I waited until today to book my AoIR plane tickets so I could get the department to pay for it, rather than waiting on reimbursement. Avoiding a complicated, personally trying story that is too long to even get into, insane fare hikes and good advice led me to studentuniverse.com: Student travel deals and cheap airfares.
I saved over $120. Definitely worth noting for future reference. You just have to be a student -or- faculty member ... confirmed through your .edu email address.