Too bad Delta takes 2 years off your life every time you fly with them.

With the way the airline rates fluctuate, you can be better or worse off booking early.

Since it's starting to look like I'll have to miss this years event Perhaps we should start planning for 2009 early and give everyone lots of time to lock in arrangments. With enough advance planning I'm open to all suggestions.

Lunarfest '09! If we call early enough, NASA may be able to squeeze us in.

Have you ever used Farecast.com? It searches historical data and then tells you whether prices are likely to go up or down from the point they're at now.

No, I haven't used Farecast. Truthfully, I've only flown a couple times. I'm a rookie when it comes to air travel.

Do prices fluctuate that much? I don't really know.



Edit: Farecast says to buy now. Hmm, I still think I'll wait a bit.

Oh yes! I've seen swings of $800 on flights to Europe. Brutal! But domestically might be different. I don't usually fly around the US without crossing a border, so maybe it's a Canadian>International thing.

I can't foresee it being too bad for me--it's just a flight up the coast. I'd imagine longer flights, or international flights would be affected more.

Thinking out loud--maybe I should just drive up there. It'd be a great opportunity to enjoy the other parts of California and Oregon. Of course, gas could be $7 a gallon by then. . .

Yeah, road trips are looking less and less attractive unless you own one of them new-fangled hybrids or biodiesel conversions.

Yeah, we never actually fly them anymore. They never win the Expedia price wars. The miles came from an American Express card that we used heavily at Costco.

So, fellas, any Tuttlefest updates?

I have blocked off my schedule for the week of Monday, August 11. I'll be doing something fun that week, but the agenda is wide open. I would still love to hang out with you guys for at least some part of it.

I checked airfare today, not pretty. Nonstops to the west coast are $600, one-stops are $450-500. Cheapest seems to be Baltimore to San Jose. I'd be shuddering in fear on both ends of that flight, I bet. Still, I'd like to lock something in before the 30-day window prior to flying closes and the prices go up. Or is that 21? Or both?

Anybody going to be able to play along? And where is tomtuttle hiding these days anyway?!