Trying to salvage this year's GenCon trip.

[hwango]

Things aren't looking good. WotC still doesn't have any events listed, which seems to support the rumor that they won't be there this year due to all of the lawsuit crap between Gen Con and Lucasfilm. I really hope they resolve that, since I thought it would be fun to play some Magic this year since it looks like the Spoils won't be there. At least there are still Cthulhu events.

Anyway, the real reason for this post is the cost of the plane tickets. I looked into them last week since it was suggested that prices are only going to keep getting worse, and I couldn't find the departure time I had last year. I put off buying tickets until I could look into whether a more favorable time might appear if I waited, and that turned out to be a horrifying mistake. Tickets have gone up a staggering amount since just last week. My airfare is more than double what it was last year.

I thought about trying to find a flight that wasn't nonstop to see if I could save some money, but they all left at horrible times, doubled the amount of time I'd spend in the air, or did other horrible crap to the trip. I finally decided that if I didn't want to risk screwing up the trip even more, I'd better suck it up and just spend the extra money. My whole philosophy behind this year's trip was to try to make sure I did everything right because it's probably the last time I can go. It's not worth cutting corners if it means I'm a zombie by the time I get to the con because I spent an extra 6 hours playing with airplanes the day before. I just hope things work out in the end and it doesn't turn out to have been a lot of wasted money.

Comments

[unferth.livejournal.com]

This may not, in fact, be any help, but have you checked out ITA's search page? I found it very useful when I was looking for cheap airfares to the West Coast last fall - the month-long search feature was far more informative than the usual web sites.

I think most of the web sites use ITA's software as the back end, so it might not turn up a lot of options you haven't seen yet, but it might find a flight a day earlier that's sufficiently cheaper to cover the hotel bill. Or not, I have no idea. But it might be worth a look.

[hwango.livejournal.com]

Meh, it would be a little late, since I already bought tickets (before they could go up again). Thanks anyway, though.

[unferth.livejournal.com]

I see, I probably would have realized that if I had read more closely It's probably only a useful tip for trips on which you have a lot of flexibility about your dates anyway, and GenCon is not such an occasion.

[octophobic.livejournal.com]

Do you think you will go back next year if the ticket costs go back down?

[dariusk.livejournal.com]

farecast.com can help you predict whether ticket prices will hold, rise, or fall soon and it'll recommend "buy now while the price is low" or "hold off, it'll get better."

[hwango.livejournal.com]

I don't know...the trip is expensive regardless, and I can't keep spending that money if I don't start making more. I thought of this as the last time I'd get to go for the near future even before plane travel got so much more expensive.

[hwango.livejournal.com]

Good to know for the future - thanks.