Now's a terrific time to shop for plane tickets to FOGcon! I've found some really good deals when shopping for airfare around the holidays. The airlines sometimes offer lower prices to improve their sales, since lots of people aren't thinking about future travel yet.
FOGcon starts at 1 PM on Friday March 30, and ends in the late afternoon of Sunday April 1. If possible, you'll want to fly in Thursday night and leave either late Sunday or early Monday. Hotel room rates will extend on either side of the convention. Flying in Thursday night is usually cheaper than Friday daytime.
Some tips (from my personal experience):
- You can fly into either SFO (San Francisco airport) or OAK (Oakland airport). Check both. Oakland is closer to the convention and has fewer weather delays. Both airports are on the BART line, so it's easy to travel from the airport to the hotel.
- If you live in a major Western city (Seattle, Portland, LA, Phoenix, maybe Denver), you will likely see good prices if you come into Oakland on Southwest. Alaska Airlines is the other likely choice for low fares, especially if you're in Seattle.
- If you live in Chicago, you may want to check prices from Midway to Oakland on Southwest. It might be worth the cost difference to fly out of the smaller Midway.
- If you live in New York, Southwest flies out of La Guardia, and I think they have some inexpensive flights to Oakland as well. I haven't tried this personally.
- If you live in another city I didn't mention, you will probably have more luck with SFO as a destination. Just shop around.
- Shop on Tuesdays and Wednesdays! Many airlines drop their fares a little bit mid-week to boost sagging sales. They raise them again from Friday to Monday, when people are shopping. I've seen up to $40 difference on Oakland/Seattle flights just by shopping midweek. So, to sum up: Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and next week are great times to look for plane tickets to FOGcon. If you can, arrive Thursday night. Don't forget to preregister for the con.
If you have questions, ask us and we'll try to help!
--Vylar Kaftan, Chair