American also has great prices right now. We just got tickets for $318 r/t from DFW at end of April / first part of May. They have been about double that price for awhile now.

Great price from DFW! We are traveling at the same time period, leaving April 27th but out of IAH in Houston. Why are the tickets always so much higher out of Houston?!! They are still running $550 to $700, even on cheaptickets.com. I searched DFW today on AA.com and the tickets are now $484. My daughter lives in Waxahachie so I might consider driving up to her house and leave from DFW. The price difference might justify the 4 hour drive to her house.

You guys must be going to ST Thomas. I'm going to St Croix. Amazing how much more to fly the extra 40 miles.

Great tip! I am still looking for cheap fares for our wedding guests leaving the Atlanta area this summer. We've passed this on to our NC guests that can benefit. Thanks!

There are plenty of better deals later in the summer. I live farther away from NC and saved a hundred bucks to what you're saying. It's too early to tell.

Just wondering, St. Thomas, when do you suggest that the airline rates are best for end of July/early August?

We actually waited a week before, or maybe it was even less than that and found amazing deals! It was the perfect time to go, especially because the island wasn't busy!

We fly out of Houston on AA and have finally wised up. We now get ff mileage on our Mastercard that applies to AA. We charge EVERYTHING we possibly can. It's amazing how fast it adds up. But, you must pay off the bill every month or the interest negates any milage accumulated. I'm using it for a trip this summer, and was pleasantly surprised to find the flight times that I wanted were available with my milage. The only problem I had was having to travel mid week to mid week. If I made a week end reservation they dinged our account for double the miles. I wish we had started doing this years ago.

Cypressgirl,

We do the same thing. I fly extensively on Delta with my job. Our tickets are already purchased and we will have enough for 2 of our adult children, for sure. We'll use American Express points for the other 2. We are now shopping for the best rates for friends and family that will be attending our wedding on August 3rd. I certainly appreciate the "heads up" when GREAT deals are available. Thanks all!

Its true that better deals show up "sometimes" later in the summer....question is, will you catch them???? Do you feel lucky....well, do ya'????????? Got to say that in your best Clint E voice!!!!!!

Hi:

Check Spirit airline. They have some GREAT DEALS out of Atlanta To St. Thomas.

Dreamincaribe:

What?! For real? I have never been able to find any tickets out of DFW for that low! I've been checking, and they are all at least $500-600.

Gari-Ann in TX, I just checked DFW to STX for April 27 to May 27 (our travel dates) vs leaving in Houston. Right now on AA.com, DFW tickets are $484 for 1 stop or 2+ stop tickets. Houston has come down to $685 for 1 stop and $585 for 2+ stops.

You have to check these sites every day and sometimes more than once. I was watching last year and the price dropped from the $600s to the high $400s from morning to noon. I bought the tickets and they went back up that night.

I've also set up email alerts at some of the sites like AA.com or Sidestep.com to send me an email when ticket prices hit a certain amount I set up.

Cypressgirl, I use a Miles One credit card from Capital One. I'll get a free ticket from them this year if the airfare gets down around $550 out of Houston. Capital One has no penalties for when you fly. You just accumulate points and charge your tickets to the card. Give them a call and they will refund your ticket price to your account and deduct the points. Works great! but like you said, if you don't pay it off every month, you have defeated the purpose of saving the miles.

My brother-in-law caught the fares so needless to say we snapped them up. It also may make a difference because we are flying Thursday to Thursday. The rates were higher if flying Friday - Sunday.

Found great airfare through sidestep.com. SanJose, CA to Fort Lauderdale then FLL to STT for $420 total price rt.
Best prices were to stop over in Fort Lauderdale then connect with Spirit Air to St. Thomas.

Forgot to mention in my earlier post that we are traveling in early April.