<p>For current parents of OOS students (or current OOS students) - have you found that you need to book plane tickets for vacations, i.e. Thanksgiving, way ahead of time? A friend of mine who has a kid going to a different OOS school next year has plane reservations for Thanksgiving and Xmas for him already, and says that’s what she was advised to do. I hadn’t even though about this yet - do I need to?</p>
<p>I just booked our flights for August move in. I have found the earlier I book, the better prices I get. We are flying Southwest, so we will be able change, if needed, without fees. </p>
<p>I will book Christmas break as soon as final exam schedules are posted.</p>
<p>When do they usually post final exam schedules? After the start of the semester?</p>
<p>I tried to look at Southwest for Thanksgiving but they only go 6 months out. I can book non stops both ways on USAirways for Thanksgiving for a decent price right now, but I hate to do that in case plans change. We have talked about possibly going away for Thanksgiving this year so we might want him to meet us somewhere.</p>
<p>Edit: Are there classes Wednesday before Thanksgiving? Do kids usually leave Tuesday or Wednesday?</p>
<p>No classes the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>My son is coming home for Spring Break and I haven’t even gotten his ticket yet! I think it depends on the market you are in. We are in RI and every flight stops somewhere. There do tend to be fewer flights to RI but so far we have been able to get flights without going many months ahead.</p>
<p>We live in Ny and I fly my s home on southwest. They don’t have November up yet but I will book them when it becomes available. There are no change fees if your plans change. This past December I had to change the winter break flight twice because of final exam changes and it worked out fine. The sooner the better on booking for a cheaper price. Move in is hard if you don’t know where you are living yet and when the move in date will be.</p>
<p>I have the same questions, as the airfare seems so volatile and I like to have things buttoned up early. I want to book move in but don’t really know what the date would be - S wants to do AA or OA, does anyone know for sure what the move in dates would be for those kids? Would it be 8/8? And then we just won’t know for sure if they will get in until March, so I have been a little reluctant…</p>
<p>If you apply as soon as the AA/OA application becomes available, I can’t imagine you would not get in. As long as you apply early, I would make plans as though you will get it.</p>
<p>We are going to drive for move in. I have a hotel reserved for 8/8-8/11, pretty sure that will be move in for AA/OA.</p>
<p>You are brave to drive, I have kind of thought about it too but I am not sure I could handle it…I am thinking 8/8 too.</p>
<p>^^^Just some info if you drive; I have driven more than a few times, it takes about twenty hours, give or take, we have two drivers, but I like to take breaks and eat etc. It is not too bad as long as the weather is nice. We have hit all types of weather, some not so good. Once we were returning during a hurricane and had to pull over and find shelter, even truckers came off road (then you know it is really bad). We have also hit serious fog several times, so thick that you can not even see a few feet ahead of you. Just follow the weather reports as you travel and plan/act accordingly, of course bad weather can just pop up. It is always best to be prepared with some food/blankets/water in case you need to stay off the road for a bit. Better safe than sorry.</p>
<p>As for flying; keep checking rates during the day. I was ready to book the other day because flights are currently expensive and have been going up in prices each day, so I bit the bullet and was ready to book, I had to take a phone call and when I came back to the computer flights had dropped forty dollars. I wound up with a less expensive fare than I had originally been tracking. You just never know.</p>
<p>I booked D’s tickets for Bama Bound and Fall Break the day she made her decision to go to Bama. I booked her tickets for Thanksgiving as soon as Southwest opened those dates for reservations. She drove home for Christmas, and won’t be flying home for the rest of the year. We definitely got better prices by booking well in advance (and with Southwest it’s a safe bet to do that because there are no change fees). I’m not certain I needed to book any of them other than Thanksgiving as early as I did in order to get the best prices, though. On another airline I probably wouldn’t be as comfortable booking far in advance, especially before I knew what her schedule would look like.</p>
<p>My suggestion is to research typical airfares from your area to BHM over the course of a couple months and know what is a good price for airfares. For example, Seattle-Birmingham airfares range from $150-290 each way, going up to $350+ each way for popular dates and times. August move-in, Thanksgiving, and Spring Break seem to be the most expensive times to fly in/out of BHM. </p>
<p>Many families from the Midwest and East Coast choose to have their students fly Southwest Airlines due to the airline’s lack of change fees and 2 free checked bags. Book as far out as you want with Southwest and check back later for sales. With other airlines, I suggest booking tickets 6-8 weeks in advance or when there are good sales. Thanksgiving travel should probably be booked in July or August and Spring Break travel should be booked by late December, with Thanksgiving to December 20th often being a period of several fare sales valid for March travel, Spring Break fares usually being $20-40 more expensive each way than most March airfares as the best sales don’t apply to Spring Break.</p>
<p>We made the 1200 mile (each way) drive trice last summer. The first for Bama Bound, the second for move in. The first one was a vacation drive, we stopped in Virginia Beach on the way home. Second was straight driving. It was long, but doable. I just don’t want to do it too often.</p>
<p>LOVE SWA! Class2012Mom is great about posting when Southwest Air opens up its next batch of dates for flights…and its specials. If you get on SW’s email list, they have some sort of promotion every Tuesday as well. It is never too early to be booking tickets, in my opinion, esp when you can bank the points/money if the fares reduce (as you can do on SW). Did I say I love Southwest?</p>
<p>When do most students fly home for Thanksgiving, Tuesday night or Wednesday morning?</p>
<p>Our D flew home on Tuesday night of Thanksgiving week.</p>
<p>My S flew home Tuesday afternoon. Just worked out that way. You kind of have to wait and see what their schedule will look like, and whether they will have classes late on the Tues.</p>
<p>Others have suggested on other posts/threads to split the flight booking up into the two one-way fares (instead of a return trip) - that way, if you have to make a change to 1, you don’t mess up the other.</p>
<p>Aeromom, that is a good idea. But if you always forget to do that (like me), know that you can call SWA to accomplish making a change to one-half of the ticket. They’ve been very accommodating to us in those situations.</p>
<p>Yes, SW is great - they will make whatever changes you need and treat the ticket as two separate legs. Not all other airlines do this, so the advice to split is more for when making bookings with the other airlines out there. Can’t remember who posted that originally…but thanks, CC-ers!</p>