[DFNY]

Yikes! Not surprisingly, flights from NY's JFK to GUA for 12/13-12/20 are going to take a big bite out of our "nearly empty" wallets! With the short lead time and the holidays around the corner, the least expensive R/T flights that I've found are $719/person and that's to get home by 1:30AM after a long day. DH & I are taking our 3 yr old son and picking up our 3 yr old daughter. I understand a R/T ticket may be less expensive for DD than a 1-way so it may cost us more than $3000 for just flights. I've tried Velocity Tours online, and Side Step which looks at numerous airlines at one time. Nothing good is showing up.

Any suggestions? Who should I contact at Velocity Tours to check out hotel rates at the same time as the flights?

TIA

Damaris

[PackGirl]

You may also want to try Latin Destinations... They also have good prices sometimes!

I'm sooo excited for you guys!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry it is going to be pricy... but I'm still excited!!!!

[dana3262]

are you open to flying out of newark? that's where we left from, you may find less expensive flights.

congratulations !!! can't wait to meet you at the next NY get together!!

[DPline]

Try calling Velocity. Trent is my absolute hero when it comes to booking flights and good fares. And anyone who could deal with my hysteria that DH HAD to be in Guatemala in less than 48 hours has the patience of a saint! (This was before appointments when you got Pink and flew out ASAP.)

Good luck! I can't wait to see your Pink post!

[avoel]

Another one to try is Travel Intrigue. I used them both times and they got me amazing last minute fares as well (like DPline back in the days of last minute pinks and no appointments!)

[dkateriz]

Try Tim at Federal Travel but I suspect the problem is the time of year. I picked up in January for my first daughter and I paid $900 plus per ticket out of Newark in 2006.They have a web site & are based in Florida.

[robandjulie]

Ugh, I know! We flew for pickup the week of Guatemalan Independence Day and we wanted flights that were fairly direct--hard to do from our tiny airport--without 20+ hour layovers especially on the flight back with a potentially distraught 1.5 year old.

We talked to Trent and a very nice woman named Mari at Velocity Tours. If you call or email them she'll likely be the one that gets back to you. We also checked kayak and latin destinations and so on and so on. We ended up booking the hotel through them (Grand Tikal) but got the best flight deal for flights we could tolerate on Kayak.

In the end we still paid $1030 PER FLIGHT for DH and I and another $400 to bring DS home on his one way ticket and that got us home at midnight with one connection. I took comfort in thinking this: I'd rather pay one huge price now than another affordable visit now and a more affordable pickup later. I know you know this, and of COURSE you should shop for the best deal, but in the end whatever you end up paying will be what you pay and you don't have to plan another trip until you're darn good and ready.

I'm so happy for your family to be together for the holidays!

[DFNY]

Thanks everyone for your input. We are so excited to be at this point. What's another $3000+, right? UGH!

Damaris

[tribonnamer]

Hi Damaris,

I don't know if you consider this good news or not -- it is probably just the time of year. We paid about $800 each for our plane tickets two years ago. We traveled on the 12th so it's about the same time frame. The difference for me was that E was under two and I think I bought him a lap ticket (though it worked out since there were empty seats on the return flight).

Can't wait to hear that you've actually booked and are on your way -- you're so close.....

[LockStock]

A quick search on Travelocity pulled up a much better fare if flying out of Newark.


JFK-GUA $833
LGA-GUA $708
EWR-GUA $498.24

Flight: 1 Round-Trip TicketSat, Dec 13, 2008Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Guatemala City (GUA) Depart: 08:00pm

Arrive: 11:00pm
Newark, NJ (EWR) to
Orlando, FL (MCO)
Copa Airlines
Flight 2592 operated by Continental Airlines (on Boeing 757-300)
Adult fare rules

1 Stop – change planes in Orlando, FL (MCO)
Connection Time: 7 hrs
Depart: 06:00am

Arrive: 09:16am
Orlando, FL (MCO) to
Panama City, Panama (PTY)
Copa Airlines
Flight 435 (on Boeing 737-700)
Adult fare rules

1 Stop – change planes in Panama City, Panama (PTY)
Connection Time: 31 mins
Depart: 09:47am

Arrive: 11:07am
Next day
Panama City, Panama (PTY) to
Guatemala City, Guatemala (GUA)
Copa Airlines
Flight 406 (on Embraer EMB E90 Jet)
Adult fare rules

Total Travel Time: 16 hrs 7 mins

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sat, Dec 20, 2008Guatemala City (GUA) to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) Depart: 05:42am

Arrive: 08:57am
Guatemala City, Guatemala (GUA) to
Panama City, Panama (PTY)
Copa Airlines
Flight 497 (on Embraer EMB E90 Jet)
Adult fare rules

1 Stop – change planes in Panama City, Panama (PTY)
Connection Time: 1 hr 3 mins
Depart: 10:00am

Arrive: 03:04pm
Panama City, Panama (PTY) to
Newark, NJ (EWR)
Copa Airlines
Flight 2886 operated by Continental Airlines (on Boeing 737-900)
Adult fare rules

Total Travel Time: 8 hrs 22 mins

[mamaskoby]

Congratulations, so glad to see your happy news. You must try kayak.com. BEst way to see all international fares at same time. Best of luck!

[Evansmommy]

If you play around with your dates, you might be able to take Spirit Air...they only go to GUA on MWF, though...a quick check saved about $800. You could also stay a shorter amount of time and consider not taking your 3 year old? We stayed only 4 days on pickup and left our then 4 year old at home. It was nice to have that time alone with our "baby". Just a thought...one less ticket saves quite a chunk! Congratulations and have fun. (We left dec. 8-13th to years ago and paid $900 for tickets!)

[susy...patience]

And for an inexpensive hotel think about Casa Grande....right next door to Embassy so don't need taxi on those stressful days. Prices start at $65 and giant room is only 100..

[DFNY]

Thanks to everyone for their input on flights and hotels. You are wonderful. And, LockStock, thanks for running those numbers. Just wanted to let you know that we did move forward and purchased tickets on Spirit Airlines (12/12-19), despite the visa appt not being set. The total cost of just under $2900 includes a one-way ticket for Nidia. Spirit Airlines nickels & dimes you to death: even charging for allowing you to reserve your own seats online ($12 for an aisle or window seat, $7 for a middle seat!!!). Still, we decided to finally "pull the trigger" today b/c the price had increased almost $500 since Friday & it was still the least expensive we found. Yikes! Soooo...it's done. We are officially in pick-up mode.

Damaris

[PackGirl]

Sooo happy you have your flights booked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Cant wait to see you have PINK!!!!!!