cheapest flight from phoenix az to bakersfield ca?
I am moving to Phoenix and will need to come back to Bakersfield at least once, if not twice, per month to see my children. The fares are really expensive and need the cheapest fare possible.
Air Travel - 6 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Does Southwest fly between the two places? They'be been having some AMAZING rate "dings" lately, as low as $150 round trip across country.
2 :
I did a search on sidestep.com and got these results: http://www.sidestep.com/air/rs.do?searchid=79ee12ae16882 Of course, it may differe depending on what day you depart and what day you return. And, of course the farther out you book, the better the rate.
3 :
I ran the exact same dates as the sidestep link (Aug 11-16) on http://www.utopia.worldventures.com and came back with a savings of $1 It aint much but its a buck,
4 :
Look at Southwest to Burbank or Los Angelos, they dont fly to Bakersfield. You can get fares for $49 each way if you book early enough to get their internet fares. Southwest only allows you to book up to 4 months in advance though. LA is 114 miles from Bakersfield and Burbank is slightly north of LA. The cost difference of gas or renting a car could possibly supplement the cost differerence, just price those out as well and see where the savings is. If you are looking at flying on weekends with a Friday departure and Sunday return, you can forget finding anything cheap. Those are the most expensive days of the week to travel. Bakersfield is a smaller airport and you are NOT going to find discount fares in and out of there. You need to stick with the larger airports like LAX to find cheaper fares. You can find comparable fares to LA on America West. Avoid using internet travel sites, these will tack on booking fee's. Southwest does not participate with these sites so book directly with them. America West merged with US Air, so book on US Air's website. Book early to get Southwests lowest fares, they are minimal and go very fast. America West would be the second option, their fares last longer by comparison to Southwest so you could possibly have access to them closer to time of departure. Plus for that short of a distance you want non-stop. SW, AW and United are the 3 options you should only consider. And Burbank and LAX should be your back up airport considerations when pricing fares. Just break down the math and see if flying to LA or Burbank on Southwest and renting a car would save money in the long run. Weekend car rentals are cheap, but the cost of gas may be the deciding factor. If you go often, sign up for the airlines frequent flier program and the rental cars loyalty program and you will quickly earn free flights and car rentals. Always book the smallest car, if you fly in late Friday night you are almost guarenteed to get a free upgrade because the smaller economy cars will be gone first and you will have fullsized left and they cant charge you the difference. When I worked for Delta and would fly home on weekends, I always booked the compact but NEVER had to drive one, I always got the full size or SUV by the time my flight arrived, everything smaller was gone. Websites like Hotwire, Priceline, Cheap Tickets, Lowestfare are not recommended for air travel unless you know for certain your plans will not change. They lock you in to the ticket and you can not make changes and the airlines can not touch them. Make sure you READ ALL OF THE FARE RULES before purchasing anything from any travel site should you choose to use them. **As a side note, airfare is cheaper than it has ever been. Just keep in mind CHEAP comes at a price. The consolidator websites add rediculous rules and restrictions, so again, make sure you do some reading before jumping. Shop around and price compare..checking the other airports as well. Trust me, even $200 round trip for something is by far cheaper than it was 10, 20 even 30 years ago before deregulation when the government controlled the airlines and told us what to charge. I wish the flying public would removed "cheap" from their vocabulary and replace it with, best price, or best deals or something along those lines.** Once you do your price comparisons on the travel sites, go directly to the airlines website to price compare and check the schedules, you can usually find better of both on their sites and avoid the booking fee's as well as have more flexible tickets. Good luck, I hope this helps.
5 :
I'm beginning to believe there's no such thing as a cheap airfare. Anyway try Orbitz. There is a link from the page below.
6 :
FareChase searches dozens of travel sites so you don't have to. It is the best way to find great prices for flights and hotel rooms.
