Flying low or Flying High?

I am hoping to fly low... low season that is :) I have heard people tell me that plane tickets from the midwest to Addis are 1500, and I have heard 3000. I wondered why and decided to get to the bottom of things. Afterall, if you multiply that by 4 (we are traveling twice) you will get very different numbers. It is hard to tell people, "Our flights will either be 6300 or 12,300 (300 comes from the estimated lap child rate)" without a look of confusion from the other person. 6300 or over 12K, it is all A LOT of money to me!

Well, I sent a few emails about this range to travel agencies specializing in adoption travel. Some agencies actually wrote back and said, get this, "your estimate is correct..." What is that?? Today a gentleman from Golden Rule travel really did "go the second mile" as their agency advertises. He called me and explained all about the high verses low fare rates. He even typed in dates, (like say Feb 2nd) and gave me the rates. It is crazy for me to think that we could potentially be on that flight... in my BIG BOLD prayers anyway. Here is the scoop:
Low fare season fares run around 1600 right now. The high season fares are about 2600-2800. YIKES! The high season starts around May so lets kick the prayers in gear for both flights before the rate increase.

The good news about the fares is that they are the adoption fares (with the total money back thing) and if you are willing to take a little gamble around 60 dollars a person to change dates, you can use the published fares which even during the high season are $17-1900. He said that he rarely recommends taking this chance, but that it seems like it could be a very good plan as even if you had to make changes it would still save money.

Please keep in mind that these quotes are the BEST prices ever. We will be at the mercy of the court date and embassy date to some degree so we would figure the upper end of most things. In my mind I will start thinking, hoping, and praying for under 2K a ticket! Yes, that is A LOT, but I can't swim there and it would be a LONG boat ride, so we must pay.