Best way to find these airline tickets?

[MissSJ]

Hi everyone,
I would like to find some airline tickets where I would travel sometime in Sept or early Oct. There are 4 of us. The four of us need to go to Washington DC from Colorado for about 3-5 nights then three of us (myself and the boys) will travel to northeast Ohio for maybe two weeks while DH will go back to Colorado. After two weeks the boys and myself will need to come back to CO. What is the best way to go about this?

- A two way ticket for DH to DC and a one way ticket for the rest of us, then a one way ticket to OH and another one way ticket to CO?

- A two way ticket for all of us to DC with DH's departure date being 2 weeks earlier than me and the boys and a two way ticket from DC to OH. So that would be me and the boys going to DC then flying from DC to OH, two weeks later we would fly back to DC then to CO?

What would be the best as far as easy and inexpensive way to buy these tickets? Online? A travel agent?

SJ

[Belleweather]

I would suggest doing it online, and trying kayak.com. It's a travel aggregator, and I've had great success getting really good prices on there. Even for some of our weirder travel needs.

[Caneel]

I also like Kayak. It also lets you include surrounding airports, which can be a significant cost savings.

Recently, some airlines have stopped Kayak from showing their flights. American is one for a route we are watching.

You might want to go thru a travel agent. Last trip we took, the travel agent fee was minimal, something like $10 dollars per ticket.

The same flights thru expedia would have cost us the same for the tickets but expedia's fees were about $30 per person for booking fees.

[1growingsprout]

Your DH needs a round trip ticket(Going from point A to point B to point A) and you and the kids need a 3-way ticket. (going from point A to point B to point C to point A) Your DH ticket should be easy to get online as well as yours and the kids. You can also price quote thru a travel agent, a good agent wont charge you for a quote.

[dogmom327]

When I need to do some complicated travel (such as flying into one place and out of another), I try to book my tickets through Jet Blue or Southwest. Both companies base their prices on one-way fares anyway (so there's no discount for buying round trip tickets) and ultimately it's easier to just buy the separate tickets. Plus they usually have the best prices.

[umarider]

I've had good luck w/ Cheaptickets and Travelocity and/or Expedia. I always check my prices on all of the major travel sites because prices can vary (just make sure the price you are comparing includes taxes, etc.)

Multi-destination tickets are what you and the kids need. I had no problem doing this type of ticket about a year ago... it actually ended up being cheaper than buying just a simple roundtrip ticket.

Do check the box for comparing several airports, especially around DC since you have 3 different options and the prices can vary a lot.

[dogmom327]

One more thing about Southwest and saving money (not sure if this applies to Jet Blue)--they don't charge a change fee if you need to change your tickets. Obviously if the new flight you need is more expensive than the old one, you pay that but there's no $100 change fee or anything. Also remember to investigate which airlines are charging for baggage and how much (some are now charging for the first bag!). These fees really add up.

BTW, I don't personally like flying Southwest for a number of reasons but with money tight, I can't get over what a good deal they are. I'm hoping that Jet Blue will soon have more options for flying out of our local airport because I do like them better.