Are $500 flights to Vegas from the East Coast the Norm?
Started by Remy1911 on Saturday, 14th January 2012 3:11 pm
I've been to Vegas a few times from North Carolina and have recently moved to Baltimore MD and can't find a single flight to Vegas under $450. Even looking up to 10 months in advance. I've done expedia, travelocity, and all the travel sites and they have been consistant in price. Is this just the reality of flying from East to West now or is there a rock somewhere that I still need to unturn?
BillDonovan responded on Saturday, 14th January 2012
Those rates are high. Wait a few weeks for a sale. Or, suggest that you try booking one-way flights. We have been able to get much cheaper tickets that way. More flight choices too for some reason.
Also, we have noticed that the airlines have more choices on their web pages, than the travel sites do. As if the airlines are not releasing their entire schedule to the travel sites.
Remy1911 replied on Saturday, 14th January 2012
SW had a fairly decent one-way for $200, but I'm definitively going to try that out. I have my fingers crossed waiting on those sales.
cr8ivcpl responded on Saturday, 14th January 2012
I would definitely recommend watching Southwest. You can do better than $200 one way on SW. You can sign up for email messages that alert you to SW sales as well.
vespajet responded on Saturday, 14th January 2012
Part of the problem is that Southwest is the only airline flying between BWI and LAS nonstop. In addition, Southwest (and corporate sibling AirTran) are only currently booking through 8/10/12. As a result, other airlines are jacking up the fares past that date until Southwest extends their schedules. This is true in markets in which Southwest/AirTran competes on the same routes with other airlines, as I live in Atlanta and right now the fares for October to Las Vegas are $500+ You may be better off choosing to fly out of one of the Washington D.C. airports, as a quick check on Kayak shows that flights out of IAD or DCA (typically involving a connection) can be nearly $200 cheaper than flying Southwest out of BWI depending on the flights chosen.
encompassingimages responded on Saturday, 14th January 2012
if you get the south west credit card from Chase bank, they give you 1 free round trip...just a thought...
Remy1911 replied on Saturday, 14th January 2012
A very good thought indeed. Thanks everyone. Back to the research grind.
etm117 replied on Sunday, 15th January 2012
This is a great call. I did this last fall and it was 50,000 points which was enough to fly the wife and I roundtrip to Vegas our last trip for free. I am going to have my wife apply for one this spring so we can get another free trip out of them.
sandyastrogl1de responded on Saturday, 14th January 2012
my twice annual roundtrip from NJ has gone up by $130 just over the last 18 months, to the point where it's now cheaper for me to go to Costa Rica. Add in the resort fees, and Hawaii becomes a cheaper option as well.
parchedearth responded on Saturday, 14th January 2012
I'd say $450 is about the going rate. Airlines have jacked prices over the last year. Best bet is a SW or USair vacations package.
etm117 responded on Sunday, 15th January 2012
You definitely want to use Southwest to fly to Vegas. Baltimore is Southwest's east coast hub. They (almost) always have the best prices to Vegas and there are 3 non-stops per day. I usually take the 6:45am flight out and land in 8:30am Vegas time to maximize my time there.
You can't see Southwest's prices anywhere but southwest.com. That is why you would never see them on Expedia or other travel sites. Also, southwest is relatively consistent in that the cheapest their flights get are from 3months out to 1month out. Outside of that timeframe, the flights are usually more expensive. If a flight gets cheaper than what you booked it though, you can rebook the flight without any fees, they just credit the amount towards your next flight.
Here is where I usually start booking all my Southwest trips from Baltimore.
http://www.southwest.com/cgi-bin/lowFareFinderEntry
adztheman responded on Sunday, 15th January 2012
I would get the Southwest Chase card, and add the app to your smartphone, and add "Ding" to your desktop..In my corner of New England, I least have the option of Logan or T-F Green in suburban Providence, so I can watch both airports and see where I can get the best deal..having a US Airways card also helps, as US Air flies out of both airports mentioned above..the loss of AirTran is going to hurt some Midwest markets...while JetBlue is also an option if you're on the eastern seaboard..
detroit1051 responded on Sunday, 15th January 2012
FLL won't help you, but I checked Kayak.com this morning for flights FLL-LAS, one week in mid-March. Four flights at $184 RT on United (incl fees), but they require change in Houston. Still, haven't seen these fares in a long time.
vespajet replied on Sunday, 15th January 2012
I was running some dates in June for flights out of the Baltimore-Washington area (for the purpose of this topic), and it's actually about $60 cheaper to fly Southwest from BWI to LAS with a stopover along the way (but nonstop back) than it would be to take the nonstop service both ways. Making the trek to Dulles or National is slightly more expensive than the nonstop on Southwest out of BWI. The next cheapest option out of BWI would be to fly Delta BWI-SLC-LAS, which was about $4 and some change more expensive than the cheapest Southwest option mentioned above. For that price, it's a better deal since the based on the currently loaded schedule, the BWI-SLC and SLC-BWI legs would be on a/c that have Delta's Delta On Demand inflight entertainment system (The SLC-LAS and LAS-SLC may or may not have them since some of the flight options there are on a/c types that fly that route don't have that IFE system and have at most WiFi.).
Kayak is a great tool to help keep an eye on fares as well as presenting other flight options. Unfortunately, to keep an eye on Southwest fares, you have to do that through them.
