Flight advice/suggestions greatly appreciated!

[Sugar Jones]

We are heading to Disney Sept.21-28.

We are flying for the first time. We can fly out of Detroit I
Or Buffalo.

When is the best time to book flights? There are a few that have Sept. Rates, but most don't yet. The ones that so are way over our budget.

I'm hoping to be under $1200 for our family of 5. Is this realistic?
Will the current flight prices drop? How early is too early to book?


Sorry if these questions are dumb, we normally drive so this is new to me

 

[webworm]

We are heading to Disney Sept.21-28.

We are flying for the first time. We can fly out of Detroit I
Or Buffalo.

When is the best time to book flights? There are a few that have Sept. Rates, but most don't yet. The ones that so are way over our budget.

I'm hoping to be under $1200 for our family of 5. Is this realistic?
Will the current flight prices drop? How early is too early to book?


Sorry if these questions are dumb, we normally drive so this is new to me

I see nonstop flights with Delta from Detroit - Tampa for $230inc taxes and you can just drive across the I4 to Orlando. There is also Pittsburgh & Rochester airports as well as different airports with Allegiant.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Most airlines have released their schedules for Sept 2013 except for Southwest and JetBlue.

Spirit has nonstop fares for your dates of $228 RT DTW-MCO. That's probably as low as you are going to get. Of course, you have to be willing to fly Spirit.

 

[Sugar Jones]

Yeah but with baggage fees etc...its going to work out to 302 a person. I'm really hoping for good jet blue rates.

 

[pigletto]

Can't speak for Detroit but we flew out of Buffalo last August (last week, came home Labor Day weekend) for 1200 for 5 of us. I booked higher than that and ended up with credits. We used Jetblue on the way there and Southwest on the way home.
I do remember that the fares went down during sales, and the one with Southwest was a 1 day sale so start watching every day. I am pretty sure the sales were in the spring.. maybe April? The lowest fares were not when the dates opened up but a few months after. It's a gamble. Book when you see something you are comfortable with and maybe be prepared to have layovers as those rates are lowest.

 

[Sugar Jones]

Also another possibly dumb question. Do you book directly with the airline, through a travel agent or a site like Expedia?

As you can tell I am new to flying lol! I have flown since our honeymoon to Hawaii 12 years ago and the travel agent handled everything

 

[ToddyLu]

Always, always book directly with the airline. If there is a problem they will work with you better than Expedia. I would make sure my TA booked directly, too. I look at flights on those sights but I book with the airline.

 

[pigletto]

Always, always book directly with the airline. If there is a problem they will work with you better than Expedia. I would make sure my TA booked directly, too. I look at flights on those sights but I book with the airline.

Agree. It would take a killer deal for me to not book with the airline. I find all that Priceline pulls up for me is 1stop flights anyway.

Go with the airline website directly. Its simple and the safest way to book IMO.