A good deal flying out of Syracuse?

[MarcoA]

I live in the Ottawa area and have been comparing flights for our family (of 4)'s trip in early December. (We will be going in the period between U.S. Thanksgiving and Christmas, so not prime time.)

All of the fares I am getting point to Syracuse-Orlando being about $250 per round-trip ticket cheaper than Ottawa-Orlando. Basically, they're half price. I have a best (so far) price of $250 per ticket that includes all taxes and fees.

I am looking to book this far out because we will travelling with young children and also our dates for time off from work are not particularly flexible.

I have heard JetBlue is even cheaper but most reports of "great deals" on JetBlue talk of $99 one-way or $169 return, excluding taxes, so when you tack on the taxes, we're up around $250 per ticket anyway. As well, JetBlue doesn't sell tickets this far out, so I'd have to wait a while.

So, should I book the $250 tickets now or wait and see?

 

[crazytp93]

Book it now and if something better comes about cancel it.

 

[MarcoA]

Most places have a no-cancellation policy. The $250 fares I am getting are on Priceline.

 

[Eveningsong]

Have you looked at Rochester Airport and priced Air Tran.

They have direct flights that can be booked for around $200.00 return.

If you are driving from Ottawa it is approximately 1 hour more driving time.

 

[siobhan1997]

Friends of ours booked Jetblue last year leaving 1 week before Halloween and coming back 1 week after. They got on Jetblue $79.00 going down and $89.00 coming back plus taxes. Came to around $220.00 each direct flight. We have been flying with Jetblue now for about 5 years from Syracuse and I have always got my best deal on the day the flights for my time frame are released. This year I got March break for $258.00 each inclusive non stop. With small children, I would go for less complication with a non stop flight, smaller airport and great TV's in the backs of seats.

At times there are some great deals from Ottawa on US carriers but never non stop. Keep checking with kayak.com for all fares from Ottawa-Orlando or Syracuse-Orlando.

 

[OntFamily]

It's a little earlier for the cheap fares, for December (the fares are best on the day the airline releases the dates, or during a seat sales). Dependent on your travel dates in Dec (ie cheap fares for Dec 23 can be hard to get....), it will be Sept/Oct before you have the cheapest fares.

$250 all in, per ticket, is not bad. You may see $200 (including all taxes, surcharges, etc).

 

[FayeW]

For those Priceline tickets, are you able to see the departure and arrival times, or will you only get that information after you purchase the ticket?

We always fly JetBlue out of Syracuse (we are in Ottawa also) and I have paid as little as $69. each way. The last time we went the tickets for the 4 of us were $932., all tax included.

While I would be tempted to book the tickets you found just to have it over with, I think I would hold out to see if I could get direct flights on JetBlue. They are an awesome airline!

 

[Nagle]

I have always got my best deal on the day the flights for my time frame are released

I don't usually follow air fares that closely. How do you know when flights are released? If I want to book for late October, when would flights be released?

Thanks
John

 

[FayeW]

They usually release the flight schedule about 6 months out. I think we booked in early June for Dec flights.

 

[IMDORY]

Hi! I'm not Canadian (but my Grandmother was-does that count? ) I jumped on this board to ask a question about something else and read this thread. As I live in Syracuse and take Jet Blue all the time to Orlando I thought I'd put in my 2 cents.

I have heard that Jet Blue will be releasing all flights from September to the end of the year through December sometime in March. I read this on the Transportation board-and that makes sense given my past experience with Jet Blue and December. I too am waiting anxiously to book my December flights with Jet Blue out of SYR asap. I could book through another airline-but I have had the best experiences with Jet Blue (no switching of flight times/days, direct flights SYR to MCO, reasonable fares-plus-you gotta love those blue potato chips! ) Your priceline fare is good-and you probably won't find much else cheaper than that out of SYR...but I'd wait a few weeks to see what Jet Blue has if it was me. They will probably be about the same price if you book as soon as the window opens-but I just find Jet Blue direct to and from MCO to be more reliable than the other carriers.

Now if you are having to connect through JFK...well, I might consider the Priceline fare. If there is bad weather-the chances of getting stuck at JFK are really high, JFK is notorious for this-and with Jet Blue they don't put you on another carrier-you are stuck there. This happened to me once in October and I had to spend the night there. It really stunk b/c I was only going away for the weekend-so it really ate into my already short trip.

 

[MarcoA]

Connections would be via Cincinnati on the way down and Dulles (DC) on the way back. Since it's early December the weather risk that far south (at least looking at it from where I live!) is manageable I'd say.

 

[siobhan1997]

There are also other factors that could delay connectors, such as high winds, mechanical problems, etc. I remember when that really bad freak snow storm suddenly hit Buffalo in October 06.Not to mention possibility of delayed or lost luggage due to connections. Nothing was moving. If you are comfortable with connecting flights then no problem, but I know I am not comfortable with them.

 

[MarcoA]

Well, if I fly out of Ottawa I have to connect through Toronto anyway, and that’s not always a piece of cake either.

 

[claire_ont]

We live in Ottawa and we are driving the extra distance in March to fly SW out of Albany. Non-stop flights each way. All taxes included it was around $200/pp return. This will be our first time trying that, so I will let you know how it works out.

Claire

 

[Legend of Odon]

I just booked out of Syracuse 2 days ago for our May trip. I really did not want a connecting flight so looked specifically at JetBlue. However for our dates the times weren't that great and we wanted to take a late afternoon flight home so we opted to go with United again. We flew with United on our last trip and they were fine...we got held up in Phillie on the way home due to the tail end of a hurricane but that wasn't United's fault. We ended up paying $252.00 including all taxes per tickets which is very good. The first time we flew AC out of Pearson, now I can't believe I paid that much when Syracuse is such a better/cheaper option. However if I had small children still paying more for direct flights would definitely be worth it to me.

 

[Eveningsong]

With the $25.00 discount coupon offered by Air Tran (for signing up for their newsletter) I am going to book Air Tran out of Rochester, New York.

They have direct flights for $199.00 (taxes in) return air fare. You apply the coupon at the payment stage so it should drop to approximately $174.00 return.

We have friends that fly out of Rochester and they like it, they have also flown out of Syracuse.

Jet Blue, Syracuse doesn't have a morning direct flight for my travel dates.
It flies out at 4:10 p.m. and gets in to Orlando around 7:00 p.m.

I really don't want to be arriving at my DVC villa at 9:00 p.m. on our arrival date.

 

[OntFamily]

I don't usually follow air fares that closely. How do you know when flights are released? If I want to book for late October, when would flights be released?

Thanks
John

If you want the absolute least expensive fare, you MUST follow air fares very closely (it's almost a full time job....).

Many people who have gotten the sub-$200 fares, will check websites almost daily, to see if new fare dates are available.

Otherwise, you can pay a little more, but get a fare to which you are comfortable.