<p>Wish-it-were-April----no, no problem scheduling the trips as two roundtrips. I just went to Alaska's web site and scheduled (but didn't pay for, of course) a round trip Seattle->Boston->Seattle (Sept 2 and Dec 20, dates chosen at random) and got a total fare of 2 times $268 or $536. I've paid as little as $299 for that roundtrip, but of course that was by looking for sales and I didn't bother on this test. </p>
<p>I think some airlines have min/max stayover issues and others don't. You haven't mentioned which coastal cities you're dealing with, but most are served by multiple airlines and it shouldn't be an issue. </p>
<p>Last August when my husband biked from Seattle (well, Everett) to Virginia (26 days) and thus only needed a one-way ticket coming home, we were surprised at the range of prices. He ended up flying a series of smaller airlines (can't remember which ones) and the ticket was only $189. (Purchased on Orbitz.)</p>
<p>Orbitz.com is a good web site for checking which airlines fly where and what the lowest prices are. I usually check orbitz first, then the airline's web site. We travel a lot so I've had to acquire some expertise with the on-line stuff. You can check fares without buying.</p>
<p>Thank you, dmd, your post was very helpful. Once S confirms that his top choice is indeed final, and we send them a deposit, I will do just what you suggest!</p>
<p>
[quote]
dmd's post reminded me of a related idea - when D was at Grinnell, we paid her tuition on a credit card specifically to earn the miles. That gave us one frequent flyer ticket a year.
[/quote]
Like dmd77, we put EVERYTHING on the card to get the ff miles. But, w-i-w-april, I wondered if, when you charge college tuition: is there any kind of surcharge, since I would think the colleges have to pay the % to the credit card company?</p>
<p>So many wonderful suggestions! Since you are clearly a savvy bunch, how about some tips for moving your child cross country to college? Did you have him/her take a few suitcases and buy whatever they needed for the dorm once they were there? All suggestions are welcome--this is my first and so much to think about!</p>
<p>I too use orbitz.com for the lowest fares and then use the specific airline's website. You can put the dates and fare you are willing to pay in your deal finder on orbitz.com and it searches until it finds the fare you are willing to pay. Found my son's RT tickets including tax, security fees from RDU to MSP for $149.00. Bought several sets of tickets, Christmas, Spring Break, end of the year and beginning of the school year, for American Airlines. I was a happy camper.</p>
<p>son flew to college so I shipped some UPS and sent son with 2 20x20x20 boxes on the airplane with him as checked luggage. Did not exceed area stated by airline and came close to weight maximum. I know we exceeded it at Christmas, but we checked his luggage at the curb and tipped the porter, so there wasn't an extra charge. But I don't count on that, I usually get the weight right were it is supposed to be. So between the boxes on the plane and the boxes I shipped he had most everything.</p>
<p>Anything he was missing I ordered online and had shipped directly to him at school. Used my free ship codes at JCPenneys, Best Buy, and Walmart, Target, overstock.com, landsend.com...worked out really well.</p>
<p>Getting stuff to college: well, I think most kids take WAY too much to college. DS took three large duffle bags, and one of those was his SCUBA equipment, one was clothes, and the third was pillows, sheets, towels, and electrical cords (really). (Fifty pounds in each bag--one we sent ahead with a visiting friend (who had only one bag) to avoid luggage surcharge.) Computer in his backpack. I did order an Ott lamp for his desk, and when we visited for parents' weekend we got him a rug. He leaves everything at school for the summer. Well, except the SCUBA equipment. Can't manage without that.</p>
<p>On a weird-things-he's-taken-back note, last trip he took back 10 pounds of frozen wild Alaskan salmon. Separate (cheap) suitcase, which he planned to abandon if it got lost, since it would be deadly by the time it was found. Wrapped in lots of towels and then stored in our freezer (in the suitcase) until it was time to go to the airport. (We called the airline to ask if he could pack it in dry ice. We got this answer: "Yes, it's fine to have dry ice, no more than 4 pounds. And the container must be leakproof and allow the gas to vent." Hmmm. How exactly do you have a leakproof gas vent?)</p>
<p>I didn't think many colleges would let you pay with a credit card. That would be great with all the cash back offered as well as mileage on some cards? Unfortunately my S's college does not allow that. Which colleges do?</p>
<p>Jmmom, at Grinnell, we always paid by credit card and there was no extra surcharge. Don't know about other places though. In our house, anything over $2 gets popped on a card. Amazing how fast it all adds up!</p>
<p>Here's one tip about the cross-country move. Have your child only pack the bare minimum in terms of towels/bedding - and order all the rest online via a place like Bed & Bath, having it shipped directly to the college. Same goes for warm clothing if your daughter is going from the west to east coast -- either plan for the kid to buy that stuff at college, or buy online & ship. No need to carry suitcases loaded with heavy coats and blankets in late August.</p>
<p>I'd also like to add that one year my son decided to surprise me by coming home spring break, without telling me - after other plans had fallen through. He made last minute round trip reservations -- and they were as cheap or cheaper than anything we ever got reserving in advance. The ability to do that probably depends on location - between the major cities its pretty easy to find last-minute cheap flights.</p>
<p>calmom,
a bit off-topic (sorry OP)...
how do you find those last minute deals? I've tried in the past, and can only find the outrageously priced ones! I don't want to priceline it, because some of the flights are in the wee hours of the morning. Other than that, the times and days are usually very flexible, but in searching online, I can never seem to find anything. We've even subscribed to free newsletters that supposedly alert you to last minute deals, but when we websearch (or call) we can never find them.
