Is Airfare Hurting DVC?

[doubletrouble_vb]

Every so often you see assessments about what DVC costs.

Well I don't have a problem with the cost of DVC but I do know that based on what's going on with airfare just now I wouldn't buy DVC.

I can't find a direct flight from EWR to MCO in early November for less than $418! This from a place you could almost always find SOMEBODY to take you for $200 or less. All of a sudden I have to start considering Orlando as a weeklong destination rather than the half week one I'd planned on. If airfare were $300 to $400 consistently last year I never would have bought. I can't imagine what people with families do...drive???

Of course I can offset that by reducing the amount I spend in Disney!

But I have to say...if Michael Eisner should have bought anything else in his buying frenzy a short hop airline from certain hubs would have been worthwhile (Newark, Atlanta...even Baltimore).

[anniet]

We fly and recently I haven't paid more than $100 round trip. I don't go out of Boston anymore though. (I'd like them to fix a few issues before I start using Logan again-but I started that pre 9/11 even)

We fly from Providence to Orlando on Southwest. I know, I know a lot of people don't like Southwest, but I've had great luck with them and the savings are definitely worth it!

[PamOKW]

I don't think airfare increases per se are hurting DVC. However, the overall decline in people flying (which is the reason the fares are increasing) is probably having an effect. In fact, I'd be curious to know how sales are progressing after the boom that took place early on. Quite a few DVC members came from overseas and that market is way down in visiting the USA. I imagine thay aren't buying into DVC as they had in the past.

[CarolMN]

Airfare has always been a concern for those of us who have to fly out of MSP (Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN). It was once of the items that almost convinced us not to buy DVC at all.

That said, I've learned that good fares can be found out of MSP if I start looking as soon as my DVC ressies are made (10-11 months ahead of arrival), if I'm willing to make one connection, and if I'm patient. This coming December my DH & I are flying round trip for $158 each. It's not non-stop:( , but it's a great price. We've usually paid about $200 +/- $25 for a non-stop on NWA. I'd be willing to pay that this year, but the best prices for our dates were well over $300 each. We're both goiing for LESS than NWA is charging for one! Doesn't look like we'll be on NWA for many months to come, LOL! (But at least they are not on the verge of filing for bankruptcy, either). Had bad, bad experiences on charters and won't go that route again.

The bad news is that for us, last minute trips to WDW (or even trips that don't include a Saturday night stay) are tough to arrange. Between worrying about non-refundable airfare and DVC waitlists, I would just be a nervous wreck!

Anyway, sorry for the long post - too much info, right??:teeth::teeth: Just wanted to let you know that you are not alone!

Good luck with your search for reasonable November airfare!

[Regina]

I see that you're from NJ. Historically, the start of November is "Jersey week" at WDW because your schools are closed for teacher conferences. A lot of people from the Garden State choose to vacation during this time.

It's supply and demand. The airlines know the popular times. Perhaps if you try a different airport, you may have better luck.

In 10 years, we've never had a problem getting reasonable airfare. We're paying less than $200.00 roundtrip for Christmas/NYE, a peak travel time, because we jumped on the airfares when they were first released.

This could change, but so far so good.

[dlr25]

I always book my flights first (LGA or JFK) and my rooms next. This is probably why I'm waitlisted for my room in early Dec. but I got a good fare ($235)!

Depending on where you live in NJ, it may be worth the trip to LGA or JFK for more flight options.

[sgtpet]

Just wait and see. The pricing will drop. Continental for late October was $350. Now I see pricing for $183. Just wait. It will work out.

[PamOKW]

doubletrouble -- A quick look at Expedia shows AA with lower fares out of JFK. They still aren't great, but might be worth considering. Or, you can also play the waiting game.

[jel0511]

If you're planning of traveling either of the first two weekends of Nov, you've found yourself right in the middle of NJ week. NJ schools are closed for Nov 7,8 and some for the whole week due to the Teacher conventions and election day. A lot of NJ families travel dow to WDW due to the good weather and lower prices. I know most flights have been booked up since May, since when we made our flight arrangements, the lowest we were able to find was $311pp and limited seat availability. We couldn't get 4 seats together and are sitting 2 and 2. A co-worker of Dh's was able to find affordable airfare by flying out of LGA, so that might be an option for you. Both EWR and PHL are pretty booked solid and I wouldn't count on airfare dropping, since most of the flights are booked solid. I know mine are, my sister tried to join us on our flights and was unable to, since they were sold out!!! Good Luck!!

