Your D21 and my S21 are headed to the same school.
The school is the only thing I am on FB for. I appreciate the information on the it because my S is very independent and it gives me a clue about what is on the to do list. If you are tired of the complaining and also parents that are maybe too involved it is probably very wise to avoid it. Some days it is too much for me and I’m pretty patient.
We are meeting my daughter at JFK when she returns from her internship in Israel (still on as of now and with cease fire it’s looking good) then driving to Ithaca to get her apartment set up since at the end of July and all returning here together from Ithaca. The rental car at first was $900! Crazy for 3 days. I finally looked around a bit and found much less for about half that so if you look you can find it. Also this past weekend as it for closer when I traveled I found a car same place I originally rented (Costco is usually the best) for half the price I originally booked it. So it isn’t always cheaper the further out. I always keep checking and since they don’t make you pay in advance it’s an easy switch. The one thing not raising their rates yet are hotels but I think they’re starting so start booking those also as they’re also free to cancel.
I booked on Costco because that was the cheapest I found, I will continue looking through the summer to see if anything cheaper pops up.
Costco is usually the cheapest I can find for cars as well but I booked a car a few days ago for a trip in two weeks and I ended up finding a cheaper price on kayak which surprised me.
For move in it was going to be around $1400 for 4 days if I rented a car from Denver airport (minivan or SUV - I want to make sure we have space in case we buy the big storage drawers and a rug like we did for D19.) I ended up booking a car in Boulder for less than half the price - even adding the cost of getting an Uber or driver to get is to and from Boulder it will be saving a bunch.
Wow which school is this? I would be livid. Remote classes? Why?
United is not clear on whether we would have change fees. Even when we talked to someone on the phone, she was unclear. We talked to four different Colgate students and found out some kids leave on Friday and miss class and some go on Saturday. Apparently Friday night is fun for the kids who stay that night. D got advice from her tour guide who she emailed and who lives in Chicago and we decided D will do what this student usually does - fly out Saturday late morning. The ticket was a little less to fly then than on Friday. I’m just glad I decided to look now as I have to think prices are going to do nothing but go up. We have no miles on United. We are a SW family so we have zero perks on United so we need to pay for checked bags too. Boo!
I’m sending you a message
What I’ve found with United is that it seems that there are no change fees at all anymore. If you buy a basic economy ticket then those are completely non refundable and you can’t change them. One way to figure it out is go to your kid United Mileage account and see what happens if you say you want to make a change it will then tell you if there is a change fee also. I just did that with American and changed the date of something and it said no change fee and no difference in the cost either. So that was a double win.
The scam with United though which is irritating is that my daughter has one of her credits from last year that hasn’t been used yet, unlike American if she rebooks a cheaper ticket, she loses the difference. So, she will have to buy a more expensive ticket or lose the value. It’s a racket. They should give the difference back as an evoucher that anyone can use. It’s so aggravating.
All major US airlines (including United) now don’t charge change/cancellation fees for all domestic flights (except Basic Economy) and most international flights originated from the US. However, any refund is typically in the form of a flight credit/voucher.
United has changed its policy since then. Now you do get the difference back (in credit/voucher).
We don’t even have United mileage accounts and the basic economy ticket is the $650 ticket! We weren’t going to pay $100 more to be able to exchange it. We just hate the whole thing but we knew it was the deal when D decided on Colgate. No SW. At least, when we fly with her or go to visit, we can fly SW into Albany.
We don’t see why she would need to change this ticket so it is what it is. I know it’s not refundable but I do think we can “return” it for travel credit if we had to.
Right. But that’s why we like SW. No change fees. We can cancel flights made with miles and the miles go right back into the account. Many times, I’ve made flights for S19 and then made changes for free later. United will be more expensive for us. The economy tickets are so expensive. I can’t see buying a more expensive ticket to have the option to change it. On SW, you can change any ticket.
Southwest doesn’t have Basic Economy fare, unlike all the other major airlines. Changes aren’t allowed for Basic Economy fares with all airlines now (they all made exceptions for COVID until about a month or two ago). Only JetBlue’s COVID waiver is still in place (until the end of this month).
Livid? Why? It’s three days of remote classes - the week of Thanksgiving. IME, a lot of professors cancel classes at the last minute that week anyway. I assume, since it is the week before finals, those classes will be just review, if professors decide to meet. Finals start the Monday after Thanksgiving and are all online. Honestly, with Thanksgiving late this year, I think it make sense. Would be kind of dumb to have kids come all the way back for one week before Christmas break starts. In 2019, their academic calendar had two weeks of class/finals after Thanksgiving. And that year they did not have class at all during Thanksgiving week.
I’m sorry. I didn’t understand that the students only had finals after Thanksgiving. Our kids are done later - one on 12/18 and one on 12/22.
William & Mary announced in their family newsletter today that it expects all students who intend to have face-to-face experiences be fully vaccinated and send evidence of vaccination by mid-July. Will accept religious and health exemptions on a case-by-case basis but those students must show a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours of arriving on campus and must test at least weekly…certain types of activities might require more frequent testing. I expected something like this but am relieved that it’s official.
Yes, my older two have semesters ending much closer to Christmas.
I’m actually kind of happy about it. He can make a lot of money working at the local Christmas tree nursery by being home much earlier. And it saves us from either making two trips or having to pay for two flights home.
Older son won’t be back until Dec 17. Oldest is graduating this year, but her academic calendar had her coming home 2-3 days before Christmas. She hated that.
yeah. SW is always the best deal. I guess maybe people don’t like how they board or that there’s no first class but it’s really cost effective with two free bags and seemingly the best fares we can find every time. We chose it as our airline when my H was traveling more and racked up a ton of mileage too which made it even better. Even without mileage, though, it’s the best deal.
For example, flying to Colgate via Syracuse on United for drop off would cost us $291/per ticket and we’d still have to pay for checked bags - two bags would cost us another $80!
Southwest to Albany for those dates? $177 with free bags. We can do it for drop off because we will be with D and can rent a car for the two hour drive to campus. When she’s traveling alone, there’s no way to get to Albany and Syracuse/United or American are the options.
Yes, Southwest’s free checked bag allowance can’t be beat. Their companion pass is another great benefit no other airlines offer. For a refund, you only get the full flexibility if you pay with its points/miles. All other major US airlines now do the same if you pay with their miles/points (with United, you need to cancel 30+ days prior to departure). Delta’s award ticket in Basic Economy is the only exception (other airlines don’t allow you to redeem miles for Basic Economy).
This wasn’t the case a month ago. When did they change it?