Thanks.</p>
<p>I've rarely used a last minute deal (that's when I use the frequent flyer miles, mostly), but I get newsletters every week listing them from United, Alaska, and Northwest---as part of our frequent flyer account. Generally I've found the best prices last minute by checking Orbitz. If you do find a good price last minute, do NOT wait to make the reservation, as the price may go away. </p>
<p>And the best last-minute fares are mostly on the least convenient flights (like the overnight ones). When I'm making reservations for the kids, I have no hesitation about multiple stops and overnight flights. They're college students, they're <em>supposed</em> to suffer! (My son has gotten so good at sleeping on airport floors that he actually packs his backpack so he can use it as a pillow if he needs to.)</p>
<p>A lot depends on where you're going. If you're in a city that only has one airline (Minneapolis and Northwest Air comes to mind), you may be SOL at the last minute, while if you're in NYC or LAX, lots of flights. Flights are cheapest on Saturdays and Wednesdays. You can save a lot of money by having kids fly on Sat instead of Friday. </p>
<p>I get a lot of useful (and useless) travel information from the Monday chat with the travel writers that the Live Online section of the Washington Post does. </p>
<p>Also, I try to avoid using frequent flyer mileage for myself and my husband; I pay for our tickets and use the FF for the kids--because the FF routes are usually not quite as good.</p>
<p>Oh, and the Alaska Airlines credit card gets the best miles, IMHO. (Other people have different opinions.) Their miles can be used on a wide variety of airlines; they give one mile per dollar spent, with no limit; they allow on-line booking using FF miles; they only charge 20K miles for a cross-country flight. The catch is that the FF miles can only be used to upgrade to first class on Alaska. (This works out okay for us, since we live in Seattle, which is well-served by Alaska.)</p>
<p>My D flew up by herself for pre-orientation with as much stuff as she could fit in her suitcases. She tried to take all of her shoes in one suitcase (she's really into shoes) and exceeded the weight limit by 20 pounds. I had to lug the shoes back home from the airport and bring them with me when I went up later. We did a big round of shopping there & shipped a few boxes too! I wish we could have just loaded up the minivan, but the two day drive from FL to MA is too much for me. Is it easier with boys?</p>
<p>Definitely easier with boys. When S moved out in 2001, he had two suitcases and his knapsack. We had shipped out a relatively small box of books to SIL who lives in LA. He flew out by himself, SIL met him at the airport, and helped him move in. I arranged to order a PC (had it assembled to spec in CA) and had it delivered to his dorm room.</p>
<p>D is going out to CA in the fall. She's already organizing herself--making a list, checking it twice . . . ;-) Plus we've been warned that she'll be shipping out as much stuff as possible!!! You'd think there's no such thing as the postal service after the fact.</p>
<p>I think it works to order and have BB&B send the stuff directly to school - but only if you are buying new. We tend to send our oldest towels to college and already own the winter coats. But I do think that you can send them with enough stuff to start and then ship a few cartons to arrive a week or so after they do, or later, depending on the contents.</p>
<p>Here's a funny story - when D went to Grinnell, she took way too much stuff. She lived on a coed corridor and her roommate hadn't arrived yet. As we wandered around meeting kids and parents, we started chatting with a boy's mom down the hall. Looking at the relatively small amount of stuff in the room, I asked if they knew when the boy's roommate was arriving. Oh, he's here, she assured me. My D had more stuff than two boys combined! And we hadn't yet made a run to Walmart for the stuff we planned to buy once there! She learned quick, though. Brought stuff home on vacations and each year she took less and less.</p>
<p>kjofkw - it was my son who found the deal when he made the surprise visit - I tend to be a little more anal about things, not so willing to leave it all to the last minute -- but when I do have to book flights, I try orbitz, travelocity, & expedia - I also will go directly to the airline site. I'll just open several browser windows on my computer and compare, then choose whatever looks best + most convenient.</p>
<p>I'm not saying that you can always get good last minute deals -- it probably doesn't work so well for peak flying times, like the day before Thanksgiving. I'm sure it also depends on destinations. The cheap flights open up when airlines have open seats on planes and want to fill the flight. It works well between destinations that have a lot of flights, or involve hub airports. But its never a guarantee.</p>
<p>The Sunday after Thanksgiving is supposed to be the busiest flying day of the year. One suggestion is to book that flight first by, for instance, making a roundtrip of going back to college and returning on Thanksgiving Sunday. Your next roundtrip could be returning home for Thanksgiving and going back after Christmas. The return dates from holidays are always known in advance, while my kids have a hard time determining exactly what day they can leave school (when they may have an exam, etc), so this timetable may allow you to book your tickets earlier rather than later.</p>
<p>Something else you might want to consider......I don't know about all schools, but son's school has a travel agency on campus, and he has found some of the best fares through them suprisingly enough.</p>
<p>We made our reservations as soon as we were reasonably sure of what the class schedule the days before Thanksgiving was. Knowing what she knows now, D would have left a day earlier.</p>
<p>think it would be ok to make the trip reservations from the Tuesday before T-giving and return on Monday? Would profs care much if people miss classes around that holiday? (and isn't there normally a $75 or so charge to change dates once the ticket's booked?) Thanks (first time!)</p>