[anniet]

I know some people don't like to do this, but I usually wait until I'm within 60 days of my departure date to book my flight. I have a funny story about this too.

In September 2000 I organized a trip for me and 12 other members of our family to spend 10 days at Coronado Springs for the Millenium Celebration. The only thing I did NOT arrange for everyone was the flights, since my cousins live in central MA and wanted to fly out of CT. etc....

So my sister booked the flight for my parents, her DH, DD, and herself in May and paid around $175 per ticket. She kept on me after that to the point that she was getting really mad :mad: and telling me I better purchase a ticket PDQ or I was going to be OUT OF LUCK! (I don't know why she was so upset, did she think I'd arrange this whole trip and then not go? :confused: )

Anyway, at the very end of July I logged onto Travelocity. I found the same flight she was on.....so I called her. I asked her what seat number she had and she told me. Then she asked why?

to which I replied:

"I just booked the seat behind you for $100 round trip, and I'm going to kick your seat all the way down to Disney World!"


The moral of my story....I have found that Airline Tickets are a lot like New England weather, if you don't like the price, wait a minute........;)

[sumessefui]

Did you check Spirit Airlines out of Atlantic City?

[PamOKW]

Many times waiting will get you a lower fare. In general, however, at a very busy time like Christmas, that doesn't usually work. If you book early, you can sometimes get a really low fare. The longer you wait, the fewer flights are available and the higher the prices rise.

[doubletrouble_vb]

Well you know when you go on vacation you want everything to be just right... Not having kids I thought Jersey week was the following week! Now I'm wondering if I can extend my stay to include the end of the week...

And yes I can fly out of LGA or JFK...and I probably will have to...I'd rather take the money I save and apply it to a cash reservation if I have to go that way. The only problem with either of those options is my best flight out of LGA is at 6:10AM! JFK has JetBlue...they have good prices but I've never flown out of there. My big issue would be parking either way.

I will say that it isn't just Jersey Week....I think Jersey Week is why a direct flight is above $400:mad: but when I went down in May it was $300....I was mildly shocked but offset it by getting to use a friends rent-a-car rather using Mears.

I'm disappointed to hear about Philly...Philly & Islip are my only other choices beyond the big 3. I flew out of White Plains once and I won't be doing that again...parking was expensive!

[Sheree]

we fly from phl or ewr. we book exactly 11 months out and the prices always seem to rise during the 1st week ie jersey week!

One time I spoke to a delta rep, I was trying to use FF miles, and he laughed and told me, everyone from jersey goes to mco this week, don't even try!

US Air is usually so ful that week, they'll bump everyone! we do that and get free tickets as well!

you may want to look at spirit from atlantic city

[dbond]

doubletrouble_vb, we have noticed a steady increase in airfare from DFW/MCO that has been increasing at a fairly slow pace since 1993, and then in the past year has taken a giant leap. We have typically been loyal AA customers, they are based here and we always felt they were best here. My husband flies a lot for business as well so the AAdvantage miles are handy. But lately, unless you dig really deep, stay over on a Sat night, buy or book with miles very far in advance and then check the rates constantly for sales or specials, rates with AA have crept up beyond our reach on most occasions. In the Dallas market, Southwest is not an option to MCO unless you book your flights yourself in segments, we have a dumb amendment that prohibits travel to a non-contiguous state out of the airport SW flies out of. So non-stop flights on AA don't really have much competition in this market. Therefore, we are mostly stuck with the rising prices, or we can book those hops to connecting airports on SW. But when you travel with 3 kids, changing planes, re-checking bags, etc. is worth considering before you decide to make the trip. We have driven to WDW twice in the past year because of the crazy airfare prices. And yes, our opportunities to hop over to OKW on a whim, which we have done frequently in the past has been curtailed. Unfortunately, I doubt that the days of $119 DFW-MCO fares will return for us, so I guess we'll just have to plan longer trips, less frequently and drive more often, but not too often cause it's a 20 hr drive! We've used the Concierge Collection twice this year instead of the DVC resorts for many reasons, one being that we could drive to the ski resorts in CO.

[Pointdisney]

Try flying out of Atlantic City, ACY, on Spirit Airlines. It's certainly not a "luxurious" flight experience but it gets the job done.

