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Booking flight or Amtrak (I've never done it before.)
I have an upcoming trip to Savannah, GA with our girls which will be 11 & 12 at the time. It's actually a Girl Scout troop trip. We have been making trip payments for about 1.5 years now for the hotel, ground transportation, food, and entertainment. We knew that we would need to purchase our flights separately, however, we were under the impression the troop would be coordinating a group rate on a flight.
Now, flight costs have gone up and the troop leadership says they are unable to obtain a group rate. They have been looking at Amtrak rates since kids are 50% off. The problem with the Amtrak is that it will take us 3 days each direction which makes our trip a 12 day trip versus a 6 day trip because we would have to go through Chicago and DC and then back down to GA. The other issue is that taking Amtrak causes is that we would have to leave the Friday before Father's Day and I while my husband would be fine with it as it's a great experience for my stepdaughter, my ex (my DD's father) would not.
They pretty much said that since at least 1 parent is going with each girl or sibling group that we can decide whichever way we want to go ourselves at this point and that our hotel shuttle will take care of transporation to/from whichever we choose. So I need to find a flight there and I have never booked a flight myself ever. I know there are different websites like Orbitz, Expedia, ect but I don't know if you have to buy a certain ticket for it to be refundable, ect. We could take Amtrak back and make it a 9 day trip, but I really don't feel comfortable being gone from my 21 month old for 12 days and 9 days still makes me cringe plus the fact of having to clear it with my ex.
Any flight tips for booking a flight from someone who has never booked one? I know I need to book soon. Thanks.
Re: Booking flight or Amtrak (I've never done it before.)
The only thing I will say about Amtrak is - realize that they share track with freight and freight takes priority. So from time to time, the Amtrak train will have to pull aside to let freight through. They are notorious for being late. It's not a big deal if you are in Northeast corridor (going from Boston to DC for example) or somewhere that they have numerous routes during the day, but going anywhere else in the country can be kind of difficult. Your 9 day trip may end up a lot longer.
I didn't catch your origination, but is Greyhound or Megabus an option?
As pp said - often booking through the airline's website is ideal - you are less likely to get bumped when booking direct than through a third party. Plus, the third party sites (expedia, etc) often don't really get better deals than booking direct (this is not the case with booking packages or hotels). Try a site like Kayak.com which will search many sites at once to find you the best price. Depending on the market, travel on different days of the week can be drastically cheaper - you can use the tool on Kayak to search a few days before or after to see if that gets you a better rate. And rates come out on Tuesday (or Wednesday? I forget) so often those are the cheapest days to actually make your booking.
As for refundability, you will pay a premium for refundable tickets. That's just how it is.
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I'm not sure why they can't get a group rate except that maybe they waited too long to try to book and our group is about 20 people, maybe?
We are leaving from DFW and the dates are 6/18-6/23. We need to be in Savannah before 2:30 for a planned activity on the 18th. I don't think it matters what time we leave on the 23rd.
The troop is trying to push the Amtrak because it has a layover in DC that might allow enough time for a little exploration of the National Mall area.
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Honestly the only reason I'd even consider doing Amtrak in your case is if your daughters want to spend those 6 days with their friends if that's what everyone else is doing. Otherwise, fly. I used to take the Amtrak between Detroit and Chicago a lot, which is supposed to be a 4 to 5 hour trip, and even that could get delayed by hours. With connections in Chicago and DC you could in theory get so delayed you miss one, and I imagine that would be a huge mess since I don't think those longer routes run every day. Also remember that you'll be responsible for 6 days worth of meals on the train, which will add up, too.
I just did a couple quick searches with your dates. It looks like it would be about $100 cheaper per person to fly on United through Houston rather than direct on American, but the times aren't great (the first flights leave at 5:30 a.m. both ways) and you'd have a huge layover going to Savanah. But if that's worth saving $300 to you, it's still better than the train.
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Look on kayak as it will scan several places for you and then book through the airline's website.
VERY few tickets are fully refundable these days when it comes down to it...you'll almost always pay a change fee, etc so if you are worried about canceling the trip get insurance.
