www.CostaRicaTicas.com

just tried to book anual trip, could not find return flight less 15 hrs flight plus the raised fares 60yrs old can not handle red eye specials all air lines are cattle express i guess i will look at old pictures ps trip was in may not memorial wknd

Go to kayak and sign up for daily alerts...you're over 30 days out for your trip...CHI -SJO jumped to over $600 in May. June. If you have a preferred date, look at the seats available in the segment to SJO, it will give you clues about whether or not the airline will have a sale, and if they do, it is 1-3 days, so checking the alerts clues you into sales and drops.

Sounds like you have flexibility, so use a 3 day spread each way from your preferred dates.

thanks for info i will try, it my wingman is not as flexable

yea,thank you Obama for the fuel prices.....never ever seen prices this high!

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GG
"Last time I said no......I misunderstood the question!"

http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/08/news/ec ... /index.htm

In case you haven't noticed, Obama has accomplished very little in office and on track to end up doing almost nothing, aside from his misguided healthcare reform. He's now an accomplice in everything he bitched about during his campaign.

I hope the fools that believed in him are finally getting it.

The air lines who cut back flights a when demand went down and have not increased flights now that demand has picked up, finally realizing that flying a full plane that makes money is more important then flying lots of half empty planes that lose money

Since there is no shortage of oil on the cash market- you can get all you want, any where you want ( several articles on oil prices in the last few weeks- and Dan Rather reports last night from 2 oil futures dealers one pro one anti )

70% of all future oil contracts are now being bought and sold by some sort of investor ( hedge funds, retirement, Insurance co., Mutual funds etc ) who has NO physical connection to oil and will never be able to actual accept or deliver the oil in the contract - basic idea behind the contracts in a simplistic explanation. Oil has become a way to make money very fast, and in huge amounts, that is until the next crash, that moves us back to the year 1886 ( Dan Rather reports in a interview with 2 oil future contacts dealers, one pro one anti )

And the Saudis ( who benefit form the higher price ) claim oil is selling for $10-20 above what is should be. Those guys claimed and have wanted $80-90 a barrel ( again several news papers articles over the last few weeks)

And this is a free market society ( at least for those of us at the bottom of the feeding trough) are you attacking that, and what might be your alternative system to pricing oil? Or pricing airline seats? Or where fights go? or When? ( side bar that might be a good idea, mid morning flights to SJO/Mde/Bkk/PRG/DOM/Lima/RIO/Manila/Frk/ 25 times a day at $100 bucks 1st class seats sounds really good I vote for any with that policy)

SO I am not sure how the dots connect back to Obama, except for not locking up some bankers and hedge funds guys who screwed us the first time around, that might have keep them from doing it again to us this time.

There are no simple answers to complicated problems, only difficult solutions-- AND Be wary of any one who offers a Simplistic solution ( not matter what side they are on!!!), always ask your self " why are they telling me this, what do they have to gain by me believing them?-- when you know that, you will be able to make a intelligent decision.

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My best friend was the clock on the wall, and he turned out not to be much of a friend in the end

+ 1 Xman00-you did your homework!!!

First, good post Xman. With respect to air fares, I fly out of South Florida and have checked airfares up thru the week of July 4th and it looks as though we are phucked. For the South Fla guys prices on American are about 100% more than they were last year. I looks as though the airlines are using smaller planes and just jacking up the prices.

Just for kicks, yesterday I priced flights from MIA or FLL to Medellin and they were way over $500. I priced flights to Puerto Plata (closest airport to Sosua) and they were in the $600-$700 range. This sort of negates any money one might save on chica fees. Santo Domingo is still priced around $300 but it is not nearly as good a destination as the aforementioned places. Prices for chicas are good but not as user friendly. Also there was a crackdown last weekend and the authorities closed a number of places.

For the South Florida guys it looks as though our only hope would be for another carrier to enter the market. Maybe Jet Blue who flies to SJO from Orlando or possibly Southwest when they acquire Air Tran may look to get into the market. That was the one good thing about Spirit entering the market,around 4 years ago, they helped keep down prices. I have two frequent flyer tickets coming and I have used one to SJO in May and may use the other one over the summer. If prices don't come down some in the fall I am pretty much done with SJO for this year. I am, for the most part, a weekend warrior who comes for around 4 days. Just for airfare, lodging, taxi's and exit tax my cost would be around $1,000. This does not count chica fees and a little party $$$.

You guys seem to be forgetting the no politics rule here on CRT.
This website is for discussing chicas and related issues.

The US media is overflowing with wacky political & economic 'ideas'. You can get your fill there without bringing it here. If the rest of us want to hear that stuff, we will have no trouble finding it elsewhere.

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"All them women gonna make me,
teach 'em what they don't know how..." TMIB

+1

TACA/LACSA also flies daily out of MIA to SJO. Prices for May and June are around 465 r/t with tax. I've been lucky this year so far -- scored 1 flight @ 315 on AA, used miles for another and found a one-day $245 (with tax) sale on LACSA for my next trip. But after that it looks like $400+ for the rest of the summer. Ouch.

mh

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mh

The airlines also want to concentrate on the money-making business-travel routes, i.e. to Europe and Asia. Costa Rica is mainly a tourist-travel route, like Vegas and Orlando, where most of the the customers are looking for the cheapest tickets, so the airlines have greatly reduced flights and seat capacity to those destinations. As Xman00 noted, they've realized that less seats at higher prices is better than more seats at low prices.

The Libyan situation isn't helping with oil prices either, the fear over the loss of Libyan oil on the market has sent the prices soaring.

in the past I would find flight to san jose from orlando to be the same or a little higher than miami....this year ....not so much ...I booked a trip about 6 weeks out orlando to san jose (layover less than 2 hours in miami )$285 total ...if I was to drive to miami and catch that exact same flight out of miami ...its $150 more (not exactly sure but around $150) if I try to take that same connecting flight out out of tampa ..up over $200 .....????????

After I book a flight I will check the cost of the flight daily for a week or so (confirming I did I good job in booking when I did ) but this flight has not moved a penny in 2 weeks ......not the normal route for this flight cost wise

3 trips already this year? Yeah, I'd say you have been lucky.

I seem to remember GW saying his hands were tied back in 2006 on up when oil prices rose. Good explanation. Read the following article in MSN Money:

http://money.msn.com/exchange-traded-fu ... 4c&_nwpt=1

The interviewee states that after the crash and the investors stepped to the sidelines, oil dropped to $32/barrel, the price that those buying futures contracts and actually using the product would pay if investors and speculators weren't allowed in. I ran the article by an acquaintance who worked as an investment banker for Lehman Brothers and he agreed, but said he thought the true price is around $50-60 barrell. He called a former associate as Smith Barney this morning, and said the guy thinks it's going to start dropping within two weeks and advised waiting 30 days to book a flight if I can.

So I'll see what happens.