Flight ticket prices this year X last year

[Camilo]

Hi folks,
We are planning to go to Florida exactly one year after last year (Nov 9-17 last year X Nov 9-20 this year). This year, though, we will only be doing 2 days of Disney parks and going on our first cruise with our 3 and 6 year old boys (unfortunately, not with Disney, WAY TOO EXPENSIVE).

I would like to find out from others their experience with airline ticket prices this year.

Last year we flew SouthWest (one stop on the way there and direct flight on the way back) for a bit less than 700.00 for the 4 of us.

This year, the cheapest I can get to my dates with AIRTRAN (with 2 very convenient direct flights, to be fair) is 1117.60 (close to 60% more). Also, with AirTran, we need to pay for any bags, so as we fly with car seat, booster and at least 2 checked in bags, this price would go easily to 1250.00.

Southwest this year is almost double the price of what we paid last year.

Are you guys experiencing the same (for those who fly every year)? Do you think prices will go lower from now to November? I'm not sure if I make the move and take the reservation now.

Thanks for any feedback and happy Canada Day,

Camilo

 

[minnie56]

I would imagine the fuel costs have a lot to do with that! Heck, I can't go anywhere for the same cost as last year and aircraft take a lot more fuel than my car! Can't see them going down...unless there happen to be some seat sales along the way..

 

[encinc]

Yup. We're paying a fair bit more this year too. I've always aimed for under $1000 for flights for the 4 of us. Some years we've been way under that. I just booked our early December flights and we're paying close to $1200. I decided not to wait any longer because the uncertainty was driving me crazy. I've been watching for several months and flights were staying at pretty much what they were when the dates were first opened.

 

[grantclaire]

We are going the same week again in March 2012 and I was able to get a slightly lower price this time. Just lucky I guess!

 

[ccudmore]

Some airlines have been able to offer artificially low fares the past couple years because of fuel hedges they had that allowed them to buy fuel at rates below market rates. Now most of their hedges have expired and they have to pay much higher fuel rates - bigger increases than what would be attributed to just market rate increases in fuel. Southwest has been particularly hard hit on this and that's why you're seeing their fares jump up more than their competitors this year.

 

[dis_guy]

Some airlines have been able to offer artificially low fares the past couple years because of fuel hedges they had that allowed them to buy fuel at rates below market rates. Now most of their hedges have expired and they have to pay much higher fuel rates - bigger increases than what would be attributed to just market rate increases in fuel. Southwest has been particularly hard hit on this and that's why you're seeing their fares jump up more than their competitors this year.

So true, especially regarding SW. The other US carriers have hated them for a long time because of their luck with very long term fuel hedging. Now, however everyone is on a level playing field, so prices have gone up- a lot in some cases.

As someone living in central-east Alberta with no cheap US airport nearby, I have to admit that it makes me chuckle to hear about the "high" fares some Canadians have access to.

For us, we paid $2900 all in for 4 of us to fly from Edmonton to Orlando in 2009. Our flights for this year (Dec 31-Jan 7) are $3100 for the four of us. As driving isn't even a possibility (40+ hours) and our next nearest airport is 6 hours away, we see it as pay up or stay home. Fortunately, so far we've been able to afford it. Next year? Who knows?

 

[Kat&Dom]

This year, I got our flights slightly cheaper out of Calgary than last year. I paid $350 CAD with all taxes in for return trip Calgary to Orlando for November 16-25. Last year, we went November 10-16 and flights were $385 each with all the taxes. If we can fly to Orlando and back for under $400 - that is a deal for me and if I find flights below that, I grab them. We booked for this November trip back in February because I didn't know what the fuel prices would do and I was very happy with the price.

My friends that are joining us live near Kelowna and I watched the flights for several months and they were no great deals - I wasn't seeing anything under $800 per person (there is 4 of them so that would be $3,200). I did find flights out of Seattle for them for $250 each return with all taxes and they felt it was worth the drive to save $2,200 in flight costs so they booked it. They love Seattle so are looking forward to flying out of there anyway!

Good luck finding your flight deal!

 

[3pletprincesses]

yep having the same problem. Last fall we flew for $130 each wiht jetblue and this year the cheaper I found was $210 + suitcases with UsAirway... jetblue is at $169-199 each way LOL I've booked with usairways.

