USAir from PHL

[serene56]

Just went another 100pp higher.

Think that has anything to do with fuel going higher?


I am curious--- since this flight is going higher and higher-- do more people panic and pay the higher price?

[serene56]

is there a departure tax for Aruba?
Returning flight (per passenger):

$0.00 USD Departure Tax
$34.25 USD Aruba Passenger Facility and Security Charge
$3.25 USD Aruba Special Facility Charge
$5.00 USD US Animal & Plant Health Inspection User Fee
$7.00 USD Immigration User Fee
$2.50 USD September 11th Security Fee
$4.50 USD Passenger Facility Charge
$16.30 USD US Excise Tax


I do not want any surprises where I have to pay extra when I am leaving

[Arubalisa]

When you purchase a ticket from/on a U.S. carrier the fees are all included in your final ticket price, in other words the price you will pay per ticket. That includes the Aruba departure tax, September 11 fee etc that you have listed.

[Arubalisa]

Are there seats booked on this flight already? Remember the first available seats will sell at the cheapest fare, unless there is a fare sale.

Yes, I am sure the cost of oil/gas has something to do with increased fares.
United, Delta, JetBlue, USAir match American Airlines fare hike

http://www.travelterminal.com/whatsinafare.shtml

"c) the class of service required for booking
To understand this very important point we must introduce the concept of inventory control...the airline allocates only a certain number of seats at each fare level for each flight. The number of seats allocated at each fare level depends on many factors, such as the route involved, the time of year, the usual business/leisure passenger breakdown on that route, the time of day, etc. Airlines have inventory control departments to determine how many seats are allocated at each fare on each flight. ...

Different classes...same economy seats!
In airline reservation computer systems, the allocation of seats at different fare categories is accomplished through the use of "class of service" codes. Do not confuse these codes with the actual class of service (e.g. First Class, Business Class, Coach). While First Class and Business Class do have their own class of service codes, many different class of service codes are used for the Coach cabin, even though all of the passengers sit in the same place. For example, the business traveler and the college student may sit next to each other in the Coach cabin, even though their reservations were made with different class of service codes. [see below]

Class Examples
Generally speaking First Class is coded as F or P, Business Class as C or J, and Full- Fare Coach as Y.
Most special fares (referred to as subclasses, since they are subclasses of the Coach class) are coded using other letters, such as M, B, H, K, Q, L, V, etc. ...

When checking whether a particular flight is available, what you really want to know is what classes are available?
If you are looking for a low fare requiring booking in Q class, then you must find a flight for which Q class is available.
If Q class is sold out on that flight, then you will have to pay a higher fare to take that flight, or choose another flight.

http://www.air-ticket.us/info/airlin...breviation.php
Airline Tickets, Booking Class & Abbreviation
Fare classes
Class of service

Fare class
Envoy C, D, Z
Envoy upgrade J
First class A, F
First class upgrade O, P
Economy class B, E, G, H, K, L, M, N, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, Y"

I do not know what US Air's least expensive fare class is. I would try to call US Air or search online to find out which is the least expensive fare class or what fare class they use for a "sale" fare. Another good research source for that would be flyertalk.com

[Chadd]

what dates are you talking about?

[serene56]

I have been playing with dates in Sept- 9/11 thru the 17th.

[JohnG]

I was just doing my weekly check of our flight from PHL to AUA departing 6/12 and returning 6/19 (I like to see how full the flight is ) and I notice that they have actually lowered the fare to $503 round trip (taxes included).

There aren't many seats left on the fight but that fare seems quite reasonable given the current state of travel.

[gaby]

you will go crazy trying to figure the airline prices. when we booked from newark 2 months ago, it was $348 pp. then a week later, it was 578pp. then it a week later it was 518 pp. two days ago it was 948 pp. then yesterday it was 348 pp. that's continental. i can't speak for other airlines but continental changes their price every 45 mintues, it seems. so don't worry about what to do, the airlines don't even know what they charge, no one knows the true price. if you see a price you're comfortable with, book it. we booked at $348 because we figure the most it would EVER go down would be to $328 and it wasn't worth chancing it. so far we booked at the lowest. its never the same from morning to nite. though with continental, the best price (for that week) is usually very very late tuesday nite or very very early wednesday morning.

[mgenestra]

I booked my flights from Philly to Aruba threw Orbitz.com this way if they do lower the price and someone books it for cheaper I get the difference back. I'm flying the non-stop flight in July 23rd returning home on the 30th.

[Chadd]

Originally Posted by JohnG

I was just doing my weekly check of our flight from PHL to AUA departing 6/12 and returning 6/19 (I like to see how full the flight is ) and I notice that they have actually lowered the fare to $503 round trip (taxes included).

There aren't many seats left on the fight but that fare seems quite reasonable given the current state of travel.

If you're taking the direct flight down and back there are actually a lot of empty seats on those flights.