I was shocked at the flight price myself, glass slipper. Our flights were $655/person, so $3930 total. Ouch. I think some of it is the rising cost of gas. We were fortunate that since we booked 9 months in advance that the airlines were not yet charging for luggage. Mostly the problem seems twofold, imo(and I am certainly no expert on airlines and flying). First, we were having to fly into one airport(Phoenix) and out another(Grand Junction). Second, Grand Junction is a very small airport (think bus stop). Limited number of flights and airlines that fly here, and you are further limited by the ABD restriction of what time your flight can be. So we had to fly Delta to Phoenix, and then leaving we flew United from Grand Junction to Denver, and then Continental home. This was the best price that I could find and the best price the t.a. could find. We didn't do an extra day before or after, and really felt no need to. It was easy to just get up and start our vacation that morning. So we did save money over those who had to rent cars and pay hotel for coming in day prior. (And with 6 of us,we have to rent SUV and get 2 hotel rooms, so it's always double what people with small families pay.)
Hopefully, you can find a better price. I can't tell you how much you will enjoy this adventure. It was truly splendid. Maybe if I had waited the prices would have gone down. But with so few airlines servicing GJT and so few times to choose from and so many people in my party, I just bit the bullet and booked.
And I totally agree with you that I went ahead & booked because the choices were so slim, especially with the time limitations, that I didn't dare risk not getting a flight. For me, driving to Denver (something I didn't want to do), and/or spending another night would have cost just as much, if not more than the difference in airfare. And I kept checking, the airfare never did get cheaper, it just kept going up & up in cost, until the flights were sold out.
