Airfare Breakdown

[digitaldiscipline]

Okay, so we looked at the hotels we had in mind for the Convergence bid this evening.  Hooray for CorpGothness, since both contact people at the venues were impressed and surprised that I sound like a coherent, clueful adult, even after they found out it's a net.goth event, and we knocked their socks off.  That's a post for another day (ie: tomorrow).

I also did some airfare comparisons, apples-to-apples, for the C11 bids, using an imperfect but consistent tool (sidestep.com):

From NYC Boston Chicago Detroit DC Baltimore Buffalo Denver San Diego/Tampa San Francisco Seattle Dallas New Orleans Atlanta Miami Phoenix Toronto London (UK) Los Angeles Charlotte Minneapolis St. Louis Indianapolis Columbus Houston

To Tampa 5/27-5/30 $142 $157 $184 $228 $184 $192 $230 $290 ($235 to Sarasota) $329 $246 $286 $276 $193 $184 $122 $195 $316 $750 $268 $224 $303 $314 $155 $224 $253 ($198 to Sarasota)

To San Diego 4/22-4/25 $230 $391 $261 $342 $305 $239 $349 $242 $323 $154 $238 $301 $241 $350 $351 $124 $333 $580 $244 $508 $223 $351 $297 $288 $234

Comments

[vomvamuse.livejournal.com]

This might be a bit late but I have a Hotel resume from c6/c7. If you would like a copy please let me know.

Good luck btw :)

[geeki.livejournal.com]

*whispers*

SD....SD...SD....

We have a spare room :)

[angel-renewed.livejournal.com]

Check London to Orlando. Mega cheaper, usually, than to Tampa.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Not appreciably ($12), but Sidestep isn't the most comprehensive widget out there (doesn't poll Southwest, for instance, and probably misses a couple others). I just wanted to get a basic comparison out there. . . 16-9 in favor of Tampa, 18-7 if the Sarasota/Bradenton destinations go the other way.

[trystbat.livejournal.com]

doesn't poll Southwest, for instance

Which is why I'd dispute all the west coast to San Diego fares, esp. that LA->SD one (it's less than an hour flight! also, most LAers would drive). I usually fly Southwest for CA-only flights bec. it's around $100 max.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I included a handful of drive-probables for each (LA & Phoenix(?) for SD; Miami and possibly NO & Atlanta for Tampa), so that if people go cross-country vs. driving locally, at least there wasn't a hole in the table.

If SWA had an easier way to look at fares for flights so far in advance (I tried, and had to give up when March was about the extent of it's usefulness), I'd have included those figures. SWA is the only frequent-flyer program I belong to, by way of illustration. They're just not choosing to play nice with the airfare search engines (or at least the ones I tend to use); including them would have made a two-hour off-the-cuff research project twice as long.

Definitely just a baseline comparison, but I think it does illustrate that, for the majority of folks looking to attend, it's less expensive to get to Tampa than SD, and even those times when it isn't, the price break of staying on the west coast isn't as substantial as maybe many people think.

[ladysoleil.livejournal.com]

Hmmm....I've never used sidestep. I generally use qixo.com for comparison shopping- it pulls from quite a few databases and you may find it gives you a few more options- I know it polls JetBlue, Spirit and some of the bargain carriers. It doesn't always give you the crazy rock bottom fares, but it tends to spit out more realistic results that don't involve leaving at the crack of dawn or multiple layovers.

That $142 looks low from NYC. Not saying it's not a possibility, especially since we're talking about May in Florida, but I've been steadily checking airfares to your neck of the woods for a while now and realistically it seems to be in the $190-220 range.

The last time I flew to San Diego the flight cost me $260.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

That $142 was out of LGA, IIRC. I think it was $149 out of JFK. Don't quote me, but I -think- it was on Delta. I don't think I polled Newark. . . but we all know how I feel about Jersey. ;-)

[ladysoleil.livejournal.com]

Newark is almost always more expensive. I don't know why, it just is.

I *hate* LGA and I'd rather have my fingernails yanked out with pliers than have to trek all the way out there. But, LGA is generally the cheapest of the metro airports- maybe because everyone else hates it too?

[angel-renewed.livejournal.com]

I flew NYC to TPA or FLL for less than $150 a couple of times. It's not that far off base. I'd wager the fare listed above doesn't include Southeast or USA3000, both of which fly NWK to STP (St. Pete) for dirt cheap, but don't hit the qixo/sidestep radar. Their fares are more like $130 r/t if you catch a special. You honestly shouldn't pay more than $150 if you're value shopping. Probably more in the range you're looking at if you are more picky about times/airports.

