Considering Wiscon and seeing information/advice

[redbird]

If I'm going to Wiscon, I should get plane tickets soon. They are already looking expensive, but I'm not sure whether that's timing, this year versus last, or flying out of Seattle rather than New York. The thing is, a lot of what I'm finding involves getting up unreasonably early (6:50 out of SEA) meaning getting up I don't know when); is this just an artifact of stupid software that will let me specify "depart between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m." but not "anything that leaves between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m." (in which case I will take a deep breath and run umpteen searches and scribble notes on paper) or is it really showing me what's out there and/or halfway affordable, given that I'm looking at flying a significant distance east and making at least one connection?

Also, if there's anything non-obvious and useful that you know about this route, please tell me.

Comments

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

A lot of the cost difference you're seeing is because Seattle to Madison is farther and less heavily travelled than New York to Madison. We generally fly through Minneapolis rather than through Chicago, with Detroit as the second choice for changing planes, because those airports are less affected by midwestern weather than Chicago.

We haven't tried the bus from Chicago to Madison, but if you fly Southwest to Midway rather than anybody else to O'Hare and are willing to risk Chicago weather-related cancellations, that could work.

[redbird]

I thought so, but it's worth knowing that this isn't just "you should have booked in March."

(I took the bus from O'Hare once, when my connecting flight was canceled; this is part of why I made a point of taking Midwest to Milwaukee a year or two later, for the shorter bus if necessary.)