<p>Just compare compare compare. We looked at student universe and the cheap tickets site noted above. In both cases BOTH of our kids tickets were less expensive (for the same flights) booking directly through the airline. In fact, DS's ticket home in August was 1/2 the cost as through studentuniverse.</p>
<p>csleslie and jym Great sites!</p>
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Alaska takes reservations starting 11 months in advance. I've found it saves money and aggravation to just make the reservations and cancel them if my kids change their minds.
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<p>We do usually try to be more on top of tickets, but due to family illnesses etc we weren't sure until last week if we would be having T'giving here or up in Seattle. $100 per change adds up pretty quickly.</p>
<p>Do most of you make your kid's reservations or put that on them? I'm torn. It should be her responsibility, but if it's on our dime will she put much effort into getting the best rate? Does she have time to check websites every week or so and know when to pounce on a good price? I never flew to school so don't have that to go on.</p>
<p>We always played it pretty loose. I would check the websites myself and nag daughter to figure out whether she could get a ride and then one of us would book the flight if that was needed. I think if you are paying for something you have more of a say.</p>
<p>I usually did the research & then called S to have him actually book it while we were on the phone. With as unpredictable as airfares can be, I didn't want to leave him totally responsible for handling it. We were paying after all & he's a procrastinator.</p>
<p>You have to know your market. If any flight uses a smaller airport, the tickets may be so limited that booking four months or more in advance is the best strategy - certainly no later than mid-August, when many parents' thoughts turn to Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>I waited until yesterday to make reservations for my son to come home from Chicago for Thanksgiving. The cost to fly from Chicago to Newark Airport on Tuesday evening, and back to Chicago again Sunday evening, was $495.99 for the round-trip ticket.</p>
<p>Southwest does not charge a change fee; if you can use SWA your best bet is to make the reservations for the most likely time that will fit the schedule. Then if it needs to be changed, the student can do the change. I do not find it is cost effective to wait for the student to decide.</p>
<p>With my DD who is not so good with money, I made the flights and she could change them at her cost.</p>
<p>With my others, I give them the money that it would cost me to make an early reservation, they can choose what to do with it, when to buy the ticket, etc. It works well, they are making the choices and learning the system, and doing their own planning. And they have to absorb the upcharge of not planning early, hence my DD not coming home for Tgiving, the fares increased too much- I told her to buy a ticket in July when CC announced SWA was selling Nov tickets, she did not do that, she was not sure what she would want to do so now she is not paying a huge price to come home for that weekend</p>
<p>Thanks, kelsmom.</p>
<p>Coincidentally, I just received yet another credit card solicitation, this one from Capital One so I will look into it.</p>
<p>I just booked through Expedia (before I saw this thread), and although I ended up with a decent roundtrip ($445 for last minute) for Thanksgiving (Chicago-NY), it was a nightmare. It took me 3 tries-- each time I tried to book a particular flight, it was gone by the time I plugged in my cc #. Finally called them and booked over the telephone. Somehow I had forgotten that Thanksgiving is the biggest travel holiday! Better go book Christmas now...</p>
<p>When S #1 was a freshman, he booked his own flights from Rochester, NY to Tampa. But he didn't look over the final itinerary well enough and had booked the wrong month. That cost a bit to fix! I once booked a flight for p.m. when I wanted a.m. I caught that in time to call and change. My kids use kayak.com and have been pleased. Also, that same son asked the professor if there will be class just before Thanksgiving (on Wednesday) and was told yes. Then the professor canceled it after tickets were purchased.</p>
<p>A friend's daughter when trying to find a Thanksgiving flight from Seattle to the SF Bay area almost gave up due to the high ticket cost until she discovered the airport she wanted was in Oakland, not Auckland.</p>
<p>Threekids, that is my biggest pet peeve!! These profs don't care at all that some people need to make arrangements to get their kids home or do not take into consideration what other profs are doing. One year, all but one of the profs my older DS had at Indiana University canceled class the week of Thanksgiving. The one prof would NOT cancel the class, which was scheduled late in the afternoon on Tuesday. He sat around by himself for days while everyone else in the dorm went home Friday. It's maddening.</p>
<p>Driving from Chicago to NY and back! long as gas prices went down and i can get gas.</p>
<p>AimHigh, this indifference is actually one of two reasons that one school is not on my son's list. We noted the lack of understanding while visiting one school. Exams are scheduled the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving (they run on a quarter system). This means flying would need to be Wednesday night or on Thanksgiving Day! This is not something we want to deal with.</p>
<p>Northeastmom, that's terrible! What school is it, if you don't mind saying. </p>
<p>I now have one at Ohio State and one at Indiana U. I hope OSU does a better job than IU did that one year.</p>
<p>How odd...DD and I flew Southwest and we changed our tickets to an earlier flight and were charged $25 each. Of course we did this the day of the flight if that matters.</p>
<p>Re: schedules...both of my kids resume classes on Jan 5 which means they fly on what is considered New Years weekend. Now...WHY couldn't the colleges have resumed classes on Wednesday or Thursday so kids could book using mid-week fares. Last year, both resumed classes on Wednesdays and the flights were easier to book and much less expensive than the weekend ones.</p>
<p>I would rather not say right now bc my son still likes this school. I'll send you a PM.</p>
<p>We are lucky here, unlike last year's Chistmas return panic, this year dorms open on Sunday, Monday is the MLK holiday and classes resume Tuesday. If your travel plans crash, you have a day to still get there.
I am really pleased to see the administration respond to a problem and make sure kids from far away can get back into the dorm a day early, just in case. </p>
<p>I'd love to be booking Spring Break tickets home (or even summer!) but she's still <em>sure</em> something more interesting will keep her away during those vacations!</p>
<p>Also - for those in the NW -Alaska Airlines is great for one-way tickets! So many airlines really charge you extra for a one way fare (no reason, just because they can?) Alaska is good - you can even use half the miles for a one way!</p>
<p>dragonmom, if it's going to be my dime, I make the reservations. If it's their dime, they can do what they want. One of them has actually gotten very good at scouring the internet for the lowest fares; the other is learning. If reservations need to be canceled because they want to go somewhere else, they are then responsible for rebooking and paying for their transportation. (Happens maybe once or twice a year, one way, and often the change involves spending some time in Seattle or Portland and flying from there, which is much less expensive. So it still comes out cheaper to book ahead.) Has worked well for us.</p>