Crazy high airfares--am I better off waiting??

[dawn117]

Hi All! I'm sorry if this isn't the right location to post this, but I'm not sure where to ask this question. We have reservations at CR (2 nites) followed by BC (3 nites) for a Spring Break trip March 9-14. I have been trying to find "reasonable" airfares from Austin to MCO for months with no luck--everything I've seen is $600-700 or more. I just don't have much experience booking airfares. Will they get lower as we get closer to March, or should I just grab the best fare I can find now? Are we just doomed to crazy high prices because of Spring Break? Thanks for your insight!!

 

[jazz0007]

Yes they may get lower as you get closer. It is usually much more expensive to book WAY out.....although don't wait until the very last moment!! Sign up for emails from a few airlines and watch for specials.

 

[meredith1]

My parents got tickets from DFW to MCO in December for about 220 round trip for each of them. They got it directly from Southwest website. I believe they got them in July for December. Remember that the fares during Spring Break will be a bit higher.

 

[LJSquishy]

Keep looking, and when you see a price you can live with, pull the trigger. Tuesdays & Wednesdays are the best days to look at flight prices. I prefer to use a website like Kayak.com because they also let you know if it's cheaper to book a one-way flight each way which was the case for us when we went to Disney World. I live in WA state so I know what you mean about high prices.

It must be the exact dates you're traveling. I put in March 4-11 as an example, and flights were in the $350 range. People travel during spring break (obviously, haha) so they really don't need to lower prices during the time you're going. Maybe you can look into one of the airline credit cards to at least get 1 flight free. Definitely keep checking on Mon/Tues/Wed to see if prices lower enough to make it doable for you. The airlines price tickets higher later in the week & on weekends.

 

[LMN]

Hi All! I'm sorry if this isn't the right location to post this, but I'm not sure where to ask this question. We have reservations at CR (2 nites) followed by BC (3 nites) for a Spring Break trip March 9-14. I have been trying to find "reasonable" airfares from Austin to MCO for months with no luck--everything I've seen is $600-700 or more. I just don't have much experience booking airfares. Will they get lower as we get closer to March, or should I just grab the best fare I can find now? Are we just doomed to crazy high prices because of Spring Break? Thanks for your insight!!

Dawn- I'm also looking for airfare from Austin to MCO for that week. And am shocked at the airfare that I'm seeing! The cheapest I've ever paid for airfare from AUS-MCO was $179 rt last December. Usually if I can get it for less than $225, I'll book it. But, we've never gone during Spring Break before. I hate to spend extra time driving, but if we end up going that week looks like we're going to have to drive. We are now also considering moving our trip to Winter Break (first week of February) or after school is out in June. Good luck with the airfares! For both of us!

 

[dawn117]

Hey Everybody,
Thanks for the ideas. I set up a fare alert with Kayak so will let it ride a little while and see what I can find. I have already booked the resort/tickets, so I'll just have to hope to find a better fare...

 

[dawn117]

Hey LMN, Sorry you're in the sky high Austin fare boat too! If you're OK with driving to Houston, Spirit Airlines has a $334.18 round trip fare to MCO for our dates. My husband is being stubborn about wanting to fly from AUS this trip so it won't work for me. Good Luck!

 

[mmouse50]

From Houston - it is expensive! I don't know about Spirit but I never could figure out all the "add-on" charges. Have you looked at Jet Blue? I realize that they only have one non-stop going out and coming back - but I have found that flying out Jet Blue and coming back Southwest (when they have a sale) is sometimes cheaper. Plus neither on of them charge for your luggage.

 

[roselark]

A lot of places are seeing the same thing. I fly from Madison to MCO a couple of times a year and I normally pay around $280...this has been the same over the last few years. The cheapest I found for my September trip was $450 and it never went down. I was floored. I have a friend going in October and January and he was seeing the same thing.

I ended up getting a direct flight from Milwaukee for $320. Taking into account the gas and parking fees, I am still saving a bunch off current prices, but paying more than I usually do.

 

[smallsy]

I'm debating the same thing... we flew a couple years ago on SW for $39 each one ways. And of course SW cancelled MCO flights from our airport starting this Summer

I'm getting about $225 each for roundtrip, not awful, but when I'm used to getting less than $100 it makes me want to wait.

 

[TDDisney]

I found a similar experience. We usually fly roundtrip (Southwest) from Phliadelphia for about $200 each. This year it was $308 each. For a family of 4, this caused our budget to increase by $432! I booked in March for October, but kept checking back bc I always hear to book closer to trip. However, I'm glad I booked bc rates never really went down (down one day for a smidgen), but increased a lot more since we booked.

 

[maryj11]

It all depends on if the airfare goes down for us for October so far it's been over 300.00 each round trip. That is just to high for us. I checked the seating on the flights we want aan there are alot of open seats. We are hoping they will drop the price to fill the seats . I know we are going to have to decide before Sept 15 when Disney's discount expires.

 

[Laketravis]

Our Jet Blue airfare this year from Austin ($322 r/t per person) is almost twice as much as it was last year ($178 r/t per person) for the same time of the year.

Southwest is about the same, but I like JB's assigned seating, non-stop, and free TV at each seat.

 

[dawn117]

I'd love to try JetBlue, but they want over $700 rt from Austin for our March dates

 

[jillgunter]

You are still pretty early for fares to go down. Also check and see if coming in the evening before is a lot cheaper. Saved us $500 last November for our Disney cruise. We stayed at the hotel in the Orlando airport, it was really convenient! We are doing the same thing this time too.

 

[OurBigTrip]

I'd love to try JetBlue, but they want over $700 rt from Austin for our March dates

If you are able to fly out the night before, American has a one-stop for $379 rt/person. Arrive at 8:30 PM, spend the night at the airport, and take DME to WDW the next morning!

 

[maryj11]

How much are the rates at the airport ?

 

[Eastern]

It is early. Last year I got nervous because we were travelling at New Year's and flights were 500-600 for the longest time. I caved and purchased at $400 each. Then a couple weeks later flights were around $325-350. This year I am waiting until they are in the $300s for travel during the same time period (NYE). Either I'll get something, or I'm driving

 

[MomTo3PrincessesInNJ]

We're waiting to book... everything I've read says the magic number is about 40 days prior to the flight -- that is when tickets are priced at their lowest. So I will start stalking at the end of Oct for our Dec trip.

We usually fly out of Philly, but sicne we have to buy 5 tickets we will drive 2-3 hours to save a few hundred dollars-- and to fly Jetblue, our new favorite airline...I wish they flew direct to MCO from Philly!

 

[AmMeinOh]

I found the same thing when trying to book a flight for us. It was almost double what we have paid in the past. I waited for quite a while and checked constantly. Prices never really went down. So we are driving. 17 hours. Even with a hotel and food, it is still about 1/3 the cost of flying.