Airfare tips?

[*WeLuvDisney*]

Anyone have any tips for getting cheap airfare? I am trying to find airfare for our November trip and can find nothing cheaper then $600 per person! Last year we paid around $250 a person! Should I just keep looking and wait for it to get closer?

Thanks!

 

[Bob P]

Hi,

Waiting for airfare is like playing the stock market! Sometimes you look really smart by waiting, and sometimes, well...not so smart. Sometimes the price will go up, and sometimes it will go down.

Are you a gambler? My opinion is: if you are comfortable with the price now you should book it.

 

[bridgek]

I just kept watching everyday and checked a million websites and finally found a deal on an airline website and booked and glad I did because the prices went up not too long after that. I know my sister has friend who flies alot and she just keeps checking everyday.

 

[Jacklynn]

$600/person? Keep looking, or drive. My husband and I just drove from Chicago to Orlando and we only spent about $350 or so on gas round trip, so $600 a person wouldn't have been worth it even for only 1 person.

 

[JeremyGNJ]

definitely keep looking. Try all airlines, especially *directly from their website*. Most times so-called "deal sites" are NOT the best deal unless you're booking a package. (and even then sometimes not, since you cannot apply many discounts to a "package")

 

[EnnEss]

If you don't mind, where are you flying from? The standard here is about 600 per but everytime I've been able to get it for 250 - 350. Which airlines to check and when will vary a lot depending where you are.

1. First step for airfare, dont ever bother with a TA, they will not juggle the dates or times and airfares as much as a person could do in 5 minutes from home. The days of them having exclusive access to ticket warehousers seems to be gone too.
2. Fly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays if you can, those cheap tickets go slower.
3. If you're flying less than 6 weeks from now, you probably won't get a decent airfare. 4 - 5 months out seems to be best, before that there aren't many discounts and after 2 months there are very few none.
4. Check daily. I've seen them drop from 500 a person to 250 over night, limited availability though, those seats don't last. Sometimes expedia tells you how many they have access to at a certain price when its a seat sale, and it usually starts at 8 or so.
5. Seat sales can be triggered by company A doing something loopy like expanding service somewhere or slashing fares elsewhere, if you see something like that in the news, look into tickets then. I think I got mine this year when Jetblue or someone went into san francisco, somewhere well south anyways. Could be fluke, but but pretty much all prices dipped considerably.

For me, this time I went with AA to orlando with a stop over in Chicago (there is one airline that flies direct from seattle (Alaska, and they are tough to get seat sales on for that reason), and the stopover is never long, 30 mins this time), and Continental on the way back through houston. Expedia doesn't charge the double booking fee you should pay when doing two diff airlines, so that saves about 50 bucks per person if you split the airlines.

This site tries to predict fares,

http://www.farecast.com/

And I find expedia to have the best fares because they show you all the fees and charge the least fees, usually.

 

[sarehm]

Keep waiting. If you live in an area where Southwest flies they should be releasing their schedules soon, just keep checking. As well as JetBlue, I think they only have their schedules out until Oct. 31st. If you are planning on traveling weekends you should book as soon as you find a decent fare as these are the flights that fill up first to Orlando. Midweek you can usually get a good deal. Good luck!

 

[Mom2Punkin]

I booked for Thanksgiving week thru priceline.com and got tickets for $420/person. (Michigan to Florida) If the price has gone up to $600 already, I'm sure glad I booked then.

 

[sarehm]

If you don't mind, where are you flying from? The standard here is about 600 per but everytime I've been able to get it for 250 - 350. Which airlines to check and when will vary a lot depending where you are.

1. First step for airfare, dont ever bother with a TA, they will not juggle the dates or times and airfares as much as a person could do in 5 minutes from home. The days of them having exclusive access to ticket warehousers seems to be gone too.
.

Ouch please don't judge all us TA's. I do all I can to get my clients the best rates and I'd love to know what kind of service you'll get when you're stuck somewhere you you're trying to get through to a live person at some of these internet travel sites.

 

[PictureJumpr]

Travel dates are part of the problem... leaving on a Friday and returning on a Saturday = biggest possible fares.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the cheapest flights all around. Coming home on a Monday will often cut the bill by as much as half from the cost of coming home on a weekend day. Case in point, our trip in May the airfare for coming home on Sunday would have been 427, coming home on Monday it was 174. Early-morning or late-afternoon/night flights are generally cheaper than mid-day.

