Hi,
I hope to visit my unmarried son at Ft. benning but won't know if he graduates until a few days before he actually graduates. I need some advice on last minute travel, places to stay etc. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
Noreen

whats the date he'd be graduating? I'd recommend booking a hotel now just in case because ones close to the base might be booked up, then if you don't end up going just cancel 24 hrs in advance. That would be my biggest concern with last minute travel down there. I'm not sure where you live, but most plane tickets are nonrefundable so that could be a problem. Maybe you could drive down.

Hi,
We hope he will graduate on May 1, 2009 so I took yr. advice and booked a hotel and did find that many close to base were already full!
We live near Boston & so flying will be the best bet for us since we have other kids in high school & college here at home and can't be away from home for too long.
Trying to figure that piece out too - because canceling a flight is a bit more expensive.

Thanks for your advice.

You are in for some pretty pricey fares on this short notice. SW has one-way at $231 and 312 doing the Providence to Birmingham route. That is what I checked first because they tend to be cheaper.

However, using Expedia I found one-way flights from Boston to Atlanta for $210 and then return from $220 to $305. So you are looking at $500-$600 for the trip, per person, plus a rental car because nothing flies to Columbus.

oh, ok thats the day my bf graduates too! i'm flying from CT. Hopefully you will hear from your son soon, good luck!

I know that Delta flies into Columbus with a stop at Atlanta. Try delta.com and see what you can find, he has 10 days leave after grad right? so you have some flexibility in your return date. I was looking to go into Columbus and I found some pretty good priced tickets, around 325 round trip.

Hi,
Thanks for all the suggestions. M
My husband is doing a comparison of all fares & routes now and you are right, mturnb, it won't be cheap. We have seen a few flights through Air Tran - Boston to Atlanta that might work but we are still trying different routes just as you suggested into Birmingham etc.
Jack is in Ranger School so we really won't know if he graduates until the Sunday (4/26) before the Friday he graduates which makes booking a fare in advance nearly impossible. If he doesn't make it this go round the next grad. date is Memorial Day weekend! $$$$ - talk about pricey then - 325 would be great!
He has been there since Jan 4 and so we really hope that he'll be graduating on the same day as ArmyGF's beau does. Looking into travel insurance but there doesn't seem to be one that protects us from an "act of the usarmy" as there are for acts of nature, terrorism etc ;-)


mturnb

You definitely want to balance out the difference in cost on flying into Atlanta or Columbus. Since you will need to rent a car either way, the difference in air fare could be significant just to make up for a two hour drive. You also want to check out the difference in car rental prices between Atlanta and Columbus. One would think that car rental should be the same regardless of location but I have found that renting from two different locations can be significantly different (I especially saw this flying in Chicago where Midway is cheaper than O'Hare for car rental and Midway is eaier).

My son, Adam, graduated from Ft. Benning on March 26th. I booked (for my daughter-n-law and myself)to Columbus and saved 20% on the rental car by booking it through the airline. I saved on the rooms (3 nights) by price shopping through military.com's travel section to locate hotels & motels that offer military discounts. We left from JFK since we live in NYS. I am very thankful for the money I saved and to military.com for the info. My ex-husband drove down from Buffalo, NY to save money, but missed Family Day, was exhausted and spent more in fuel (I saved him the expense on the room by booking 1 extra). He didn't know about the military discount and was amazed when he asked me about the total cost of our trip. He said the next time, he'll do the same thing. I have shared this with my niece as my nephew will graduate from there in June. However, I do know of a wife that booked to Atlanta (room & rental car too) and drove to Columbus. Booked the room in Columbus and was thrilled that she did it that way. I don't know if this helps, but I thought I should let you know. Congrads & Best Wishes

quote:

Originally posted by noreenjacksmom:
Hi,
Thanks for all the suggestions. M
My husband is doing a comparison of all fares & routes now and you are right, mturnb, it won't be cheap. We have seen a few flights through Air Tran - Boston to Atlanta that might work but we are still trying different routes just as you suggested into Birmingham etc.
Jack is in Ranger School so we really won't know if he graduates until the Sunday (4/26) before the Friday he graduates which makes booking a fare in advance nearly impossible. If he doesn't make it this go round the next grad. date is Memorial Day weekend! $$$$ - talk about pricey then - 325 would be great!
He has been there since Jan 4 and so we really hope that he'll be graduating on the same day as ArmyGF's beau does. Looking into travel insurance but there doesn't seem to be one that protects us from an "act of the usarmy" as there are for acts of nature, terrorism etc ;-)


mturnb

Hi,
Thanks for the advice re: traveling to Ft. Benning. Perhaps I didn't do a very gd. job of exploring the travel section here at military.combecause I din't find any military discounts that applied to me - as a parent even though my son is unmarried. Spoke with a travel agent who said that my son could get the discount if he were doing the booking but I could not. Of course in Ranger School he is 'out of the world" completely and making any arrangements would be impossible for him.
So at this point I found a cheap flight from BOS to ATL and have a rental - this will actually work okay because now another family member found a cheap flight to ATL from the midwest & we will travel together via my rental.

Of course if he doesn't graduate this session I'll be starting all over again but I'll be a little more diligent in digging through the travel section of military.com

Congratulations to your son and thank you for your advice.