Airfare Question

[RanCan]

We are cruising in October and still need to book airfare (LA to Orl). I've heard that some of the best prices are generally about six months out from travel date. Does anyone have any advice or thoughts? Today's prices are still pretty high. Thanks for any responses...

 

[flower91882]

Generally lower cost airlines like Southwest start posting their rates at around the 6 month timeframe. A lot of people seem to get good rates by looking for these airlines' rates right when they come out.

 

[RanCan]

Thanks Flower, we have heard the same thing. Maybe when the low cost airlines come out, that drives the others down also.

 

[mattmommy]

Check the prices every day. If you have a time frame in mind and are somewhat flexible (flying midweek, midday), you'll be better off. I found airfares are cheaper online midweek (Tues, Wed) than other days.

Also do you have one of those coupons for $$ off if the airfare is higher than $250? Ask around.

We got an AMEX platinum card ($400 annual) because they have a buy one get one coach fare deal up to 4 a year and you can use the Presidents Club. We actually cancelled it right away because they wouldn't let us from into SNA, but it could work for you.

 

[Patricia1]

Hi there,
We're cruising in Oct as well and are departing from San Diego. I check airfares as early as Jan and historically have booked Feb or early March.
A couple of wks ago Continental was over $600 p/p. I checked today and it was down to $360ish. I have to buy for 4 adults/2children, so every penny counts.

Soooo prices are going down. I'd heard from flight attendants that prices were (projected) to stay on the higher side this year. But you never know. You have more choices from LAX than we do, so best of luck!

 

[flower91882]

Some people also swear that prices are lowest on a Wednesday. So you can try looking then. I'm not sure if that's true though.

 

[Anal Annie]

I would wait for the 6 month mark or just after when all the carriers like SW, JetBlue and AirTran release their schedules. You can sign up for fare alerts on sites like kayak.com too which would help you track the prices.

I priced airfare for our trip this summer from DC to FL before the low cost airlines published their schedules a couple of weeks ago. First problem there were like no direct flights. Second, the prices were just stoopid. I mean Continental was OVER $800 pp! AA was in the $400's. Uhhh. Come on! Seriously. Those were the prices. JetBlue, SW and AirTran all published their rates within a week of each other. I wanted to be sure to book on one of the participating DCL airlines for the onboard check-in so I booked AirTran for $194 RT then 2 days later when SW released their schedules it went down to $154. So I called them and got a credit applied to our rewards acct. for the difference. OK, so. If I hadn't waited I could've easily paid $250 more pp. and wouldn't have even had a direct flight! Six months is plenty of time to book. I recommend waiting to see all of your options!

 

[2*geminis]

We are cruising on 11/29/08. Leaving Portland, OR (pdx) on 11/24, which is the Monday before Txgiving. I started looking as soon as the dates became available to shop. I looked usually 2x a day, morning and evening. I did feel a bit psycotic but because we are leaving the week of Txgiving I felt it was my duty to find the best fare and find it soon. The fares for our dates were holding pretty steady at about $400+. On Sat 1/19 I took one last look (it was the 3rd) before bed and got a fare of $250 per person on Frontier. We have never flown Frontier but the price was right and they have Direct TV in all the seat backs. So my family of 4 is flying for $1005 from PDX to MCO. I was so excited. We'd be lucky most days to find that fare to LA.

I don't think there is any rhyme or reason to the rate changes. If you have the time I'd look often. I used Travelocity to check the fares but booked directly with the airline.

Good luck.

Rachael

 

[RanCan]

Thanks for your responses....any other advice?

 

[sandgrace]

What are the best websites to check for airfare, the airlines directly, or do you check travel sites?

 

[RanCan]

What are the best websites to check for airfare, the airlines directly, or do you check travel sites?

Sandgrace..good question...BTW I've got two kids that live in the Phoenix area and one of them is also cruising with us. So I'm very interested in the best fares from Phoenix too.

 

[Anal Annie]

What are the best websites to check for airfare, the airlines directly, or do you check travel sites?

I am a HUGE fan of kayak.com! It's a giant search engine that gives you a lot of options for how you want to do your search. You can select surrounding airports if you wish (good in a large metro area like DC where we live). You can select to come & go from the same airport (a must if you drive & park there). You can select your timeframe for your flights on a sliding scale, you can have them search only non-stops and if you select it, they will compare Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline etc. AND all the airlines directly - give you the comparisons AND the links to the other websites! It's fantastic! Check it out!!

 

[DisneyMom92]

I have started using kayak.com lately and I really like it. It searches multiple web sites for you and reports the results in an easy-to-read format. It also gives you historical prices by day and month.

