights

[Boglin]

I just got an advert from Southwest: they are running the aforementioned special, double mile promotion from now until January 31. 50,000 miles for signing up for a credit card instead of the usual 25k bonus miles. You have to spend 2k in 2 months on the card, but that can easily be worked around by various methods.

 

[zonelistener]

Speculation: wait till after the holidays to see airfare prices drop in reaction to a prolonged period of low oil prices.

If you were to talk to an airline pricing analyst, they would tell you that ticket prices are fairly low right now. Do not expect lower oil prices to drive down airfares. Also, if they lower prices and oil goes back up, people still expect to find those lower fares and will be disappointed with the higher fares. So, there is no motivation to lower fares.

Bad news for North American show dates: the highest fares are during the summer.

Good news for European dates: September and October are slow times for airlines and deals will be out there.

 

[weinerdog]

I booked a ticket last week, and a person going on the same trip told me that statistically the cheapest airfares can often be found 62 days out from your departure date. He was spot on. 4 days after I booked the fare dropped about $70, and it's gone up since.

That said, the other rule of thumb is...if you see a good fare, jump on it. Waiting for a $20 price drop that might never happen can cost you.

 

[last unicorn]

I always book flights as early as possible but I wait with booking accommodation a bit because usually prices drop if you wait a little after such big events like U2 concerts are announced, however, they go up again once the event is approaching. Normally, hotel rates are high around the time of such events and there are fewer rooms available. It also depends on how big the city is and if there are other big events going on around that time.

 

[dazzlingamy]

Travel hacking is great in a country that seems to have no rules or regulations about how many credit cards you can open. Here in Australia there are so many rules, mini usages, credit history checks, seeing how many cards you have that it takes forever just to open one. I don't know anyone that has more than two different types of credit cards. I mean it's great that our country cares that we don't get into financial strife really badly but on the other hand I'm jealous that people can open a zillion credit cards get a zillion points and fly first class around the world for peanuts. Waaaah!

I'm just pleased I already have a cruise booked from sydney to Vancouver through the pacific islands and Hawaii with my mum (her free plus one thank you!) that gets to Vancouver on the 9th of May, leaving enough time to head to Rocky Mountains and back before I see U2. Yaaaas

 

[_underwhelmed]

I'm flying from Toronto to Chicago, looking at leaving TO Thursday the 25 of June and depart Chicago Tuesday June 30.

Porter from the TO Island Airport to Chicago is current at $375 CAD return. I haven't flown within the US/Canada for years so I can't determine if this is decent price or not. It is about $100 cheaper to fly from Buffalo (which is closer to my hometown and where my parents still live) but it's not as convenient.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Booking flights as early as possible, statistically, is a mistake.

http://www.farecompare.com/travel-advice/tips-from-air-travel-insiders/

 

[Outsider]

Great link!


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

If you were to talk to an airline pricing analyst, they would tell you that ticket prices are fairly low right now. Do not expect lower oil prices to drive down airfares. Also, if they lower prices and oil goes back up, people still expect to find those lower fares and will be disappointed with the higher fares. So, there is no motivation to lower fares.

Bad news for North American show dates: the highest fares are during the summer.

Good news for European dates: September and October are slow times for airlines and deals will be out there.

 

[Outsider]

Apologies if this has been brought up in past travel threads but I just want to share a tip for non EU folks.

If you're planning to fly Aer Lingus, don't automatically accept their "guaranteed" exchange rate when you're about to purchase. Turns out my credit card exchange rate was much better than what Aer Lingus would've charged me. So just a heads up, you don't have to accept the airline up charge for the conversion


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

 

[DaveC]

They probably take a percentage of that as an exchange fee also, like they do at forex storefronts. There's no way that can be anything but a rip off.

 

[Hallucination]

I'm going to the first two shows in Montreal and just booked my hotel last night(0.5km away from the Bell Center!!) and just got a wicked deal on my flights tonight(Air Canada has a sale on right now). 6 nights hotel and return flights from Calgary for just over $800. Fuck yeah!!!

 

[kramwest1]

This affects almost no one, but whatever.

Summer Savings Are Here!

Sun Country Airlines is having a summer sale. I got RT MSP-JFK for $300.

I know it's early to buy a ticket, but that's a pretty good price.

 

[anitram]

I'm flying from Toronto to Chicago, looking at leaving TO Thursday the 25 of June and depart Chicago Tuesday June 30.