[ladysoleil.livejournal.com]

Bing- I am picky about times and airports. I heavily favor EWR just for the fifteen minutes from my house factor (although one time we had a cabbie trying to make the land speed record on the Kessel Run and did it door to door in seven minutes...)

I also generally try to get evening flights 'cause I don't always have vacation time to burn. People more willing to be inconvenienced than me will probably get better deals.

Boo!

[isolatory.livejournal.com]

Not sure about the holiday pricing, but Jetblue is always practically giving away airfare from Boston to Tampa for $49 each way, so it theoretically can be done for under $100 (before 9/11 fees, of course). Prolly the same for NY?

[niugnep.livejournal.com]

Wow. What's up with Dallas, a major hub, being so expensive to fly out of?

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I have no idea. I would have hand-hunted the flights from Houston, BWI, Buffalo, Phoenix, and New Orleans on Southwest, but their pre-book calendar doesn't reach far enough into the future, but I know they offer inexpensive and relatively direct flights here from all those locations.

This was mostly a basic comparison exercise, and not the final word. With Sil being a travel agent, we might be able to do some things that would be a goodness for folks trying to attend, but that's not my baliwick.

[godgirl.livejournal.com]

youre not kidding about the fares from London are you?!

*faints*

mind you, how far is tampa from some of the more popular florida destinations? would it be feasable to fly into one of them and get some from of local transportation or are we talking hundreds of miles?

..oh hang on a second.. youre in the US... "local transportation" is an alien concept! ;op


.. and with WGT in leipzig two weeks after whitby and two weeks before the proposed date... late spring is looking financially tight already - bearing in mind my case is a bit unique as my other half can't go to the USA and *can* go to germany.... and he's never been to WGT and i've not been for ... 6 years...

*argh*

i need to win the lottery or something... and then i could fly into somewhere cheap and travel on this: http://page.auctions.shopping.yahoo.com/auction/87637183?aucview=0x30

though as i can't drive i'd have to rope in a driver ;o)

currently everything except whitby is a mere fantasy, sadly...

[angel-renewed.livejournal.com]

That fare is a tad high. It would be more than feasible to fly into Orlando. There are shuttles from MCO over to Tampa. The ride is around 2 hours or 90 miles. Also, I have my own travel agency and can negotiate quite competitive international fares. I would expect to see fares closer to $600 R/T for C11:Tampa.

[godgirl.livejournal.com]

Sorry, pardon my ignorance but what exactly is MCO and is it a bus s
shuttle or train? How much would that cost, roughly speaking?

Depending on the strength of the dollar against the pound the fares might work out less anyhow - if the dollar strengthens there might be more promotional fares to make up for the possible loss in tourism from the uk which is probably quite high this year due to the weak dollar and relatively strong pound...

Thanks for the suggestion though, it's worth bearing in mind that if orlando has more flights (i suspect so due to disneyworld and so forth) then there are more deals/choice in fares... and its still accessible to tampa.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

MCO = Orlando Airport
TPA = Tampa Airport

and, in a bit of amusing synchronicity:

PIE = St. Petersburg Airport

I think the shuttle is of the bus variety (there are plans afoot to build a high-speed or bullet train along the I-4 corridor between Tampa and Orlando, but that's years off at best).

But, yes, I would definitely encourage you (and everyone else) to look into finding a travel agent or hunt for your own flight booking, because I did an extremely cursory job of it the other night, and you'll invariably find better prices.

[godgirl.livejournal.com]

ah brilliant - i thought it might be, but i assumed it would start with an F or O if it was an airport code for orlando... ;op

thanks!

hope you're more caffeined up now! ;p

[angel-renewed.livejournal.com]

MCO is the airline call letters for Orlando. The method would be a shuttle bus or a shared mini-van/town car. There is a train, but it is infrequent and doesn't go to the Orlando airport. It's really meant for longer hauls.

As for the cost, that depends a lot on how many people you have. A minibus could be as low as $15 per person each way, if you have 25 people. Greyhound runs several buses every day. It's currently $18.50 one-way between the two cities. However, Greyhound does not run from the airport and you'd need to get to the bus station.

I'm surprised it isnt cheaper to fly to LA...

[geeki.livejournal.com]

It usually is, and LA is only around a 3 hour drive (depending on traffic)

well crap!

[gregory-eric.livejournal.com]

I just moved out to Seattle and now everytime I fly it's bank! I supposeI was just spoiled by Long Beach's super cheap prices...ergh.