I wouldn't take Amtrak for that long of a trip with kids along. Just fly.
Do not take the train. I have travelled overnight on Amtrak for long distances, and even in a sleeper car, it is not pleasant. You don't get great sleep and the trains frequently get delayed because of sharing the rail. On our last trip, we arrived 14 hours late. If you're in general seating, you will have to use shared restrooms which will become increasingly unpleasant as the trip goes on. You're also looking at up to 9 meals each direction while on the train.
Since this itinerary has you connecting between two long train trips, I would simply not consider it. You will spend more time getting there/coming back than you will in Savannah, and a short stopover in DC is not going to make up for that.
Try your hardest to fly, but if flying is not an option, I would drive from Dallas to Savannah before I took a three-day train trip. If you drive with another family, you could overnight halfway in a cheap hotel and still only spend 2 days in a car vs 3 on a train.
That train ride seems excessive. It is 900 more miles than driving. I'd rent vans and drive as a group. Way cheaper and saves at least a day. It would be fun for the girls, probably not so much the adults though.
If you want to fly, start looking on Kayak.com. It pulls most airlines for you to search. You can narrow down by price, time, etc. filters.
Then if you aren't comfortable booking online, call the airline directly.
I would never take that Amtrak trip. Any number of things could go wrong, and the inconvenience would barely equal the cost-savings.
You're fairly limited when it comes to flying into Savannah, since it's only served by AA, Delta, United, and US. I suggest using a flight tracking service like Yapta. If you locate some potential itineraries that appeal to you, have Yapta monitor the cost. It's fairly early to be booking flights for June. You may see some fare sales more then that reduce the cost to < $400 for the direct AA flights.
The first advice you received about refundable fares was very misleading. As another poster has commented, discount fares on the carriers listed above are rarely refundable. The AA change fee is typically $150. There's no way you would want to purchase full-fare economy tickets if you think the discount fares are expensive.
If you don't want to rent a van and drive from Texas, look at the pricing into Atlanta and Jacksonville and weigh the pros and cons of renting a van for a portion of the trip.
The thought of a 3 day trip on an Amtrak sounds miserable to me, add 2 kids and I would never consider it. I have only taken one Amtrak trip, one day each way. It was fine and the best choice for me at that time, but more than that and I would have gone stir crazy, and been very sore. There is only so much walking you can do up and down those aisles and to the food car. I would be dreading the trip home throughout my vacation. (which will be awesome, Savannah is great!)
I agree with checking out kayak.com to price things out, and then go to the airline's site to book. I don't think that AA publishes flights anywhere but their website anymore so be sure to check their website. Also looks like Southwest flies into Charleston, consider flying in there and renting a car to drive to Savannah.
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When I went out there, Charleston was about $100pp cheaper than Savannah. The drive isn't particularly interesting, but it's not too long (about 2 hours if I remember).
ETA: bing/kayak/most other travel sites will not search for southwest flights. Southwest is also awesome, because there is no cancellation fee, they give you the whole amount in credit towards a future flight, and you also get free checked bags. It's worth the few extra clicks.
AA still appears on all the online sites (Orbitz, etc) - they aren't bankrupt yet....
Regarding refundability - to get all your money back, yes, you will pay a premium for fully refundable tickets. The airlines don't really like this so they make it very expensive to purchase a fully refundable ticket. Most economy tickets are not fully refundable, but they are changeable. Meaning that you can cancel your ticket and use the residual value towards another flight at some point in the future (note: these do expire if you don't use them). You will likely also incur a change fee for this service (I can't think of anyone other than Southwest that doesn't charge a fee). Often the change fees are around $150 per ticket. As a previous poster suggested - you can look into trip insurance if you think there is a possibility that your trip might get cancelled - but make sure to read and understand the terms of the trip insurance to know whether or not you can get your money back.
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Interesting...right you are. I had heard they had pulled their fares from most sites, but after researching it, this article explains the reversal. Sorry no clicky from my Mac. (OP, sorry to hijack!)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/business/02air.html
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