+1 on traveling midweek if your schedule allows, though it's usually not a big penalty to fly on the weekends. I know six weeks used to be the "sweet spot," but what I've heard more recently is just to book as soon as your plans are firm, because it only gets more expensive as time goes by.

If you're planning on bringing a lot of carryons, make sure you'll be on full-sized aircraft your whole trip. Columbus is served by a lot of commuter jets that have very little space for carryons. It's not only larger bags that will have to be gate checked, but even if you have a small bag, if you board later, all the overhead space may be full and you'll have to gate-check it. My one trip on Southwest this spring, I had to gate-check a bag and it went into regular cargo and got checked through - I've heard of people having the same experience on other airlines as well. So make sure that you have your stuff segregated between your carryons and have one that you can safely check as is, and all your valuables, essential medications, etc. in your smallest bag.

And if you have an extra few hours and want to get together, PM me.