I just went on Orbitz.com and looked up Houston to St Croix for 5 weeks out and the price is $551. That's with AA to STT through Miami, then a plane change from aa to cape air for STT to STX.

The nice thing about orbitz is that their results include "multiple carrier" results which allow you to fly multiple airlines for one trip. Many airlines have agreements that if you check your baggage on one, it will be connected to the other. So when you check into AA in Houston, they will ticket you all the way through ST Croix and your baggage will receive the same ticketing. As a passenger, it will be the same as flying one airline all the way through. You just get on your AA flight and when you do your St Thomas plane change, you go to the gate for Cape Air. In larger airports it may mean changing terminals, but there's usually plenty of time to do so. LOVE ORBITZ!!!!

Talk to a travel agent.

Don't know if this is total BS, but the airline/travel booking sites do track you with their vodoo cookies. If your traffic shows you checking out prices on certain flights often, the prices won't go down for you. I read a short article about this a few weeks ago, if I can find it, I'll post it.

So either talk to a real person or delete those cookies!

Thanks for the Orbitz idea Crystal! I also fly out of Houston and thanks to you, I realized I can fly Cont. to Miami and AA to STT. The price is basically the same, but instead of a 6:00am flight, I can leave at 7:30 and make the same connection with less of a layover. The price is basically the same. And besides, in Miami AA is so spread out I always have to walk 2 miles to my next gate anyway.

I've always been a little affraid of those types of air travel sites, but it sound like you have had no problem with Orbitz.
Has anyone out there had any problems using Orbitz??

I have used Orbits for almost 6 years now...wow! Didn't realize it had been that long. I never use any other site. The thing I love about Orbitz is that every single itinerary since I opened my account is saved under "my trips". Additionally, it allows for so many different search options. If you click on the "flights" tab, there is a link where you can do an open window search. It allows you to choose a timeframe for how long you want to be gone (2-4 days, 4-6 days, 7-10 days, etc) and then you can choose up to a 30 day window in which you would like to travel. Your results are displayed in a chart showing possible departure days, return days, and all sorts of prices. You can click on the price you want and it shows which flights are available for that trip. I don't know if I explained that well, but it's a great feature!

Another great thing about Orbitz is that there have been a few occasions on which we booked travel and then needed to cancel within 24 hours. I am able to log into my account and cancel with no penalty. I get cheap car rentals, hotels are fairly priced, and everything is just simple.

You can change seats after booking, change your ticket...do pretty much anything. It's really like being your own travel agent. They even have little numbers on the available flights showing you how many tickets are available at that price (I think that's usually as the availability reduces.)

So I pretty much can't say enough good things about Orbitz. The price is great, they are incredibly reputable, and I have never had a problem. They even have a flight notifier so that they call the number you enter when you book your tickets and give you flight status updates. Personally, I think it's annoying because it's an automated call a few hours prior to your flight, but my mom likes it. It also calls when there's a delay or something.

Anyway, I'll shut up now. Enjoy!

My sister in law works for orbitz and I have always used them......I have never had a problem.

Wow, thanks so much for the information Crystal! I'm having trouble with finding the flight you're talking about, though---- all I see takes me through San Juan, which we don't want to do. (I had things taken from my luggage there one time). I'm typing in Houston (IAH) to Saint Croix Island on Ap27 early morning and coming back May27 anytime. Do you see what I'm doing wrong?

Thank you to everyone else,also, for the very helpful answers!

Paula

Some words of advice: make sure the initial airline will transfer the baggage to the next airline... We'd booked through Travelocity at one time and later found out WE would need to claim the luggage & re-check it ourselves (MAJOR PAIN IN THE NECK). I cancelled those flights with Travelocity (based on the fact that they were not forthcoming about this) and re-booked with Expedia (which I had used before without any problems). Their flights had a partnership between the airlines where the baggage was transferred by the airlines. JUST MAKE SURE TO CONFIRM THIS.

ENJOY!

Lisa

Paula:

Try www.kayak.com

Hope this helps.

F.I.

I wouldn't recommend Kayak.com. It redirects you to another website to buy tickets and it is more expensive than Oribitz. Plus, when I clicked on its cheapest flight, the redirected website increased the price by over $100. Not good. Stick with Orbitz.

On Orbitz, I checked 4/27 - 5/27 from IAH to STX. Don't specify a time of day. Just leave everything at "anytime". You'll be able to sort through the flights and see what times you prefer.

The price I'm getting right now is $545 on Orbitz.

AA departs 6:05, arrives Miami 9:20
AA departs 12:25, arrives STT 2:55
Cape Air departs 3:50, arrives STX 4:14

That's just one departing option.

Hope this helps!!! Let me know if you still have trouble.

I disagree about kayak. Kayak has tons of deals and I usually find better deals there than orbitz. Orbitz never has deals for me.

Okay. Well, I'm just saying that I did a few searches on both yesterday and Orbitz offered the lowest price every single time...and by $100 plus for the time period Paula needed. Further, I didn't appreciate going to kayak and being re-routed to cheaptickets.com. Why didn't they route me to Orbitz, where the prices were far lower? I like finding one company who offers the lowest price consistently and booking through them. The professionalism Orbitz offers supercedes that of every other company we have booked travel with online.

Crystal,

Can you print boarding passes the day before like you can when you book from the airlines and what happens if there is a big sale and the price of the ticket goes much lower than what you paid? I can't decide if I should book now for Nov. or wait and see.

With Orbitz, you receive an Orbitz confirmation number, and a separate airline confirmation number. You can use that airline confirmation number to log into the airline's website and print your boarding passes. Further, if you need to extend your trip, make changes, etc, you can always contact the airline directly to do so.

As for big sales, I have no idea. I have always assumed that when you purchase an airline ticket and then tickets later go on sale, that they can't do anything about it. Is that not the case?

Crystal,

We just booked our trip through Orbitz--- THANK YOU CRYSTAL!!! They were $502! When we went to purchase them they told us they found some cheaper tickets for $486! So we jumped on that and added in the fees they charge to do the paperwork and it was only $540 or so! The American Airlines website didn't even offer that itinerary, we only found it on Orbitz. As soon as I made the purchase I went under my AA.com log on and my reservations were already there. It worked out GREAT for us. Now our ticket price is low enough that we can even use our Capital One points free ticket! (saved money =another bracelet! 🙂 ) Thank you also to the poster (can't think of his name right now) who warned me about the cookies--- my husband cleaned ours out and that is when the flight we needed appeared on Orbitz. That's the last detail before our trip--- I'm just ready to pack and still have 5 weeks to go!
Paula

YAY!!!!!!! I'm so happy it worked out so well for you guys. I'll have to try the cookie thing in the future. I have always wondered if it made a difference, but never bothered to investigate.