Re: tips for saving $ at the AAPT Summer meeting

["Daniel L. MacIsaac" <Dan.MacIsaac@NAU.EDU>]

> Jane Jackson, after posting useful information, asked:
>
> > Anyone got other suggestions for saving money at this meeting?
My wife kathleen falconer has some expertise is ariline tickets; she recently
bought airline tickets I found at $419 for $200.

I looked on www.travelocity.com and www.expedia.com for tickets to Detroit
from Phoenix for the meeting (travelling to the US side of the border and
driving across is usually cheaper than flying into Canada).  After MUCH
searching and date-diddling (these sites help with this) I found seat sale
style tickets for $419, then passed this figure and dates/flights to kf.

She fired these dates into www.cheaptickets.com and came up with $290/ticket;
then went to www.priceline.com and filled out an application for extra
match $$ from our long distance carrier (switched from/to current svc), then
offered $200 each for tickets (there are some taxes and handling fees as
well).  Priceline accepted her bid, closing tickets at $200 less taxes
and handling when the best I could do was $419.  And I think I'm better than
average at finding cheap airfares on the Internet; just not in kf's league.
We're buying 4 tickets, so savings were considerable.  She recently found
cheap flights to HI this way for a friend, so it is repeatable.

So try shopping, and especially the last two sites.  You must be ready to buy
when pricelining stuff, and you must use an internet credit card transaction
to get the priceline transaction.

Regards,

Dan M

Dan MacIsaac, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Northern AZ Univ
danmac@nau.edu          http://purcell.phy.nau.edu         PHYS-L list owner