(US) Google Flights is ridiculously awesome... TSA still sucks, though.

[Kluge]

Round-trip from DTW to SFO and back, $276 total after fees & taxes. $316 total with a bag. There's one connection on each flight in Denver. ~18h total travel time. GFlights makes it absurdly easy to find ultra-cheap flights.

Compare to alternative (dramatically slower) ways of travel:
Car (assume generous avg of 30mpg, $3.50/gal-gas) - $560 round-trip + car wear + toll roads + motel rooms (~50 hours total travel without sleeping, 4-6 days with sleeping)
Train (most uncomfortable way to travel in the US) - $458 (three transfers, ~60 hours total travel)
Bus (by leaps and bounds, most dangerous ways to travel in the US) - [Greyhound site down, couldn't find another bus company willing to take someone that far. From previous experiences, price probably ~$650-$1100, ~100 hours total travel and 5-15 total transfers)


If you're willing to put up with the TSA, flying is - by far - the fastest and safest way to travel. With GFlights, it is now also often the cheapest way to travel.

(all use cheapest travel option [economy or equiv.], no ability to check bags on train route looked up, tried to find cheapest option for travel in October using flexible dates. No particular reason for posting... I just remember when flight was considered the luxury option for travel.)

[nobbynobbynoob]

I'm hoping you Americans can do away with the TSA and DHS in the near future. I'm sure it's dissuading a lot of foreign tourists from coming, including me. I might consider Porkfest in NH next year though, because I can bus in from Canada.

[Kluge]

I'm hoping you Americans can do away with the TSA and DHS in the near future. I'm sure it's dissuading a lot of foreign tourists from coming, including me. I might consider Porkfest in NH next year though, because I can bus in from Canada.

TSA wasn't so bad when I flew a ~3 years ago from NC to MI. I even had a connection in DC where there was apparently some type of recess in Congress, causing the lobby to be 100% lobbyists & Congressional aides - except me, in a ragged t-shirt and a Jew-y/Amish beard carrying nothing but a few radical books in a repurposed Vietnam-era military jacket. Didn't receive any probes, frisks, or suspicious glances. I was thanking White Jesus that day, though I've been leery about taking flights since.

OTOH, maybe they were just thinking it wouldn't be so bad if I were a domestic terrorist that day.

(what would you tour in the US as a Canadian??? Casinos, natural wonders turned tourist traps, a few decent comedians who probably already tour in Canada anyway...? Startlingly out-of-place nuclear reactors in impoverished rural landscapes? Tour of our piss-beer factories?  )

[tysat]

I didn't know about Google Flights till now, thanks Kluge!  I'm guessing it's probably just a prettier/nicer version of http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ which I had used previously to save money.

I got a flight from DC to Ft. Lauderdale, FL round trip for like $130 before using http://matrix.itasoftware.com/.  Hooray saving money!

[nobbynobbynoob]

I'm Jamaican actually but lived in Canada many moons ago. Montréal would be the convenient hub to travel to New Hampshire, and the TSA can be bypassed.

I've been to the States a few times and while the governments may be rogue these days, I still kinda like Americans. Actually, Montana or New Hampshire might still not be the worst places in the world to live, even now, as long as you can deal with US immigration controls (hard), the IRS and a real winter.

[RodeoX]

I love google flights sooooooo much! My best deal so far... Round trip Chicago to Istanbul, $568. 
You couldn't drive there for that price, if there was a road. Forget Kayak, Expedia, William Shatner. They are done for.

[Kluge]

I'm Jamaican actually but lived in Canada many moons ago. Montréal would be the convenient hub to travel to New Hampshire, and the TSA can be bypassed.

I've been to the States a few times and while the governments may be rogue these days, I still kinda like Americans. Actually, Montana or New Hampshire might still not be the worst places in the world to live, even now, as long as you can deal with US immigration controls (hard), the IRS and a real winter.

Ah - don't worry about immigration controls. I have a male and female ready to marry, and space for any refugees in the basement. 

You'd have to spend a year or few in MI, though.

[nobbynobbynoob]

That can't fly unless I get to meet my hero theymos, and he lives in WI.