This far out for my October trip, the cheapest options I can find on Delta are connecting flights out to Vegas, but nonstops on the return, and it comes in at $501.49. Being the aviation geek that I am, one of the ATL-LAX-LAS options is very tempting since both legs are on a/c types I have never flown on. Of course I'm not planning on buying a ticket for a flight 9 months away since fares will inevitably drop once Southwest/AirTran extends their flight schedules.
Drake responded on Sunday, 15th January 2012
I booked a RT from Newark, NJ for $276 on Delta a few weeks ago, but that price didn't last long. I was checking rates 3 times a day for a few weeks before that popped up.
So... I would pick your dates and then check prices 3-4 times a day for a while. Sometimes you'll catch a major price-drop from a carrier that needs to nudge their reservations up.
At EWR, Delta seems to be the most aggressive about dropping prices to rock bottom for a day or two to pick up reservations, then bumping them back up to normal.
vespajet replied on Sunday, 15th January 2012
It's the ongoing NYC turf battle with United dating back to before Continental merged with United. Even when Continental was part of the SkyTeam alliance with Delta, the rivalry was pretty heated (About the only good Continental was for Delta passengers was with the smaller European cities they serve from EWR that Delta doesn't serve at all.).
UnkleMark responded on Sunday, 15th January 2012
We have the best luck at Southwest.com. We booked last week for a Wednesday Feb. 1st flight and returning on Sunday Feb 5th. We fly out of Pittsburgh Pa. (about an 90 minute drive for us) Both ways are non-stop at $99.00 each. So the total was like $435.00 with taxes for both. Hope this helps.
GregK responded on Monday, 16th January 2012
That sounds like the prices I am seeing from Columbus, Oh. I used to pay about $200-$250 round trip. If you don't need a specific hotel, try a vacation package through Southwest. They are currently offering 2 show tix with most MGM or Caesars properties. I booked a package at Vdara for 4 nights for just $250 more than the air alone (Aria was about $50 more). We booked over the phone so they could change the return flight to allow us to still do a comped package at another casino.
jammoral responded on Monday, 16th January 2012
They way I work Southwest's website, is if you don't get the flight as soon as it open up for that week, You need to wait for a sale. The unfortune thing about makeing a reservation as soon as it opens is that 8 months before then trip. Tne sales can be very good. last year I got too flights from san antonio for 470.00 total.
talktobrent responded on Wednesday, 18th January 2012
I've had same headaches as well when it comes to higher prices. I made casual plans with a friend for a trip in February a few months ago. When I started figuring out the details at the beginning of this month, I found flights and hotels were MUCH more expensive than I had become accustomed to the last few years (it was looking like 2006 all over again). I know there's been some supposed recovery in the economy, but I still think Vegas's glory days as a trendy destination are passed, and they need to compete on price for the time being. A big part of the appeal of Vegas to me (especially the last few years) is the accessible/cheap flights, and the deals you can usually score on even high end hotel rooms. For the prices I'm paying all together this time, Mexico would likely be cheaper, and somewhere like Miami or Hawaii isn't far off. Unless Vegas grows an oceanfront, and maybe some more culture, I might look elsewhere at these prices again. At least I can experience somewhere new if I'm dropping that much.
Remy1911 responded on Wednesday, 18th January 2012
Thanks everyone for you comments and advise. I've just been baffled trying to find lower fares, but it's looking like I'm probably gonna have to roll with the Southwest/Chase card if they accept my credit lol.
danjros responded on Friday, 20th January 2012
I have been able to find flights that are closer to $300 dollars recently. I dont really care which airport I fly out of and if you use WAS it will include all 3 airports and you can fly out of one airport and back to another for more options. I just saw yesterday that Delta had $200 R/T flights, which I havent seen for awhile, and today I see direct flights for $280 on Continental for March.
I usually try to fly Southwest also since they have direct flights and you dont pay for bags, but Southwest doesnt seem to have as cheap flights to vegas anymore, but once in awhile, they will have a great sale.
On this last trip I booked with Vegas.com and bought $100 vegas.com gift cards from costco for $80 to save 20%. Got 2 R/T flights and 4 nights at Aria for less than $800 total. I did spend $800 on the gift cards, but I still have money left over to use next time. And I only booked it a week in advance for a last minute trip!
lucasboden responded on Sunday, 22nd January 2012
Southwest Tips:
1) I would wait to apply for a Southwest Card until they have two free round trip promotion.
2) Even without the credit card, make sure you apply for a free Rapid Rewards Account to start getting reward points for any Southwest purchases. Don't make any purchases on Southwest without a Rapid Rewards account.
3) Note: There is no change fees or cancellation fees when booking flights with Southwest. So if the price of a flight is $200 right now, check back every week to see if the price went down. You won't get a cash refund, but you will get credit toward future purchases. This also applies to CAR reservations. I usually rent a car with Alamo through Southwest and the price can fluctuate alot.
Remy1911 responded on Tuesday, 24th January 2012
Thanks that was very helpful. Unfortunately I waited too late and the price has gone up from $200 one way to $250 one way and $400 the other way. So it's gonna be a tough decision either way. Thanks again though.
GregK replied on Tuesday, 24th January 2012
Did you try the MGM promo with SW? I paid $1043.00 with tax for 4 nights and show tix for 2 at Vdara from Col., OH. The prices should be similar. The base ticket for the same flight is now $921.20!