Searching for Flights ...

Soriak nailed it. ITA Matrix is not really for the layman. But if you really sit down and teach yourself what they call "travel hacking" ITA Matrix can save you thousands of dollars on international flights and hundreds on domestic (if you're flexible).

Searching for a particular layover city is clutch. I'll give that a shot for my next flight.

Soriak_sl said:

You can also search flights with layovers in a particular city, which is great for US domestic flights. Sometimes, flying A -> B -> C is cheaper than flying A -> B. So you can search for flights to all major US airports that also have a layover in B... then you just bail in B and don't take the last leg of the flight. Obviously works only for one-way tickets and no checked luggage.

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This was in the news recently because a couple airlines are sueing the kid for making this flight hacking easier.

skiplagged.com is the website.

The common flight I'm taking right now is PHX to PDX, and it's about $280, roundtrip so I can't really complain. lol

I'm no expert on it but I'm pretty sure the FAA and airlines here in the states fucking suck balls and have such a strangle-hold on US aviation that artificially inflate these prices beyond belief. It's pretty fucked.

Crone_sl said:

This was in the news recently because a couple airlines are sueing the kid for making this flight hacking easier.

skiplagged.com is the website.

The common flight I'm taking right now is PHX to PDX, and it's about $280, roundtrip so I can't really complain. lol

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He just made it easier. Until the airline industry changes its pricing structure hidden city ticketing will always be an option.

Anyone use "Spirit" airlines? Been suggested to me as the cheapest option and I saw it pop up on that cheap air site as the bottom prices too. Seems to only allow the one standard carry-on but that's what I'd probably do anyway so not a big deal.

Spirit is the worst. They fucking charge extra for everything - including your carry-on. That's an extra $25. They even charge for fucking water. Never fly with them.

Is it even legal to charge for water? I mean, non-bottled water? I know they do that outside of the US, lol.

Alex_sl said:

Spirit is the worst. They fucking charge extra for everything - including your carry-on. That's an extra $25. They even charge for fucking water. Never fly with them.

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Alright, glad I asked. I think I saw similar flights with Delta for about the same cost.

Alex_sl said:

Spirit is the worst. They fucking charge extra for everything - including your carry-on. That's an extra $25. They even charge for fucking water. Never fly with them.

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I know Spirit is a special case of suck, because they end up more expensive even with minimal services, but unbundling expenses isn't necessarily a bad thing. According toWikipedia, Air China spends about $7.50 per domestic flight meal. I'd rather not have free food and save $15 on a return ticket; I can use that money to buy something I'll enjoy more on the ground. Of course, by now free meals on domestic economy aren't happening anymore anyway.

Norwegian also does this for trans-atlantic flights, charging $4.50 for a soda. Seems like a rip-off, but you can fly from Europe to the US for $400 or so, compared to $900 with any major airline. That pays for a lot of soda.

Kuriin_sl said:

Is it even legal to charge for water? I mean, non-bottled water? I know they do that outside of the US, lol.

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The airline is selling bottled water.

They aren't the same thing. The service and comfort of international flights is considerably better. I've never sprung for business class or anything when going to Europe.

a_skeleton_06_sl said:

When it comes to flying long distance, do you guys find it's worth the extra cash to bump up to business or even first class? We're going to Germany\Italy next year for our honeymoon and I'm looking at the 16 hour flight time and thinking it might be worth the dough to not be smashed into a coach seat for that long with some fat prick from Jacksonville or something. Then again, I've heard domestic coach and international coach aren't really the same thing. Anyone with experience on this?

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Don't.

You are look at a minimum of 3x more for Business and considerably more for first class.

We were on a delta a330 for ten hours for hawaii in the 2 4 2 configuration and we got the two. Plenty comfortable. I would be scared flying alone or getting put in that middle row though.

If you're fat it's probably cheaper to get liposuction and still fly coach

Picasso_sl said:

We were on a delta a330 for ten hours for hawaii in the 2 4 2 configuration and we got the two. Plenty comfortable. I would be scared flying alone or getting put in that middle row though.

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My solution is alcohol and a sleeping pill. Sure I will die from it one day but it does the trick for long flights.

a_skeleton_06_sl said:

Yeah, we're looking at a jump from about 5.5k in coach (2,3,2 config plane) to 10k for business class, which is obviously a fucking ton of money. Part of me is like, you probably won't be to Europe again any time soon, so #yolo. The other half is like, Are you fucking insane? I need to do some more research on the plane models \ companies and just find one that's tolerable for such a long period of time.

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I did it once on a flight from Toronto to Shanghai China (~12 hour flight). WAS NOT WORTH IT.

Vinen_sl said:

My solution is alcohol and a sleeping pill. Sure I will die from it one day but it does the trick for long flights.

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Yeah, I typically get pretty blasted before traveling overseas. Has made it very easy to sleep the entire flight.