Need guidelines for finding a cheap flight to Seattle (and car and hotel)

[swampnurse]

I'm planning a vacation to British Columbia this summer and hope to fly to Seattle this time before heading up to see our relatives on Vancouver island.

It's been WAAAAAY too long since I planned a vacation. I can't remember what days and times I am supposed to fly in order to get the best deals. I also don't know what the current best sites for flight/car rental/hotel searching are. Expedia, Orbitz, etc....?

Please help this vacation deprived mom plan a vacation that won't eat up my entire tax refund!

[kcampbell]

Definately try expedia and or orbitz to see what it looks like the prices are for flights, rental cars and or hotels. We usually check one of those for an overall idea and then book flights directly from the airlines website (it usually saves $5-10 to book direct). Once you have an idea on car rental prices you could try Priceline, bidding on a particular price per day but if they accept your offer you are obligated to that rental. This works great for us usually but just bid smart because you can only re-bid every 3 days if they refuse. You could also check out like www.biddingfortravel.com or something like do a google search for the exact link and see what others are getting. Priceline works for hotels too but you only pick the general area and rating like 3 vs 4 stars. If you know for sure where you want to stay this may not be the best option. Do you have any type of credit card or frequent user type things. We stay at alot of hotels using points from Starwood (Westin, the W, Sheraton etc.). I know there are several nice properties in Seattle that Starwood owns. Hope that helps a little. We may visit Seattle this summer too!

[supercalifragilous]

I just noticed this post and I don't know if I'm coming in too late...

We fly to LA quite frequently and always fly Alaska just b/c it's a direct flight from Seattle. Nowadays I usually expect to pay between $236-261 for a RT flight - it should be cheaper to SF/OAK since it isn't as far. That said, SF/OAK seems to be a stop en route to LA for Southwest. If you don't mind the cattle call, they do have cheap web specials.

I like to check www.kayak.com or www.farecompare.com to get a feel for what rates are.