We're in the Midwest too and also fly out of a reginal airport (Grand Rapids, MI) so our fares are also HUGE so we use miles for our tickets every year. I have no real words of wisdom on this other than to say to keep checking fares on kayak periodically. You may find cheaper fares later in the spring.

Check with neighboring cities to fly of. I live on Long Island, NY and flying out of JFK to St. Thomas (non-stop) is $870 while Boston is $442. So, the 12 of us are flying out of Boston...a 5 hour drive. For us it is worth in because there is 12 of us flying out of Boston (12 x $442 = $5,136)

Good luck!

We would LOVE to return to STT this summer - but the airfare is outrageous - and we are flying out of DFW. We too are hoping for some type of airfare break - and soon. We want to help the with the tourism - we just can't afford to get there!

Can you catch a cheap Southwest Air flight south and then switch? We flew USAir from Minneapolis to Charlotte NC then STT in Dec for $512 which was cheap for us. I feel your pain - landlocked Iowa plus 2 - 3 hours from a major airport! I usually use sidestep for a search and then go to the airline site direct to get the best date and time combination. I also have signed up for "Airfare Watchdog" which sends me emails daily with prices so I can track how price trends.

Try flying mid week. Rates on Saturday fights are probably the highest. The day of the week and closeness to a holiday will affect rates.

We will be there in June, and had to use air miles because the fares were so high. One thing about air miles is the fee is the same whether you travel across the state, or across the country. We are trying to convince some friends to join us, and they are hesitant to make plans. I contacted the airlines, and their position is that fares may drop around 60 days before the travel date, if seats are still open.

I live in STX and am trying to get to visit family this spring in NY and CT...
I was looking at using two airlines (2 one way tickets) because of flight schedules.
on Delta Yesterday I could get a OW ticket for $606 or a RT ticket for $388!
Crazy.

just read the comments, it is amazing on the different fares for flights. We too live near G.R.Mi. and every year we have to spend a lot of hours surfing for fares.

This year believe it or not, leaving from Det. it is a 2 hr. drive, but R/T @ 293.00 each. Got an even cheaper flight for some friends who will be joining us.

You have to figure the cost of driving, your time and for us paying for a night in hotel, but they let us park for free. So it is a good deal, out of G.R. it would have been over $800.00. Go figure, same airline, would have connected in Det. on same flight as we are now on. $500.00 to fly from G.R. to Det.

Never will figure out airfares and rates.

Good luck to you, you may need it after this winter.

RM

We are in St Louis and except for the occasional fare war sale our STT flights are also outrageous. I always check into the fares from Chicago and Memphis. Flying sucks since we lost our airline hub status.

I have great luck with a site called www.sidestep.com you might want to try it if you have not already.

RM

I'm surprise that the air fare from DFW is high. Winter up North is when it cost you an arm & leg. Right now I'm thinking of flying to STT from Houston. The iar fare is 430.00 plus taxe, etc. My aunt flew for 652.00 during Thanksgiving. Keep checking. Have you checked our Spirit Airlines. They connect in Ft. Lauderdale to STT. Wishing you lots of luck.

Keep trying different days and different times. Months ago I purchased tickets for a May 2010 flight. I found Delta tickets for $321 roundtrip from St. Louis with just one stop. This was like a miracle for us. I have paid anywhere from $600 to $800. That particular two week period was the only one that I could get this great price. Two years ago we paid $600 and our kids kept trying and got tickets for $500. Who knows?

Heres another for comparison. We used the "switch" routine to save money for our upcoming June trip. We can usually fly really cheap or even free from Nashville to Ft Lauderdale via SWA. Then either go with Spirit or take the train to Miami for a flight to STT. Found an American flight from Miami for $347 R/T. Taking the American flight from Nashville to STT was priced at over $800!! Its like some kind of game, putting it all together.

Hi Kim,

We are flying out of Boston on 27 Nov 10 and returning on 11 Dec 10. The best price I could find was on Delta one Stop in Miami. Price $362.50 pp total $725.00 Round Trip.

Richard & Nancy

I had great luck with kayak 2 weeks ago and got $262 roundtrip Jun 14-22 from Denver with one stop on Delta. That's right Denver!!! 🙂 Was expecting it to be double that or more (which it appears to be now). I would check kayak daily as initially the times were not great for that fare and I kept checking daily and then got good flight times at that rate.