ACY is small, very manageable and extremely convenient. Spirit flights are generally pretty reasonably priced.

Good luck!:cool:

[Canigo]

Jet Blue
$148 rohttp://jetblue.com/und trip leaving Nov 6 coming home Nov 10

[skorpie]

I just got off the phone with Delta and booked our flights from Newark. The flights were $241. That is a lot of money,in my humble opinion. The only reason I booked them is because Delta "bumped" us on our return flight from Orlando this past July. They offered us free vouchers for another flight. That meant that we had to stay at WDW for another day! Oh well, somebody had to do it so I said "yes". We got 3, FREE tickets on Delta for our inconvenience!!!!!($250 each ticket voucher!)
Check around. Have you thought of flying out of Albany, NY? People in the Hudson Valley, say it is an easy drive, better than to Newark. You do have to check airlines that offer direct flights though. I think SouthWest offers them if you can get on the net early enough to get one of the "special deals" Good Luck!

[TheWho]

Skorpie,
Just curious, why did Delta bump you in July? I have done the same route the last 4 July's and never had a problem. Just wondering............

[gonzalj1]

Doubletrouble,

I just did a quick search on Orbitz and came up with $155 rt flights non stop out of EWR on both Delta and Continental. Maybe no wis the time to book those flights.

Fares can vary by quite a bit depending on how the airlines view demand. The changes can occur as quickly as minute to minunte. Keep checking and I'm sure something'll pop up.

[skorpie]

Dear TheWho! All I know is that about 1 month before we were to leave, Delta called and said that they had overbooked our flight. They told us that they HAD to change us to another. So I asked if they had room on a flight the next day(so we could actually get to stay in WDW another day;) Anyway, they did have room and for our inconvenience offered each of us a voucher for $250 for future travel. That was $750 worth of tickets!!!!! I just this morning ran over to Stewart Airport in Newburgh NY and redeemed our vouchers for a trip NEXT July 7th!!!!!

[akasleepingbeauty]

Based on my experience, it seems there are still good airfares to be found but you must really work for them. You have to check every day (I check 2x every day if possible) and be ready to buy immediately if you see a good price.

DFW to MCO can certainly be expensive. AA is not really an option anymore as they just don't discount their fares at any point it seems. I just won't pay $250+ per person - too much for me. So, we now seem to fly mostly on Delta to MCO as we have gotten MUCH BETTER prices on direct flights to MCO. In July 2001, we got tickets for good times on direct flights to MCO for $101. In May 2002, we paid for $161 for direct flights at the times of our choice. It makes it so much easier to justify a trip when you get reasonable airfare so I really really try hard to get it.

I am not SW's biggest fan (I HATE open seating) but I do wish we had the option of flying SW to MCO. I think just having them fly the route would force AA and others to offer better prices.

So far, airfares have not affected our DVC stays or caused us to question our purchase. How it will in the future remains to be seen.

[TheWho]

Dear Skorpie,
I guess it's not too bad since they called you a month before and gave you a chance to think about turning it into a good thing (ie, making your WDW longer or free airfare for another year). I have flown Delta in July 4 times. They did announce once for volunteers to take a later flight and get a voucher for a later date. If I didn't have little kids, I probably would have done it.
Anyway, I booked for BWV for next July and I will be checking for good flights in the next several months. Good luck to you.

[scott.campbell]

I would love to be able to get fares even for the $400 mark, as we travel from the UK our airfare for three is usually around $2500. This is the reason that when we visit DVC we stay for two weeks.

[skorpie]

Dear TheWho! I have to tell you, that we had to check out of our 1BR villa at VWL and got an OK rate at POFQ for that extra night. Let me tell you that when we saw the "regular hotel room" again, my DH said, "I guess we've been spoiled and I don't think I could stay a week here!" (Sorry to any POFQ lovers!)

BTW, Dave, wwe're originally from Passaic and Rockaway NJ!

[lsyorke]

I have never paid more than $210.00 round trip EWR-MCO on Delta. Last night they were showing a$155.00 R/T for Thanksgiving week. I usually book air early but check for a length of time until its gets below $200.00. Delta so far beats Continental every time! I've only been bumped once and they made it well worth it! Three future use tickets, breakfast for all three of us, and first class on the next flight down(1 1/2 hours later)!!!