Porter from the TO Island Airport to Chicago is current at $375 CAD return. I haven't flown within the US/Canada for years so I can't determine if this is decent price or not. It is about $100 cheaper to fly from Buffalo (which is closer to my hometown and where my parents still live) but it's not as convenient.

Yes that's a decent price. I think I flew slightly cheaper to Chicago last summer (like maybe $320) on Porter so it's possible it drops a bit but you aren't going to get it for a lot less than that.

 

[pepokiss]

No one in LA that would like to recieve a friendly chilean U2 fan at the end of May?

 

[weinerdog]

Anyone here flown on Spirit Airlines?

I'm probably going to book them for Mpls > Chicago since the price is so good. I've read some horror stories, but many of them look like people that ended up surprised by some of their fees. Besides, seats not reclining is a good thing imo

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

With any discount airline, you get what you pay for.

 

[ntalwar]

I might try a site called skiplagged.com - it retrieves "hidden city" fares, which the airlines don't want people to know about (they were sued by airlines). The fares can be half the price of normal fares, but you can't check bags because you use only part of the ticket. Good for a short trip.

 

[ChargedVT]

Adelaide to Dublin and from Edinburgh back to Adelaide for 1800 inc travel insurance. Guess that's not bad considering the distance. Now for hotels...

 

[d.darroch]

Adelaide to Dublin and from Edinburgh back to Adelaide for 1800 inc travel insurance. Guess that's not bad considering the distance. Now for hotels...

Sounds pretty good Charged. Think I paid about $1,900 AUD for Munich-Sydney / Sydney-London.

What shows are you doing in London? I'm doing London 5 & 6.

For accomodation, the O2 is in the old Millenium dome, at North Greenwich. Not a lot of hotels around there, no pedestrian access to the north of the Thames, & transport can be a little so-so, from what I hear. The Jubilee line tube stop is very close, but I'm sure it's packed after a concert. There's also river boats after the concert, towards central London, & the Emirates cable car over the river (though not late in the night I believe).

I have accomodation at the Pilot Inn the night before London 5. It's very, very convenient, & gets great reviews. For the other nights that I'm looking at it's either very expensive, or booked out (it's only a small pub).

As there's not many affordable & convenient options close by (I'd like to be close for GA), I'm looking into apartments through airbnb & some other sites. I believe this area was used as atheletes accommodation for the Olympics, & there's quite a few new apartment blocks which are a short walk to the O2.

Just a heads up if you are going down the airbnb route. There is a LOT of construction going on around Greenwich Peninsular, with multiple high rises going up now (& many, many more to come over the next few years). So some of the listings on airbnb, which appear to have great views looking towards the O2, Canary Wharf, & the Thames, may now be looking at a half constructed high rise (Google Street View has very different views). It looks like these current construction sites are supposed to be done by September I think, but I'm not sure if construction will move elsewhere immediately. So I'm just weighing up my options at the moment (also waiting to hear back from 2 friends in Italy re. London 6).

If you are doing London 5 or 6, & would consider sharing an apartment close by, then let me know. For 360's first US leg I did a road trip with Interference fans (U2Brad & Cathal of Me & U2 fame), & had a great time!

 

[ChargedVT]

Hey mate, yep going to London 5 and 6 both GA. I will PM you!

Sent from my SM-G900I using U2 Interference mobile app

 

[scrumpyjsk]

Managed to get Perth to New York return for $1492AUD/$1141USD. Happy days!

Anyone used Airbnb in NYC?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

AirBNB is technically illegal in NYC.

Thousands still use it every day, and odds are you'd be fine. But just be aware that the renter is technically breaking city laws and could get caught at anytime, leaving you shit out of luck.

 

[gvox]

But it's the sharing economy!!11!1!!!1


Sent from my ass crack

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

And you'd think or commie pinko mayor would be all over that!

 

[gvox]

Huh?? You may be a bit behind in your Toronto politricks lol


Sent from my ass crack

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Who the fuck is talking about Toronto you wacky canuck

 

[pepokiss]

but Couchsurfing isn't illegal, is it?

 

[U2brad]

So ... This LA boy has booked his flights to Vancouver!

Does anyone have an extra GA for either of the Vancouver shows??

 

[d.darroch]

Good on you Brad, have fun up there mate