Flexible travel, short notice flights?
 

In a week or two I plan to drive a car (old Audi A6 Avant) from Oklahoma to Phoenix and give it to my daughter. About a 1,000 mile drive. The get in the car and drive part is easy. The get back home part is what I am trying to figure out now.
I don't want to buy an airline ticket much in advance because I haven't determined my exact travel dates. My daughter is about due to have a baby after a difficult pregnancy, just bought a new house, my grandson is about to start school... It's hard to know if it's best to make it a short overnight visit, or stay for a week. I'll know when I get there. Flexible travel plans are my goal.

-Can you walk into an airport, buy a ticket and go for a reasonable price with no advance purchase? I know I have had to make short notice changes for canceled/delayed connections enroute and it was pretty simple. Are there actually good bargains to be had with some flexibility?

-I could buy a cheap car to drive back home. Maybe sounds like a bad idea to many, but I buy about a dozen cars a year to strip, flip, sell, or give away. About $2k cash, a tool bag, fluids, and a credit car for contingency... I could have some fun and enjoy the risk and adventure. This is a solo trip while the wife stays home with the dogs.

-I could ship the Audi and drive a Boxster. Somehow that just doesn't feel right. Part of the purpose of the trip is to 'bring the Audi'.

-I could drive a Cayenne and tow the Audi on my trailer. That's a lot of trailer miles and a lot of gas and wear running the Cayenne with a heavy load. Empty trailer coming home..?

Do you have any Travel tips, advice, warnings, or stories to share?

A few internet searches as I wrote this have shown some decent samples of last minute airfares.

Search the internet for flights. You should try different sites, such as Expedia, Kayak, etc.

Pretty straight-forward.

My parents use to do a lot of Standby flying and it was a cheap way to fly. You do have to be willing to sit in the airport and I don't know if that is a thing of the past. I would think if you have flexibility, last minute tickets should be cheapest as the airline would rather get some $$ for a seat then nothing

I use skyscanner and hipmonk apps to ding the best price on flights. Skyscanner will let you know when prices drop

Plans changed, my younger daughter asked to come along. We each drove a car. She drove the Audi, I took a Tiptronic 99 Box. We mostly stayed on I-40 heading to Phoenix. I think we'll stay off the interstate on the trip home
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4410/...c60e6300_c.jpg
Really should have worn a bra...
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4363/...8e6b7b58_c.jpg

HAHA nice bumper. I have never owned a car that attracts even half as many bugs as these cars do :D