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[shortie86112]

I'm trying to find flights from somewhere in my area to Sacramento, CA.

I tried entering tons of different departure and arrival dates (in August, thats when we want to go) and I'm not able to find anything under 300 dollars a person.
It's making me sick to my stomach.

Does anyone know how to productively search flight prices so i can spend less?

Comments

[8teenforever]

What websites did you try?

[shortie86112]

Expedia, hotwire, cheap tickets, travelocity, ifly, etc

[8teenforever]

Hmm..I'll put my thinking tuke on and get back to you.

[waderapspoorly]

Try the airlines' websites directly. I usually get a better deal that way

[waderapspoorly]

Oh and I checked Jetblue too... they fly out of JFK to Sacramento and they're booking until September. A quick search told me that the flights are ranging from $179-$249 each way... if you have specific travel dates in mind it'll make it so much easier.

Watch this page, too. It has unadvertised deals from the airline on it. Right now they're advertising flying to Sacramento (one way) for $99.

If you travel on off-peak days, like Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday, you'll get a better price, too.

[cherrycity]

Did you try Amtrak or Greyhound? I know they take longer, but they cost a lot less...

[shortie86112]

I have not...But i'll deffinetely look!! I didn't even think of that

[cherrycity]

Also...I'm not sure about the conditions of your trip but consider when you go as well.
For airlines, July and August are prime vacation months, so you might have better luck in September, but also the day of the week and the time you leave makes a huge difference. Try early morning or late-night flights as well as leaving on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday, I believe.

And also: AirTran has this program for students that's sort of a way to fill up flights with extra seats, what's called a standby program. What you do is go to the terminal on the day you want to leave when there's an available flight, ask them to put you on the waiting list. If there are extra seats, they'll put you in and it'll only cost you $99, one way. It's kind of hit or miss depending on when you go, but it's an amazing deal.

http://www.airtranu.com/airtran_u.aspx

[cherrycity]

And ANOTHER possible idea (haha, I did a lot of research this summer on trying to travel to California) is to take a Chinatown bus to a city that's either closer or cheaper depending on certain flight promotions and taking a flight out of there. It's only $25 to get to DC, which would normally cost you >$100 by airline.

http://gotobus.com

PS. A little bit on Chinatown buses, if you've never heard of them: there's usually run by Chinese families and were originally made to hop from Chinatown to Chinatown in various cities for travelling workers. They're cheap, scarily fast at times, and a little hectic, but worth the deal. I've taken then out to Philly and DC a ton of times and they are dirt cheap.