Tell me your secrets!

Snickals · Jan 17, 2016

So have decided we want to go on holidays to WDW in December this year. Am searching websites trying to find great deals and am coming up a blank atm (as far as good $$$). Soooo which websites should I be looking on? Is there any particular time frame (expos etc.) I should be waiting for? Tell me your tricks of the trade for fighting an awesome deal...please!!!

Zosha · Jan 19, 2016

Hi Snickals. You are my December travel buddy! I'm watching air fares too at the moment. Qantas have a decent deal out for early December, as long as you are happy to fly American for the leg over. It's only $660 syd-la!

ozliz · Jan 19, 2016

Get on all the annoying email lists for the online travel sites.

Get a credit card without international transaction fees so that you can book on sites that are not from Australia (ie ones that charge in $US). There are many more deals available to people overseas than in Australia. Just remember that resolving issues through these sites might require an international phone call.

If you can get the credit card then options like 'stacking the discounts' become available. For example, when Disney releases an accommodation discount the you book through Orbitz using one of their promo codes (see reference to email lists above) to get extra discounts.

Also, Undercover tourist ships to Australia at no extra cost so that is where I bought park tickets (WDW and Universal) with their discounts. Again, charged in $US so that no international fee card is again useful.

Snickals · Jan 22, 2016

Thanks

I have been checking Secret Flying site daily and a few other travel/airfare sites. I even got a quote from Flight Centre but they were dearer than anything I found myself online. I am looking to fly over (preferably) in the first week of December for 2-3 weeks, not fussed on exact dates though.

AussieNSW · Jan 22, 2016

We have just got back and flew out of Sydney to Dallas on the 26thdec and back on the 21st Jan from LAX. I brought American Airlines tickets but the planes were Qantas. I saved a lot of money this way rather than buying them through Qantas. The way that I made sure that we were on Qantas planes was I made sure we flew A380's as American Airlines does not have any of those. The difference for the 4 of us was in the thousands. Maybe it was so much cheaper because they were starting to do code share but it is worth a look. Also if you are flying internally check as Southwest Airlines. There prices are good and they give you 2 free bags. We spent from the 28th till the 2nd Jan at wdw and the Christmas decorations are gorgeous.

Snickals · Jan 28, 2016

AussieNSW said:
We have just got back and flew out of Sydney to Dallas on the 26thdec and back on the 21st Jan from LAX. I brought American Airlines tickets but the planes were Qantas. I saved a lot of money this way rather than buying them through Qantas.

How did you do this exactly? I tried looking on the American Airlines website but in order for it to be paid in Australian dollars it went to .au at the end of the website and then the prices seemed to be the same as what qantas are offering. Thanks for the tip...very interested to see if I can still get it to work

AussieNSW · Jan 28, 2016

I actually used a travel agent to do this. I also used Google flights to do a search which is how I discovered it in the first place.

lffam · Jan 29, 2016

Zosha said:
Hi Snickals. You are my December travel buddy! I'm watching air fares too at the moment. Qantas have a decent deal out for early December, as long as you are happy to fly American for the leg over. It's only $660 syd-la!

is that for the one leg? or return? if return I am floored, I've never seen airfares like that before, amazing ! great pick up if you can get it!

Zosha · Jan 30, 2016

Hi Lffam! Not it's just for one leg!

I ended up paying $5,200 return from ADL to LAX. Today the same flights are $7750! I know the prices can still change and may go down again, but I feel relieved to have booked for a price I'm comfortable at.

lffam · Jan 30, 2016

Zosha said:
Hi Lffam! Not it's just for one leg! I ended up paying $5,200 return from ADL to LAX. Today the same flights are $7750! I know the prices can still change and may go down again, but I feel relieved to have booked for a price I'm comfortable at.

ok thanks makes more sense to me now! I totally agree with you about getting the fares when they are at a price which you are comfortable with. I bought some of our US internal fares quite early and some thought I was mad doing it, but they were at a price I was comfortable to pay , the seats I wanted so I got them.

Snickals · Feb 5, 2016

I am still on my search...all the flight comparison sites say it is cheaper if I fly via Canada. I don't really want to do this as that will make the travel so much longer (with a 5 year old in tow) but they are the cheap ones

Come on airlines...have a usa sale!

Montanabel · Feb 6, 2016

Hi Snickals, I got an email yesterday about a Qantas sale, if you can leave in late November?

Snickals · Feb 6, 2016

I saw the Wonderlust sale! But my daughter finishes kindergarten on the 30th November and I would hate for her to miss 'graduating' from it/celebrating the last of it with her friends. So December is really our only option...and even then we need to be back home by Christmas.

Brisbanemum · Feb 6, 2016

We are joining you this December too

We just booked our flights last night and I've already started the countdown on our calendar......42 weeks and 1 day to go!

Zosha · Feb 6, 2016

What day are you leaving Brisbanemum?

beejai · Feb 6, 2016

I'm not sure what is a good price or not but try looking on wotif for flights, I'm not sure how many of you are travelling but I did 1 adult/1 child 5 dec-22dec brisbane-Orlando flying Qantas (says AA ) $3885 return

Brisbanemum · Feb 7, 2016

Zosha said:
What day are you leaving Brisbanemum?

We leave on November 27th and arrive back in Brisbane January 1st

The flights for the 4 is us (me, Dh, ds13, ds10) ended up costing $6285 which was return to Orlando with a 3 day stopover in LA So excited!!!!! I'm starting the packing list already! Lol

Minniesgal · Feb 7, 2016

We found Virgin Australia had good fares for Brisbane to Lax for this year. Had we been able to book earlier than we could we could have had business class for a great fare.

I've also seen some good air New Zealand fares.

Personally I'm dreading the flight especially the connecting for Orlando in LAX part wishing we had booked a day in between.

Montanabel · Feb 11, 2016

Snickals said:
I saw the Wonderlust sale! But my daughter finishes kindergarten on the 30th November and I would hate for her to miss 'graduating' from it/celebrating the last of it with her friends. So December is really our only option...and even then we need to be back home by Christmas.

That is so cute! Yes of course your daughter needs to be there for graduation. My fingers are cross for you that something suitable comes up soon.

TikiKate · Feb 20, 2016

The absolute best thing you can do to save money is find the cheapest flight price that you want online and take it into a travel agent, a good agent can ALWAYS beat it and you don't have to mess around with choosing the best flight times/routes etc, also they often have deals you just can't get online.

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