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redux: Traveling to Coachella (Indio, Cali)
Deusfaux
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I've never purchased my own flight tickets online or whatever... I'm wondering what the basic steps are to doing that and (of course) finding the cheapest deal available?
I'll be flying out of asdf, or the day before, and want to arrive in Indeo, California (which I think means Palm Springs for the next closest airport).
Return flight the night of the 29th or the next day after that.
Not sure what else I have to specify. So are there websites I just start checking or what? Yeah I'm a noob.
edit (copy pasted latest post):
Update 2: ok maybe I'm totally crazy and it's the way these sites present the results .com vs .ca that's confusing me... but they SEEM to be the same rates now
except when I had 2 windows open with the same search criteria nad it was a few hundred difference between the 2!
I think I found the best flights I can get (see post below)
BUT
what kind of travel should I arrange between Ontario and Indio, or specifically the Empire Polo Fields in Indio?
I'll be flying out of asdf, or the day before, and want to arrive in Indeo, California (which I think means Palm Springs for the next closest airport).
Return flight the night of the 29th or the next day after that.
Not sure what else I have to specify. So are there websites I just start checking or what? Yeah I'm a noob.
edit (copy pasted latest post):
ok SETBACK:
so I started looking for flights using all the sites you guys provided, and the best I could find was under $300 (USD) EACH WAY from Edmonton/Calgary to LA/Ontario, CA/Palm Springs, from the Wednesday/Thursday to the Monday... no other special requirements.
I'm feeling down cuz this is way more than I anticipated, and that my friend supposedly had seen flights for $350ish (CANADIAN) ROUND TRIP they claimed.
I could not find this at all, and couldnt understand why.
So apparently using travelocity.CA produces SIGNIFICANTLY different prices than travelocity.COM
does anyone know why this is? Now I have to start lookign all over again...
and do any CANADIANS know of what sites or carriers I should be checking? Apparently these other sites are US specific and give wildly different prices... I dont get it.
Update 2: ok maybe I'm totally crazy and it's the way these sites present the results .com vs .ca that's confusing me... but they SEEM to be the same rates now
except when I had 2 windows open with the same search criteria nad it was a few hundred difference between the 2!
I think I found the best flights I can get (see post below)
BUT
what kind of travel should I arrange between Ontario and Indio, or specifically the Empire Polo Fields in Indio?
Deusfaux on
0
Posts
www.travelocity.com
Or go to the airline's site to order
Sometimes the airline will have it for cheeper than the two above sites, sometimes it might be the oposite
Check the airlines sites too. If you're flexible in your days, try differnt departure/return days and times. It's a goddamn headache, but a 3hr earlier flight can be like $100+ differnence. Obviously connection-flights are cheaper, but only do that if you're familier with that airport; don't want to miss your flight.
Also, call your credit card to let them know you are making a purchase that big.
is there a list of them I could check, or a list of the airlines that might have routes this way?
anything else I need to know? will insurance be offered to me or something (decline?)
When you go to expedia, you type in your departing airport and arrival area (it will narrow it down for you). It then searches and shows you a list of airlines, their prices, and if the duration of flight and if it is one-way or you stop somewhere along the way.
All you have to do is type in where you're leaving and where you're going to and it will do its best to give you the simplest route.
At the moment Southwest and Jetblue do not offer server to or from Canada. Although I will note that Jetblue is rather nice to fly. But for international flights that aren't to Mexico, The Carribean, and Bermuda, you will not find cheap flights. Expect to pay between $400 to $600 depending. Your options will be rather limited. Most of the major American carriers have flights in and out of Canada and Air Canada partners with Continental but expect layovers.
Notes on traveling to and from Canada:
You need a passport to go back and forth via air to the States. You can still go over the border via car without one at the moment.
Be early. You will have to go through customs/immgration. This can be a short line or a long line. You'll want to make sure you're at the airport 2 or 3 hours early.
DO NOT MOUTH OFF TO CUSTOMS. I promise that they lack the following; Sense of Humor, Human Kindness, and a soul. I don't care how much of an issue with authority you have, it's not worth pissing them off.
Know the address of the person you are visiting. Know thier name and phone number. If for bussiness, know the same for the bussiness.
If you bring food, it needs to be cooked or prepared. Customs will be a hardass on things like fruits, uncooked/proccessed meats, and booze.
Bring alternate forms of ID.
Look at it as a possible option. Calgary tends to be a bigger hub for airlines than Edmonton, so the possibility of there being better competition and therefore a cheaper flight is higher. But don't discount Edmonton out completely; flukes sometimes mean that flying out of Edmonton is just as cheap.
so I started looking for flights using all the sites you guys provided, and the best I could find was under $300 (USD) EACH WAY from Edmonton/Calgary to LA/Ontario, CA/Palm Springs, from the Wednesday/Thursday to the Monday... no other special requirements.
I'm feeling down cuz this is way more than I anticipated, and that my friend supposedly had seen flights for $350ish (CANADIAN) ROUND TRIP they claimed.
I could not find this at all, and couldnt understand why.
So apparently using travelocity.CA produces SIGNIFICANTLY different prices than travelocity.COM
does anyone know why this is? Now I have to start lookign all over again...
and do any CANADIANS know of what sites or carriers I should be checking? Apparently these other sites are US specific and give wildly different prices... I dont get it.
Update 2: ok maybe I'm totally crazy and it's the way these sites present the results .com vs .ca that's confusing me... but they SEEM to be the same rates now
except when I had 2 windows open with the same search criteria nad it was a few hundred difference between the 2!
Other than that, I don't know what to suggest. Checking the travel websites (Travelocity, etc.) and checking all the different major airlines individual websites is about all you can do. You might luck out finding some small carrier that flies down to LA, the hard part is just pinning down which of them does it. But sometimes they can be a bit cheaper than the larger airlines, and there's not really a big difference; you'd just be flying on a smaller aircraft. I'll talk to one of my friends who worked at the Calgary Airport today, and see if he can remember any.
ive narrowed it down to 2 different times on the thursday, 6am-12pm and 4PM-10PM, and these are to ontario which is about 90 miles from the site, so its another 2 hours of travel time. camp site check in starts at 5pm that thursday... so its a matter of killing time for a while vs checking in and setting up in the middle of the night.
return flights about the same, 2 around 6/7am (concert ends about midnight, so there's 6 hours to pack up travel the 2 hours to Ontario and board - no sleep) vs 1 flight much later in the day around 6PM (we'd have a lot of time to kill in california, and get kicked out of the campsite at 10am that morning)
either way looking about $300USD per person.
still have to arrange some sort of travel between ontario, cali and indio/campsite in indio. any ideas there?
I really think they see how many total pings it gets, and if a flight/package is popular, they raise it. Possibly change the prices throughout the day as well. Maybe people buying tickets during the day are obviously not needing to work so they can pay more?
I sincerely think hits increases the price as well, as I was viewing these damn things so much, a couple of the sites just suddenly jumped up their prices in the middle of it all - while others had not
I live in Edmonton
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