Brian K's 1999 Las Vegas
Summer Tour Trip Report

Ok. I haven't seen this done before so I thought I would write a Pre
Trip Report. I will cover the process I use to plan my next Las Vegas
vacation. In writing this Pre Trip Report I am hoping to maybe give
others some money saving ideas for their own planning of a trip to Las
Vegas as well as maybe getting some help or suggestions from you
readers of this report. I'm a firm believer in making my own plans 
rather than relying on a travel agent or buying a package. Travel 
agents don't have time (as you will see) to really dig and find the 
best fares available and air/hotel packages are just to over priced to 
make them a bargain (I will include these rates for your comparison).

If you are not into a detailed and probably boring account of checking
airfares, making hotel reservations and maybe a show reservation then
stop reading now. This report will however cover all of the above plus
more and will be updated when new information is uncovered.

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If you are still reading, this will be Pt 1 of probably several posts
chronicling the planning that I use to find the best airfare to Las
Vegas from the Southeast, Western South Carolina to be specific.
Since airfare is the biggest expense when traveling from most parts of 
the country to Las Vegas this part of the planning is the most 
important. Get on any plane and ask the person next to you how much 
he/she paid for airfare and you won't get the same answer twice. 
Airfares change by the minute, depending on seat availability, 
competition at different airports, price of jet fuel, price of peanuts,
the weight and or amount of freight the particular flight has 
scheduled, etc, etc, etc. It reminds me of the story about the rather 
large man who boarded a shuttle flight at a small airport. After 
everyone had boarded the plane the pilot made his preflight check of 
the airplane. As he walked down the isle he noticed the large passenger
sitting in two seats. The pilot asked the man how much he weighs. The 
man being somewhat offended by the question asked the pilot "Why do you
want to know ? " The pilot replied "So we know how much fuel to put
in the tanks." The man said "Hell, fill it up, I'll pay for the extra
fuel ! " The point here is I want to pay the very least for airfare 
that is possible, let the big spenders pick up the additional charges.
Now onward.


The players are in no particular order: Me (Brian K), my wife Tootsie,
and our next door neighbors Mike & Patty. Our plans are to spend five 
nights/six days in Las Vegas some time in June, the sooner the better.
My wife and I had originally planned to spend three nights in Laughlin,
airfare and hotel comped by Harrah's, from June 2nd to June 5th. But do
to an unforeseen circumstance, or should I say "I forgot about my 
daughters high school graduation on June 4th  when I made the 
reservation", we had to cancel. So since we were all hyped up to go to 
Nevada anyway this trip developed.

We have the luxury (if you can call it that) of choosing from three 
airports here in Western South Carolina. The first being beautiful
Bush Field in Augusta, GA., about a twenty minute drive from the 
house. Bush Field is only serviced by two airlines, Delta and
USAirways. Delta fly's its small MD80s to Atlanta for all connecting
flights as well as the Delta partner airline Atlantic Southeast 
Airlines (only puddle jumpers, you know the small prop engine eight 
seaters, flew on one once, won't do that again). USAir connects to 
Charlotte NC with those French made puddle jumpers so Delta usually 
gets my business from Augusta.

The second choice in airports is about a forty five minute drive to
Columbia SC. This airport is serviced by most of the major airlines
so you would think we should be able to get some pretty good rates
based on the competition there.

The third airport is none other than Atlanta's Hartsfield International.
All airlines fly from Atlanta and I have found the best fares in the
past in Atlanta. A two hour plus drive to Atlanta makes Hartsfield the 
least desirable of the three. Rest assured any flight originating from 
our other two choices will connect in Atlanta, I would much rather fly 
in to Hartsfield than drive in.

Here is what I have found so far. My first call to Delta was made last 
Monday. After waiting on hold for several minutes I was finally helped 
by a reservation clerk. I started the conversation by telling her that 
I am looking for the best fare available to Las Vegas from Augusta. 
Dates are not set in stone but we would like to depart sometime in June 
after the 4th. I made a point to tell her that my departure date depends 
on the best fare that she can find. The best rate she could quote was 
$448 round trip. Next question, Please check the rate from Atlanta. She 
checked and gave me a rate of $478. Hmmm, $30 cheaper from Augusta, 
remember all flights from Augusta connect in Atlanta. In fact the 
Augusta flight connects with the same flight to Las Vegas quoted 
earlier. Wonder if they would pay me $30 to just fly from Augusta to 
Atlanta? I made a  second call to Delta Tuesday afternoon and was 
quoted a rate of $422 from Augusta and Columbia. The Atlanta rate had 
dropped to $458. That night I started surfing the various travel 
companies on the net including the airline web pages. The best rate I
found was $198 from all three of my airport choices. This is a special 
fare that has to be completed by May 30th. I have continued to check 
all of the above mentioned sources all week and right now the best fare 
is with United out of Columbia or Atlanta. $258 with travel good until 
September 99. This fare must be purchased by June 4th so I'll continue 
to check the rates this week and will probably purchase by Wednesday.


More still to come. As soon as the airline tickets are purchased and 
the dates are set I will start looking into hotel accommodations as 
well as rental car options. If anyone has any suggestions or criticisms
please don't hesitate to email me. Hope this helps, Thanks for reading,
and Pt 2 to follow. Brian K

To The 1999 Summer Tour Pre Trip Report Pt 2 (6/1/99)