<p>Good morning, all. I’m making reservations for fall and want to book a return for my son, probably at Christmas. I looked on line for the calendar and it notes when classes are dis- missed for Christmas but I wondered if that is when kids actually leave. In other words, do some students finish up a day or two early? Should I wait to book the return until we see what happens with his classes? Or can I go ahead, save a couple hundred bucks, and book now based on the day after finals finish…?</p>
<p>We are rather tied into an afternoon flight out of Birmingham to return to our home town with one stop in Denver. Anything else takes 10+ hours and covers most of the continental US :)</p>
<p>We will explore flying out of LA and possibly Burbank which might offer more choices but for now, we’ll stick with what we know (weather permitting) works.</p>
<p>I definitely would wait on making arrangements for several reasons. One, your son could change his schedule. Two, he needs to check with his professors to see if they offer a final exam in a class. I made arrangements very early last year, only to learn that my son did not have a couple of finals. I booked the flight as if I did, and he sat around two days sleeping and cleaning his room. Three, find out where his roommates live and if they have cars. You might get a cheaper flight out of Huntsville or Mobile (even Atlanta) if he were to ride with home with someone and take a flight from that airport.</p>
<p>It’s safe to book a flight for the day after the last day of finals. But your son could possibly be finished with his exams a few days before that. If he doesn’t mind potentially hanging around campus with nothing to do for a few days then go ahead and book now for Saturday Dec 11th. </p>
<p>Be sure to check what times the airport shuttle runs that day too.</p>
<p>I would wait until school starts and he knows for sure if and when he has finals. Also make sure that the shuttle will work with his flight times. The latter shouldn’t be a problem with an afternoon flight, but it would be with the pre-9AM flights that leave out of BHM. </p>
<p>As a general rule, I book my August and May flights as one-ways and trips during the school year as round-trips. I’m not sure if there is an inexpensive airport shuttle in your area, but if there is, LAX usually has more selection when it comes to flights that don’t involve zigzagging across the US.</p>
<p>Mike: Professors can change their minds from year to year. So even if someone said there were no finals in those classes, the professors could decide otherwise this year or semester. That’s why the general recommendation is to wait on booking flights at least until August. The first day of classes, professors will hand out their course information and will list if there will be a final. The other thing is that you need to make sure the campus shuttle is running those days. Generally it runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning. So if your daughter is done with her finals early, and you book a flight for that Wednesday night, she may have no way to get to the airport.</p>
<p>The shuttle times for the coming school year have not been posted on the UA housing site, but should be sometime in late July. I booked my son’s flight last year for Thanksgiving break in August.</p>
<p>That is for traveling 8/6 and returning 8/8 for the roundtrip…and just 8/6 for the one-way. I haven’t plugged in the December dates. It seemed like a good idea to book one way fall and spring and then make interim trips round trip. However,… maybe I need to make the round trip from August and make the return for next spring when school is out for the year…</p>
<p>We do fly out of our home town airport but it would cost us $100 + to fly out of LAX…more if we drive and park or take a shuttle and add about 3 hours…</p>
<p>Its the one-way that is bothering me. I’m a bit ‘cheap’ when things don’t seem equitable.</p>
<p>I can definitely see $558 roundtrip from your local airport; I’m facing similar fares from Seattle and we have tons of flights. A roundtrip ticket for fall break is currently priced less than my one way ticket for August.</p>
<p>With your airport, there is a chance that there is a roundtrip discount because the carries that don’t have such a discount do not serve that market. Sill, you should be able to find something. I’ll send you a PM.</p>
<p>A friend of mine uses Hotwire.com for his son’s flights from Dallas-Fort Worth to Washington, D.C. or Charlottesville, VA (a small airport) and has had amazing results on short notice – as in, booking a flight within 30 days of departure. You might want to check that site to see if there is any change in cost.</p>
<p>^ As far as returning after the holiday break - I see classes resume on Weds., Jan. 12 - when do most kids return? Are the dorms open the weekend prior?
I know my niece cut it way too close last year and missed her first day of classes with a flight issue.</p>
<p>AL34: I know that they had to open the dorms on January 4, because classes were originally set to set on the 6th. Lots of kids had returning flights already booked. Of course the National Championship game changed the schedule, as classes were pushed back to start the following Monday. </p>
<p>Housing has not put up the schedule regarding openings/closings of dorms for the coming school year, so you may want to wait a bit before making any flight arrangements for the Christmas holidays.</p>