citygirlsmom

My Ds schools starts on or around August 26- move in day

She is flying cross from Bay Area to East coast

What are the most effiecient ways to deal with getting her and her stuff there

My H wants to take her, and I figure we can each take our stuff in a carry on and check to big bags each with her stuff

When did you book flights

What are the good student flight websites

Any tricks, hints, etc would help alot

somemom

Too bad we cannot get the CC folks on various coasts to coordinate all the nearby kids!

Does Southwest go to her locale? We have done a lot of the parents only taking a carry on and using all the other checked bag spots for Ds stuff. Southwest allows 3 carry ons and charges no penalty for switching dates/times.

I try to book as soon as possible with my best guess date, then change if ned be.

My kids have used studentuniverse.com, but it hasn't been all that amazing, except the occasional last minute thing. SWA ding fares are good, too.

sunshadow

My daughter just spent a semester at a boarding high school, traveling from Boston to FL. She a 2 huge suitcases, a trunk, a guitar case, a set of golf clubs. And she flew Delta, checked two things, and had to pay 50 dollars for anything additional, didn't seem to matter what the weight was.

jmmom

cgm - there have been threads on this with lots of great tips. So search on "cross country" "opposite coast" etc. etc.

Bed Bath and Beyond is my favorite tip. Go to your local one, scan in all the items she'll need (like a wedding registry!)and voila, they will be already for her/you to pick up at the BB&B near the college. IMPORTANT: save the 20%off etc. coupons starting NOW, including Linens & Things - they will honor both and will honor expired. You can have a whole stack. Only limit is one coupon/item. You pay at the pick-up site, not your home store. And, of course, you can add other items at the time.

We used your system re maxing out allowable luggage on the plane for DH, me and DS (2 checked bags each, 1 personal and 1 carryon). Watch the weight and dimension limits for checked bags. With a boy, we didn't need all of that, but with his stereo system and some game system or other, we came close.

I have found kayak.com to undercut all the other travel sites. It's a mega-search (or whatever they call it); finds all the possibles and then puts you through to another site to actually book - sometimes the airline itself, sometimes cheaptickets... whatever one has the price and schedule you like.

VeryHappy

I've been told at my local Bed Bath and Beyond that I can only use five coupons at one trip.

So if child, mom and dad are there together, that should mean 15 coupons, I would think.

Every once in a while I get a BB&B for 20% off the entire purchase. Keep your eyes open!

bookiemom

We also flew with our D, six large bags with her stuff plus carryons. (Be sure to COUNT bags when you leave airport--we left her guitar case behind and had to return to the airport for it.) We stayed in a hotel the first night (make those reservations now), then did shopping the next day plus move-in.

We bought over $500 at Target, opened a charge card, and saved $50. We were familiar with the items we needed and store layout from home. We bought her printer there, snacks, water pitcher, pillows, mattress pad, school supplies, personal supplies like shampoo. We bought her sheets and quilt at home and shipped that ahead by UPS, also some books and clothes. If you call the college they will tell you where you can send cartons ahead of time. The cartons were all at the dorm desk when we got there.

calmom

What airports would your daughter need to connect through.

Generally I find prices on domestic airfares are best if I book about 3 weeks out - I actually get better deals than if I book earlier. However, with a kid starting college, it's best if you can get a one-way ticket. If flying to NYC, then the best from the bay area is Jet Blue (except during heavy snow, apparently - not a problem in August). JB will start flights out of SFO to JFK in May.

Jet Blue prices tend to go up as the planes fill closer to departure dates, so you are better off booking about 60 days out. Earlier than that, the prices tend to be higher. You can expect to pay about $150 one way.

It's hot on the east coast in August, so you can make the move easier by packing the lighter clothing, and shipping heavy coats, sweaters, blankets, etc. later. It can also be easier to order most linens on line.

nikrud

My D also goes to school far from home, and her school has many kids from distant places. We were advised during the summer before her freshman year that we could mail boxes ahead of time - this worked out great. The kids picked them up on move in day. During the summer we rent a small storage space near school, and she fills it with whatever she won't need over the summer. By soph yr we had it down to a science...lol

Cressmom

CGM, we moved our S last year from East Coast to Midwest, and it wasn’t so difficult. At that time, the cheapest tickets were round trip, so we threw away his return ticket (it was hard having the ticket aboard and not him). My S sent his monitor and the subwoofer and speakers by UPS, the rest of his stuff flew with us (six bags for him, one for the three of us), and we bought all the bedding needs at the Bed, Bath and Beyond closest to school. This year, we will have to move our D too, and that will be very different, not only because it would be two moving out, but also because she has a lot of stuff that boys don’t use.

kathiep

My daughter flew out herself to her college in the Midwest but her college is also set up for many oos and international students. Students are allowed to have boxes shipped there about a month in advance. She shipped out the bulk of her stuff via USPS or UPS (including desk top computer and monitor) and then just went to the local target when she got there. She was fortunate in that many freshman have cars and she had a close friend that had hers there. For the plane ride she packed some clothes, toiletries and her bedding. Now she's a little worried about bringing back the accumlation of four years in her small car!

My strategy for flights is to go to sidestep, get the best price and then go to the Southwest website which doesn't show up. I prefer to fly (and pick up/drop off) from our local airport so start looking as soon as I know the date and then book when I see the price I'm willing to pay. For our small airport, booking as far ahead as possible means the lower prices but for the one way travel, we always go Southwest. Our small airport is close enough that we can ask neighbors to drop us off and pick up and I'm willing to pay about $25 more a ticket for the convienence.