In your case, Newark-to-Orlando fares dropped from 546 (using the dates you have) to 223 - if your dates had been Sunday or Monday 11/2-3 until the following Tuesday 11/11.

Sometimes we get stuck with bad deals when we have to travel on weekends, but at this point you are probably going to be able to beat them at least a little as you get closer to your trip - fares do tend to drop slightly as you get closer to departure and the flights aren't full.

I also second the pp's advice about using the airline sites directly. It can take more time to search flight dates and compare over several websites on your own, but you will save booking fees charged by other travel-package sites.

Good luck!

 

[JeremyGNJ]

Ouch please don't judge all us TA's. I do all I can to get my clients the best rates and I'd love to know what kind of service you'll get when you're stuck somewhere you you're trying to get through to a live person at some of these internet travel sites.

That's why i always buy tickets directly from the airline. Because I can call the airline 24/7.....i can only call a TA during business hours, and all they can do is call the airline anyway.

 

[EnnEss]

Ouch please don't judge all us TA's. I do all I can to get my clients the best rates and I'd love to know what kind of service you'll get when you're stuck somewhere you you're trying to get through to a live person at some of these internet travel sites.

I apologize, I'm sure everyone isn't like that. I've tried probably 30 or more though and I've never have them go beyond what comes up on the screen initially, not to mention unfortunately, at least here with Cook, flightcentre and AAA, they don't have a gui web screen like a regular person does at home, so them searching takes so much longer.

You're right though, I didn't consider that, if you're not a frequent flyer and may need help with something at some point, or don't know about the various fees you can incur changing dates or canceling, or that some flights dont have fees and some have more in that regard, a TA is better.

Everytime before I book my flights I check with one of the 20 or travel agencies between here and home and they're always more, but most match. This last time they tried to match it, I was booking the hotel there, but had difficulties because expedia just doesn't charge the airline booking fee twice if there are two diff airlines, and apparently the airline charges this agency. They couldn't get near the fare I saw online and later booked by going with just one airline.

 

[CanadianGuy]

This question would get the best and most qualified answers over on the DIS Transportation Board since it doesn't have very much to do with Theme Parks directly..

I'll be moving it over there.

Thanks,

KNox

 

[JeremyGNJ]

Travel dates are part of the problem... leaving on a Friday and returning on a Saturday = biggest possible fares.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the cheapest flights all around. Coming home on a Monday will often cut the bill by as much as half from the cost of coming home on a weekend day. Case in point, our trip in May the airfare for coming home on Sunday would have been 427, coming home on Monday it was 174. Early-morning or late-afternoon/night flights are generally cheaper than mid-day.

This is such a big problem that I have, on 2 different occasions, gotten a cheaper fare by booking 2 full round trip tickets.

Example:

If I NEED to leave newark on a friday, I actually buy a round trip ticket FROM orlando and returning to orlando on the friday (this gets you your outbound ticket from neward to orlando even though you only use 1/2 of the ticket).

Then you do the same thing to get your return ticket by booking a round trip from newark to orlando.


This is an extreme case but it has been done.

 

[sarehm]

This is such a big problem that I have, on 2 different occasions, gotten a cheaper fare by booking 2 full round trip tickets.

Example:

If I NEED to leave newark on a friday, I actually buy a round trip ticket FROM orlando and returning to orlando on the friday (this gets you your outbound ticket from neward to orlando even though you only use 1/2 of the ticket).

Then you do the same thing to get your return ticket by booking a round trip from newark to orlando.


This is an extreme case but it has been done.

This is very illegal in the airline world so be careful. If you can book separate airlines and don't use a frequent flyer number. If they catch you they could cancel one portion but it's a tricky process and if done properly it can save you major bucks! Just remember that you must travel on the outbound flight "the first flight of each ticket" otherwise they will consider you a "No Show" and cancel the entire ticket.

 

[CarolA]

That's why i always buy tickets directly from the airline. Because I can call the airline 24/7.....i can only call a TA during business hours, and all they can do is call the airline anyway.

Well, I use a TA for work travel and they have a 24/7 emergency number. (And trust me if the airline has a crisis I call them... they have a different number to call then I do and can sometimes actually get a human faster! LOL!)

So IMHO a GOOD TA will have 24/7 coverage. If not, I wouldn't bother.