 

[mollyseven]

Same thing for us. We are going Dec. 28th and it wasn't worth going out of Buffalo for us this year. I have to say I am relieved as the last 2 winter trips out of Buffalo we have driven through white outs to get there....couldn't even wait out the weather, and it's been a nightmare drive and we were lucky to make it at all. This year for 200 more we are flying out of Toronto and save the drive....for 200 it's worth it for me to save that stress. In years past thought it's been like 1/2 the price out of Buffalo so it's been a no brainer.

 

[stefanospops]

Last year I managed to get our tickets for about $190 return pp on Jetblue. This year we are paying $230 return per person. So a bit higher but still way cheaper than the same dates out of Toronto which were almost $600 return per person.

 

[monkey30]

We managed to get 400/person out of Calgary for our trip, we were watching for Novemeber, there were some sales a few months ago, hopefully they will come back.

GL

 

[drag n' fly]

We are used to paying anywhere from 2500 to 3000 for the five of us. Patience paid off and after watching the prices we pounced on five seats for August that cost us less than our 2009 flights to mco. We got perfect flight times and can even take advantage of dh's elite AC status and nosh wth the high rollers in the maple leaf lounge. Me thinks I will be partaking in some Baileys in my coffee departure morn

 

[wee-haggis]

Hi folks,
We are planning to go to Florida exactly one year after last year (Nov 9-17 last year X Nov 9-20 this year). This year, though, we will only be doing 2 days of Disney parks and going on our first cruise with our 3 and 6 year old boys (unfortunately, not with Disney, WAY TOO EXPENSIVE).

I would like to find out from others their experience with airline ticket prices this year.

Last year we flew SouthWest (one stop on the way there and direct flight on the way back) for a bit less than 700.00 for the 4 of us.

This year, the cheapest I can get to my dates with AIRTRAN (with 2 very convenient direct flights, to be fair) is 1117.60 (close to 60% more). Also, with AirTran, we need to pay for any bags, so as we fly with car seat, booster and at least 2 checked in bags, this price would go easily to 1250.00.

Southwest this year is almost double the price of what we paid last year.

Are you guys experiencing the same (for those who fly every year)? Do you think prices will go lower from now to November? I'm not sure if I make the move and take the reservation now.

Thanks for any feedback and happy Canada Day,

Camilo

Not sure if you are in Southwest Ontario?
Also, not sure what part of your trip is "etched in stone" datewise (cruise for example),but you can get direct flights out of Niagara Falls New York on Directair to Lakeland (45 mins from Orlando)from Nov 11th - 21st (can't get exact dates you mentioned)......$870 for 4 ..including taxes

 

[Goofy's apprentice]

Prices are definitely up this year. We fly Southwest out of Buffalo quite regularly and used to be able to do the $49 or $79 fares (one-way) by watching the website. Not so much this year.

However, recently Southwest had a 40th anniversary sale and we got round trip for 6 at $1,088! We have the Southwest ding service and email updates and find that it just takes continous checking. Depends how much "stress" you can handle not knowing what the cost will be. I hate waiting, my DH seems to be able to be more patient.

We have found a few things out though....
Fares tend to be cheaper if you check on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

As well, if you notice the fares jump radically higher one day, there is sometimes a large price drop (to below the initial price) a few days down the road.

If you are buying for a larger party, sometimes you can get a few of the tickets cheaper. When we search for 6 people the prices may be $139. But searching in groups of two there may be a few available at the lower price.

It takes a bit of work but sometimes it is worth it.... We tend to fly Southwest everytime as I love the non-stop flights and they have so many and their prices are usually cheaper.

I count it a victory everytime I manage to find reasonable flights and avoid the 20+ hour drive!

 

[Camilo]

Not sure if you are in Southwest Ontario?
Also, not sure what part of your trip is "etched in stone" datewise (cruise for example),but you can get direct flights out of Niagara Falls New York on Directair to Lakeland (45 mins from Orlando)from Nov 11th - 21st (can't get exact dates you mentioned)......$870 for 4 ..including taxes

We considered DirecAir.
Issue is that we need to be in Orlando on the 11th as we promised our son to spend his birthday at Magic Kingdom. So, in order to take fly Direct Air, we would have to fly on the 7th or 8th. That makes a LONG vacation for us, who technically don't have any vacation left. Also, there's the issue in arriving in the small airport where car rental can be more difficult/expensive.

I did however checked that if we fly back on Monday (21st) with AirTran, the price drops another 200.00, so the total cost would be around 1000 for the 4 of us. I think I will fly with them. I also verified that car seats and boosters fly for free, so it's not too too bad.


Camilo