<p>I am not a frequent flyer and therefore don't know much about getting discount fares. Son and I would like to visit the campus but airfare looks prohibitive and we live at least 18 hours away by car.</p>
<p>Would appreciate advice on how to get down to N.O. cheaply. We're in the Phila/Baltimore/DC/Newark area. Thanks y'all.</p>
<p>My wife is the master air fare shopper in my family, and she swears that the best deals are usually found by going directly to each carrier's web site and digging around for their specials. She says it almost always beats Expedia, Travelocity, et al., though it's a lot more time consuming.</p>
<p>Southwest and Jet Blue have good low fare choices from your area.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.sidestep.com%5B/url%5D">www.sidestep.com</a> is a great search engine. I think it is better than the above mentioned sites, but I still then go and check with each airline's own site. I only book with the airline's site, but use the sidestep to see which airline's fly to the destination.</p>
<p>Three other advantages to booking directly with the airline: you avoid the agency booking fee, you can put the ticket on hold for 24 hours before committing, and if you do cancel or reschedule, you avoid the booking agency cancellation / change fee (you sometimes still have to pay the airline fee, but at least you don't get double-whammied). </p>
<p>We've flown out of LGA, JFK and EWR - the best deals change depending on the day of the week and the airline. But we've found that with a little work the fares are not prohibitive</p>
<p>Also, you can sometimes find really cheap rental cars - one week we got it for $20 a day! But not always. On the other hand, taxis are not exhorbitant either - costs $26 from the airport to downtown / campus area and if you find a taxi driver you like, ask for his/her card - they're often happy to come look for you if you schedule in advance</p>
<p>I just bought a ticket for my d's best friend to fly from Newark to New Orleans the weekend before Mardi Gras. There are a ton of parades, but it's usually not as CRAZY/CROWDED as actual Mardi Gras Weekend.</p>
<p>Continental
Depart Feb 9th
Return Feb 12th
$158 plus taxes / Total $178.80</p>
<p>There's an early morning flight from Newark (about 7:00 AM) that gets you into New Orleans with more than enough time to visit with the Admissions Office, take a tour, etc.</p>
<p>If you are having difficulty finding a cheap airfare into New Orleans, you can also try finding a cheap fare into Baton Rouge (BTR), which, depending on traffic, is only about one hour and a half away by car (a straight shot down the freeway). BTW, I took a quick look at airfares and there is currently a $143 + taxes airfare between BWI and New Orleans.</p>
<p>Thanks all for the suggestions!</p>
<p>MSMDAD where did you take a quick look to get those fares?</p>
<p>I used Travelocity.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.kayak.com%5B/url%5D">www.kayak.com</a> is a web crawler that searches multiple airlines and travel agent sites (expedia, travelocity...) and then provides you with a ranking based on your criteria - we use it to find good fares, then go directly to the airline site</p>
<p>Strongly second CT2010Dad's suggestion re kayak.com. I've found their search to give the lowest fares of any of the travel portals (Travelocity/Orbitz/Expedia/sidestep/Mobissimo etc.). They find the fares and then when you click through, it is to the site whose fare/schedule you liked best. So you end up booking directly with the airline, if you want. Often they are the best fares kayak comes up with; sometimes not. I've booked on cheaptickets via kayak as well as directly with an airline.</p>
<p>I find kayak and sidestep to both be the best. Like those above, I also search first and then go dirrectly to the airline's own site. I forgot to mention kayak in my first post.</p>
<p>I recall taking a Jet Blue flight from JFK to MSY for $99 once. BTW, I am from New Jersey so I use EWR to get to MSY all the time. Just schedule ahead of time and you can usually get it for under 160.</p>