I need 2 plane tickets leaving the evening of 12/26/04 and returning
01/03/05 from either sjc, oak, or sfo going to San Jose (SJO), Costa
Rica.

I have found flights on my own for US 680-

If using sidestep or orbitz- verify by clicking through that the
flight really is available. I have found flights listed for 611 but
when I click through they have been bumped up!

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Clarification of Question by landolakes-ga on 24 Jun 2004 21:41 PDT

I will tip if you can find me something good, getting desperate. :)

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Request for Question Clarification by rosicrucianpope-ga on 25 Jun 2004 01:31 PDT

How flexible are you on your travel dates?  I've found tickets for as
low as $385 per person total (with taxes and everything), but they are
different from the dates you requested by a day or two.

I'll keep looking, but let me know as soon as possible how flexible your dates are.

Cheers,
rosicrucianpope-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by palitoy-ga on 25 Jun 2004 02:12 PDT

Hello Landolakes

I have researched this for you for about 2 hours and have been unable
to locate a ticket on those dates that leaves in the *evening* of the
26th for under the price you have stated.  I *can* beat that price
should you be able to travel in the morning of that date.  If this is
acceptable I can post this as an answer for you.

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Request for Question Clarification by rosicrucianpope-ga on 25 Jun 2004 03:00 PDT

As you can see from the comments, this turns out to be a very tricky
search.  The main hurdle in the search seems to be the amount of time
between now and your flight.  I've searched through probably 100+
airline specials, but most of them do not extend to Dec. 26 yet. 
Unless you absolutely have to purchase your tickets in the next couple
of days, I would hold off for a month or two.  In that time, the
airlines will have put out more specials.  I would get on the fare
watcher email lists supplied by Travelocity and Orbitz and wait for
the prices to come down.  It is usually difficult to find good
airfares where you buy too early and when you buy too late.

Now, if you have some flexibility, let's talk...

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Clarification of Question by landolakes-ga on 25 Jun 2004 08:38 PDT

Hey sorry it took me so long to get you all clarification- and just
wanted to say thanks for working on this for me.

1. I don't have a lot of leeway in my dates- could come back on the 3rd.
2. leaving on the 26th in the morning is fine, but rather it not be before 9am
3. kind of a big stipulation- I don't want to have to spend the night
in the aiport so hoping for a layover under six hours.

Warning: if using qixo.com- don't. Found a superb ticket through them,
gave them my credit card number and then they came back saying that
oops they didnt have the flight anymore but here is another option for
200 more.

Should I wait till closer to the date? It seems like prices will
skyrocket because it's peak travel time.

Thanks again!

Hello Landolakes

I have been looking on and off for this all day and there does appear
to be a little movement in the market.  For instance when I first
checked there were tickets for a flight on the Expedia.com website for
a deal worth $658 return but this afternoon this has increased to $680
inclusive of all fees.

The best deal I can find for you at the moment is with
http://www.lowestfare.com (who are an agent for Priceline.com).  You
may be able to decrease this a little by going directly through
Priceline.com but when I tried the site was down.

The tickets were definitely available when I wrote this up for you.

The details of this deal are:

Departing Flight Information - Sunday, December 26, 2004 	

Continental Airlines Flight 1148 
Departs: 8:40 AM To Houston - Intercontinental (IAH) Houston, TX
Arrives: 2:38 PM	

Continental Airlines Flight 1100
Departs: 5:50 PM To San Jose - Juan Santamaria Intl (SJO) San Jose, Costa Rica
Arrives: 9:24 PM
	
Returning Flight Information - Monday, January 3, 2005 	

Continental Airlines Flight 1103
Departs: 2:00 PM To Houston - Intercontinental (IAH) Houston, TX
Arrives: 5:49 PM
Continental Airlines Flight  Flight 1259
Departs: 8:40 PM To San Jose Intl (SJC) San Jose, CA
Arrives: 10:25 PM

The departing flight is a little earlier than you requested, but only
by 20 minutes, and the return flight does give you the morning in San
Jose (Costa Rica).

The prices for this flight are:

Cost per Ticket:   $582.00
Taxes and Fees:    $66.95 (Includes $6.95 per ticket processing charge)
Subtotal: 	   $648.95 (Per ticket)
Number of Tickets: 2
Total Charges: 	   $1297.90

This is an approximate saving of $30 per ticket or $100 per ticket before taxes.

I have also done a quick search on tickets that are available
throughout the year to see what the best prices appear to be.  This
seems to average out around $600.  For peace of mind and knowing that
you are traveling over the holiday period I think I would book the
tickets now rather than gambling on saving around $50 later in the
year and possibly not getting a ticket.

If you have any further questions on this or would like me to keep
looking for you please ask for clarification.  I will do my best to
help you out.

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Request for Answer Clarification by landolakes-ga on 25 Jun 2004 10:07 PDT

I found the ticket on expedia which is great but couldn't reproduce
the ticket on lowestfare.com. Did you do anything special to find that
deal? I appreciate you taking the time to do this for me.

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Clarification of Answer by palitoy-ga on 25 Jun 2004 11:02 PDT

This is the URL I get but it may not work when you try to use it as it
has a "session key" in it which usually means they are time delayed:
http://partners.priceline.com/travel/airlines/lang/en-us/fare_results_ret.asp?session_key=3F0011AC400011AC20040625175936909380335285&plf=lwfr&path=cfe

To get the information I simply entered the dates you wanted at the
http://www.lowestfare.com homepage.

What happened when you tried that site?

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Clarification of Answer by palitoy-ga on 25 Jun 2004 11:11 PDT

I have just found the same flight here for $1292 which is a few bucks cheaper:
http://www.travelstoremaker.com

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Clarification of Answer by palitoy-ga on 25 Jun 2004 11:12 PDT

Make that $1284 if you go here!
http://www.thestoremaker.com/cgit/porch?agentid=onthefly&command=flights&externalprefs=Y&triptype=ROUNDTRIP&selectedticket=ETICKET&meta_do=do_power&maxfaresshown=30&maxflightsshown=10&path=add%2FProgress&meta_go=*&outampm=AM&retampm=AM&outhour=8&rethour=8&serviceclass=Economy&fromcity=SJC&outmonth=11&outday=26&tocity=SJO&retmonth=0&retday=3&ptc1=ADT&numptc1=2

Great work- this was by far the best ticket price around!

Thanks for the kind comments, 5-star rating and the tip!  They are all
much appreciated.