We flew Frontier last year to California and found it to be one of the absolute best airlines to deal with. Professional and caring staff. Hope your experience is the same.

 

[disneypoor]

I booked airfare for our Thanksgiving 08 cruise on the Magic the second day the rates were out. I have traveled at Thanksgiving before and know that there aren't usually any deals for that week. I know you can sometimes get a better deal by waiting for SW to release their flights, but if you aren't on the ball, their flights are gone before you know it. We like direct flights, and in my past experience, we haven't paid much more if any by booking as early as possible. I just stress about it too much, so waiting is not something I do very well. We paid $239 per person for our direct flights from Kansas City to Orlando for next year.

 

[4peaches]

Wow, some of you have found great deals. We are cruising the end of May and staying a week after in WDW. May 24 - June 4. Being that our cruise is over Memorial Day weekend, good prices on flights were hard to come by. Before the holidays, I had an offer from Air Trans for $144 RT from Phoenix. I get alerts via email. Unfortunately, we refuse to fly them again. We had a very bad experience once and chalked it up to bad luck (delays lasting 18 hours on a 1 1/2 hr flight!) and thought we would give them a second chance this last summer. Well, it happened again. From Baltimore to Phoenix, it took us 28 hours to get home on 5 different planes being rerouted thru several cities. Nightmare. So, my hubby said NEVER again.

Since we have been flying SW for over 20 years out of Phoenix to everywhere, I waited patiently for SW to open the dates for our trip. Two other friends were also waiting, but going a little later in the summer than we were. So, we all got on the day they opened the summer schedule and none of us got good rates. We are paying $400 per person ($1600 total) RT, flying Saturday and Wednesday. Nonstop. We don't want to take any chances missing the cruise, even though we are flying in the day before. There are cheaper flights with stops and/or plane changes. The outgoing flight was the expensive one, the returning not so bad. Because of school, camps and hubby's work schedule we could only book the trip when we did, so weren't flexible with our travel plans. So we bit the bullet and bought the tickets.

One good thing though, I keep checking back to see if the prices go down and was told that if they do, I can rebook at the lower price (if seats are available) cancel our other flights and then get a Southwest credit for future travel for up to a year with the credited $$$. We take several trips per year back east and know we would use that credit within the year. But, since I have been checking back, the price of our outgoing trip has actually gone UP in price since I booked it. But I will keep checking.

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

One good thing though, I keep checking back to see if the prices go down and was told that if they do, I can rebook at the lower price (if seats are available) cancel our other flights and then get a Southwest credit for future travel for up to a year with the credited $$$. We take several trips per year back east and know we would use that credit within the year. But, since I have been checking back, the price of our outgoing trip has actually gone UP in price since I booked it. But I will keep checking.

Did you sign up for DING? You can have it for the airports you are looking for, and it will pop up whenever new rates come out for those desinations. I have done like you in the past, went ahead and booked, then used a DING when a great rate came out (often gone by the end of the day!) and just used the credit towards a future flight. If you use DING you'll know for sure when those rates drop.

 

[Twinprincesses]

We are going on the 10/18 cruise and I am waiting until Airtran post their flights which are usually not until 6 months out. THey seem to have the best deals for us.

 

[crissichef]

We are going on the 10/18 cruise and I am waiting until Airtran post their flights which are usually not until 6 months out. THey seem to have the best deals for us.

The airtran flights are posted through October........they tricked us, we thought the same thing...six months out but they came up earlier this year but definitely NOT cheaper. We are holding out for the six months mark when Southwest should be releasing. Hopefully that will stir up some competition!

Crissi

 

[RanCan]

Can someone tell me which search engines or websites have some type of "Alert" when fares get to a certain amount? I've heard about the "Ding" but Southwest doesn't book for October yet. If anyone else knows which sites have alerts I would appreciate knowing....Thanks

 

[Anal Annie]

Can someone tell me which search engines or websites have some type of "Alert" when fares get to a certain amount? I've heard about the "Ding" but Southwest doesn't book for October yet. If anyone else knows which sites have alerts I would appreciate knowing....Thanks

kayak.com also offers fare alerts via email - and the great thing with a search engine like them is that they will alert you to all the airlines prices, not just one in particular.

When we booked our flights on AirTran in early January I checked SW when they released their schedules on the 9th and they were $120 MORE than what we had just booked on AirTran. You just never know who's gonna have the best deal on what day! And AirTran is a bonus to use with Disney because they're a participating airline in the resort / onboard check-in!