rant/dumb question

I am trying to plan my first UK flight.And boy oh boy do prices vary wildly.Does anyone know why there is such an extreme difference in prices by airports that are close to each other?Flying out of a neighboring city can save a bundle.Is there a reason other than just"thats the way it is"?

There can be a variety of reasons - usually due to the actual airline or popularity of your destination than where the airports are. For example, flights from London to New York, LA, Florida, Chicago and Vegas are usually much cheaper than flights from London to Little Rock, AR (which is where my aunt lives) - because hardly anyone flies from London to Arkansas compared to LA or New York.

Some airlines offer special advance prices or deals on seats, others sell the first seats at a cheap price and as the plane fills up, the price of a ticket increases. Prices may also vary depending on the day or time of day you are travelling - a word of advice, tickets are usually cheaper if you travel on a Monday to Thursday, because extra taxes are often added onto weekend flights (due to travelling businessmen/women and more people wanting to travel on the weekend).

It also depends on the time of year - for example, in February, a flight to Arkansas may be £300 (off peak season), but in July and August (peak season), tickets are £600-700.

Also, if you're looking at flights online, prices can vary from website to website. A ticket on Yahoo Travel may cost $600, but a ticket for exactly the same flight on Travelocity or Opodo may be much cheaper or more expensive.

Sometimes you can find a really cheap flight, but you have to make sacrifices in terms of seat comfort, leg room, meals offered and in-flight entertainment. Some UK airlines offer really cheap flights within Europe, but you have to pay extra for drinks, food and checked baggage, so at the end of the day, it doesn't work out that cheap at all!

I would advise looking around to find the best deal. Try Yahoo Travel, Travelocity, Opodo, Priceline, STA Travel etc. to see what prices are being offered and how well the flight times fit into your plans.

If you need any further help with understanding flight jargon or decisions on flights, doen't hesitate to ask .

Thanks!I have noticed all of that and its a bit baffling.I am going to have to take the least expensive all around deal I can get.I dont want to sacrifice comfort,but if it saves enough money,I would.
Does anyone know if travel agents actually get better deals or with the internet being as it is maybe not so much anymore?

I found that most times the airline's website is the best deal going... plus you get their guarantee if changes must be made etc. I don't like 3rd party sites.

Travel agents can be helpful (although I've only dealt with UK travel agents myself), but don't always find you the best prices. They are good for booking everything you need, but what I sometimes do is get a quote from a travel agent and then try to find a better deal online myself. The travel agents will most likely use the same or similar search engines as you can use on the internet yourself, so all you are really saving with an agency is the effort of having to hunt for flights yourself.

Last year, my family found nice, cheap flights from London to Toronto with  Air Transat, but there was barely enough leg room to cross your legs and the in-flight meal had me in the bathroom with a dodgy stomach within 15 minutes!

I usually go with Continental Airlines or American Airlines when I fly between the UK and US and I've had no problems with them, although a couple of my friends weren't too keen on the AA in-flight services and the fact that between booking our tickets and actually paying for them, the taxes on the fares had increased by £90, so we booked tickets at £490 and ended up paying £580 for them!

Another quick tip - online flights can sell quickly, so when you find a good flight, book is as soon as you can. I've been in the position where I've found a really good deal on a ticket, but by the time I've entered all my details and got to the booking confirmation page, the ticket has already been sold to someone else who got there first!

i didnt think you could book the flight without paying first.I feel like such a nerd with all of this.I have seen very good deals with KAYAK.COM
Has anyone tried them yet?

i didnt think you could book the flight without paying first.

Usually you pay at time of booking, but our circumstances were a little complicated - we were booking for a group of 14 people to Central Amercia via Miami and had found a good group price on the US AA website, but because we were in the UK, we had to call AA instead of booking online.

Basically, they told us that the tickets were booked, but we had until a certain date to pay for them. Unfortunately, we left it a couple of weeks before we paid (which also caused some problems because we all wanted to pay on separate credit cards but only had one booking reference) and by then, although the seats were the same price, the taxes had gone up .

Don't worry about feeling confused - after all, you haven't had to worry about or deal with this stuff before, so you're not going to be familiar with how it all works. When we were planning our trip to Central America, my friends and I spent many hours over several weeks scouring the internet for flights and calling airlines to see if they took group bookings - I think we spent more time planning the trip than doing the work for our degree course, lol!!

it does all seem quite overwhelming when you start all this. Many of us are pretty experienced in LDR and have gotten an insight to booking flights. There are only a few sites out there that you have pay first.  More often than not nowadays you won't have to.  Where are you looking at flying out of and into? There might be others that have done the same leg a time or two.

When I used to check all the online sites I woul have about 3 or 4 windows up at a time.  Someone in the industry once told me that every Wednesday the new prices are published online. They could go either way.

i use kayak.com all the time.  but you can't book through them.  they just direct you to the particular websites...

lillydia, were you able to find a good flight? I really don't know the difference between airlines because we always fly British Airways and have never had a problem.