Now is a Great Time to Book a Flight to New York City

Posted on August 30, 2009, 10:21 am, by admin.

brooklyn-hipsters For most of the summer, certain airlines were offering cheap flights to New York City from San Francisco, but these flights were often one-stop or traveled only Monday through Wednesday. Flights on other days, and especially on the weekend, tended to cost most towards $350.

Now, you can fly on a number of different airlines, direct both ways for under $300, and for $239 if your flexible with your dates.

You can even fly to New York for $259 roundtrip as part of a weekend getaway.

Here are Your Best Flight Options, Broken Down by Airline:

JetBlue: JetBlue just added more direct routes between SFO and JFK, so expect future deals from them on flights to New York. Right now, the cheapest flights tend to be early in the week or on Saturdays. The price on their flights will then go up quite a bit on other days. Cheapest JetBlue flights I’ve seen cost $239.

Virgin America: By far my favorite airlines, but the cheapest flights to New York tend to be in the middle of the day, leaving at 3 pm, and the cheapest flights coming back from New York tend to be at 7 AM. Still, you can fly out on Thursday afternoon, and fly back Sunday afternoon for about $300 roundtrip, and both flights will be direct. For a weekend flight, they can be your best option. The cheapest flights with Virgin America usually cost $259.

Continental Airlines: One of the consistently cheapest flight options right now. Flights on most days and times are just under $260 roundtrip including all taxes and fees.

Alaska Airlines: Same deals as Continental. Direct flights are available on most days, and if booked a few weeks in advance, you can keep the price below $260.

American Airlines: Cheap flights in the middle of the week, especially Monday through Wednesday. If you fly out on Wednesday and fly back on Monday, you can book a flight for $239 including all taxes and fees. Flights on the weekends go up in price signficantly.

Southwest: Loved by business travelers for their reliability and consistently low-priced flights. You’ll have to find their fares by searching directly on their website (most flight search aggregators such as kayak and sidestep don’t include southwest flight listings in their search results) , but even after doing this, you’ll find that Southwest flights to New York City are rarely any cheaper than the airlines listed above.

Synopsis: The cheapest flights to New York are Monday-Wednesday. Flying on Friday or Sunday will be more expensive, but the total cost will still be under $300 for a direct flight each way.