I think I might faint...

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

One of my best friends (of two) from high school is getting married next spring. I''m her MOH. She''s the first of us to get married and I''m thrilled for her.

BUT

I just looked up plane fares from Chicago to where she is (the city she went to college and met her fiance in, a few hours from our hometown). Cheapest is $650. For two layovers. One of the layovers is 25 minutes - no way would I make that connection!

And a slightly better option is $717. OMG. I think I''m going to faint. This is before expenses like dress, shoes, hair, make-up, nails, and lodging (since I don''t live in that city myself - originally the wedding was supposed to be in our hometown, which would have been great since I would have stayed at home).

OMG.

 

[Cleo]

Is it likely that the fares will get cheaper closer to the date?

It''s still a long way off & I''d say there''s a good chance that if you wait for a flight sale, or closer to the date you could save loads.

x x x

 

[somehowcollide]

wow that is caraazy! where are you flying from? i fly once or twice a month and find that the cheapest fares are anywhere from 1 to 2 months before my trip. also, which search engines are you using? kayak.com is usually the most comprehensive and publishes the cheapest fares, however American Airlines recently stopped listing their flights on kayak''s site.

yapta.com has a good flight tracker and it alerts you when flights go down. they also advertise that they will help refund you your money if your flight price goes down after purchase, but i''ve never tried that. mobissimo.com is a good travel search engine as well.

i don''t know how old you are, but if you''re between 18-22 airtran has a $69 per segment stand-by program.

good luck with your search, chances are it will still be major moolah! you are good friend sorry if i posted any information you already knew!

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Thanks Cleo and SomehowCollide! (Btw, is that a reference to Howie Day''s Collide??)

I''m still a little in shock. Well...I knew flights were expensive. I''m not going home for Thanksgiving because the cheapest flight is $770 from Chicago to my hometown, but I figured it shouldn''t be THAT expensive since next spring is farther away and the city I''ll be flying to for the wedding is a bigger one than the one in my hometown. Sorry for the evasiveness - it''s just a really SMALL community in my state. I''m pretty identifiable now but I would be like nothing other by posting my state!

I''m definitely going to follow both of your advice and wait until next year, 2009, to start searching. It''s super-early anyway!

SomehowCollide, thanks for the search engine links! I''ve never heard of yapta, and I''ve heard of but never used mobissimo. I''m leaving work now, but I''m going to check it out as soon as I get home. And thanks for the Airtran info - although actually, at the time of the wedding, I''ll be 23! Boo...

Sigh, time to keep looking. Thanks!

 

[Cleo]

No problem - you''re welcome.

We bought one-way tickets to New Zealand from the UK in a flight sale for £350 each. (This was in February & we flew at the end of May). If we''d have waited we could have saved a further £100 each on the exact same flights...

Sit tight.

x x x