www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Atlanta to San Jose 790 on Delta for first week of Aprial. I have never paid more than 375. Even Spirit is 670! What's going on?

Desireable time perhaps? It has gone up but I looked today for a trip I booked months ago and it's still 298.00 from Miami for next week. It is higher in Feb and March but may go down as you get a little closer. Medellin was 249.00 on Spirit so even with the bag fees it will be under 300.00 while the same time frame for CR is about 200.00 plus higher. CR could be pricing themselves out but I sure hope not. Anything under 300.00, I consider a good fare from Miami, from Atlanta I would say anything under 400.00 is good.
Bueno suerte amigo,
Jac

The Air Canada prices were so jacked up this year that I decided to take a chance and only get a full fare ticket for my return. For my flight down, they wanted over $600 one way... no f'ing way I was paying that, the exact same flight last year at this time was only $248. So I used my airline employee benefits and bought an interline ticket. That's a risk though as it's space available only and I was damn worried on Saturday as I was waiting in Toronto, because overnight, the 13 or so open seats I saw disappeared from the reservation system. Luckily though, I got the last bloody seat. They filled the plane.

Next time I come down, I'm going to be searching for deals a few months earlier.

I posted earlier CHI -SJO. Prices dropped within two weeks of departure, 30%. Went from low of $450 to $350 (free bags). Go figure. First time in 5 years that price drop so close to departure.

It helps if you do flexible dates. btw...prices from CHI range from $398 to $409....you're flying out of the wrong airport.

Well, I booked a flight on Frontier from San Francisco to San Jose through Denver for $550 six weeks ago. That was down from about $600 and the advice on the boards ( my first time flying to CR , so I wanted some input) was to take it so I did. Since then the fare has always been less... Varying from $455 to $475 (currently at $550).

I still think the way to do airfare is to weigh the risk and when the price is where you are comfortable with it, buy. I suppose after you get more of a "feel" for the fares you can feel more comfortable regarding when to buy. One thing you don't want to happen, though, is to have your heart set on a vacation and a certain timeframe and location only to wait too long and have no available flights or have to pay a few hundred dollars more than you could have gotten earlier.

Agree or disagree?

Fly to Miami and fly out of there. It'd be cheaper.

Oil is expected to go to $110/barrel this year. I am sure the airlines are factoring this in their fares. Gasolina in the US is expected to be over $4/gallon by year end.

I got gas this morning, at $3.39 booo~

I have secured 2 cheap flights to SJO from IND for a total of $380 and $415

The flight times suck though, and I booked out of chicago and then booked a flight from IND to ORD at $140. The ORD to SJO legs were cheap. I booked AA and spirit. I found tico travel to offer the AA fares a bit cheaper than AA.com. I have a couple of fare alerts setup with farecompare and skyscanner and recently received an email for a total of $560 from IND to SJO. This was right after I booked my last trip at $415. I think cheaper fares are out there if you know where to look and willing to book a flight from your home airport to a better connecting airport.

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I will be back soon, trust

The pricing changes. Up until a year ago, I found the best price for my route about 30 days out. Last year the sales would occur 60 days out. Prices generally skyrocketed within 14 days of departure

This year, the lowest prices occurred from 14 days out up to the day of departure. The reduction of routes have changed pricing. It seems flying through a hub brings a lower price than originating at a hub such as Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth or Houston.

I use a megasearch (kayak) and then check consolidators like ticatravel. Booked one flight through them for $100 less. I get daily alerts. I have an email dedicated solely for travel, and receive sale notices daily. Helps to get a jump on things.

Here is a tip... Check American Air from Orlando (MCO airport code) to SJO... You will find that the fare to SJO is anywhere from $100 to $175 cheaper out of MCO to SJO...

Just checked MCO to SJO on April 1st '11 air that week is $104 x 2 +tax (round trip)

The irony is that the connecting flight is in Miami is the same if booked direct from Miami now is $189 x 2 + tax (round trip)

If any one is doing their own bookings compare leaving from MCO instead of MIA...
Will save yourself enough for your first ____ in CR

The pricing seems to change from month to month. Out of Chicago for the first time ever, I could book the lowest fare up to the day before departure. I just checked today, and flight prices for Delta went up 15%, perhaps due to rising oil prices.

I use www.kayak.com and sign up for the daily alerts, at least 60 days out. There are usually one day sales, and when Spirit runs their sales, the prices of the others drop. If i haven't found a knockout price before 30 days out, if AA is low, I hold reservations each day for 24 hours. This time prices dropped 20% of the spirit prices 10 days from departure, so I booked.

AA has canceled their contacts with at least Expedia and Travelocity, as well as another, so you won't get AA fares there. Southwest fares are not picked up by Kayak, but they don't fly directly here (they have purchased Airtran to pick up the SE, and chatter is that they want Caribbean and Latin American flights.

Hope this helps.

Fares have have generally increased across all airlines and all routes for the most part. I think one of the reasons is fuel prices. Most (if not all) of the futures contracts that many airlines had for cheaper fuel have expired (or are expiring) so they had to raise fares to cover their cost increase.

IF you have Delta sky miles, there are many dates to SJO from almost all areas of the USA for 35,000 miles. I checked for Feb 1, returning Feb 14 from JFK, DFW, SFO, & ATL to SJO.

If you don't have miles with Delta then you may be able to get both of the following credit cards, each rewarding 20,000 and 25,000 miles for joining.

This should be enough miles for a free ticket.



http://www.capitalone.ca/lp/delta-skymi ... Z_T_DWRL29

http://www201.americanexpress.com/getth ... taGoldImag

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* These are the "Good Ole Days". Enjoy Them.

* RENT but, "Don't Buy a Home in Costa Rica" until you have lived here for THREE years.

Spirit is beating all the others by $100s for fares down south...but then, there is the question of the additional charges.

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Blue Devil

Pura Vida...enjoying life to the fullest...

Generally for recent fares, I think you're spot on Orange. But I noticed increases last August with Mexicana going into bankruptcy, the United/Continental merger and Southwest/Air Tran merger. Indianapolis low fares are between $600 - $700. In the past, the range was $400 -$600, depending upon season, with lows below $350 Interestingly, it's usually cheaper to fly a 1 hopper than to fly to SJO from a hub, at least $100, usually $200 - $400.