About booking December flights

[fkj2]

When is the best time to look for the most reasonable fares? Pittsburgh or Akron-Canton to MCO or Tampa? I can be flexible.

And, for those who have flown Air-Tran, are you pretty satisfied?

Thanks.

 

[SRRN]

I booked Providence to MCO for Christmas week, in February,with Delta and have a great rate.

 

[disneysnowflake]

We booked our flight in March. I've been closely watching the fares. I've seen them go way up, but right now they are about the same as they were when we booked.
I haven't seen any fares for us go lower than what we paid though.

 

[john2u]

If you book a flight now , and realize that a cheaper flight is available at a later date, do you encounter any additional charges for canceling the original one??

Who is offering the best rates at this time for travel? Priceline, Delta, etc.??

 

[TinkOhio]

If you're willing to fly out of Hopkins, try USA 3000! Their rates are VERY low, and their non-stop flights to St. Pete are already available. Good service and VERY CHEAP!

 

[fkj2]

I've never heard of USA 3000. Is this a charter or regular airlines. Cleveland's a bit longer drive to get to and any time I've priced flights from there, it's always more expensive than PIT, regardless of what airline I check.

 

[momsully]

If you know the dates you want to go you can set up Orbitz to watch those dates for you. Orbitz will email if there is a good fare. You can also set Travelocity to email you anytime a fare gets below a set price.

As for airfares we bought December airline tickets about a month ago for $147 from Denver roundtrip. Two days later the price dropped to $127. As long as the fare is available on the flights you have booked most airlines will give you a credit for the difference for no charge. We now have $80 in travel credits on Delta for the next trip.

 

[WaltD4Me]

fjk2 when are you going in December?

I'm going December 5th for 6 nights and have really been watching for good airfares, but haven't found a thing so far.
R/T out of Hopkins is around $260 (high for here) and out of Akron around $245.

I know it's probably too far for you, but I've been seeing some good rates flying out of Erie, Pennslyvania. Just a thought.

Try BestFares.com too, I've been checking them everyday and I think I saw some pretty decent fares out of Pittsburgh.
(nice thing about BestFares is they give you quotes out of nearby
airports as well as the one you request for.)

Lisa

 

[EsmeraldaX]

I haven't checked yet. I can't afford flights yet so I probably won't even look until I have the cash available to book it right away. Probably sometime in mid July.

 

[Taja]

Southwest is the only airline I know that doesn't charge to change flights. Although, if you are booking the same flight at a different rate, you will need to cancel, then book the flight again using the credit.

Their agents are very helpful. I booked last summer for December at their standard fare (PHX to MCO about $225 RT). They had a sale about 2 weeks later for $180 RT. The agent cancelled my flight for me and told me to zip onto the internet to rebook at the new rate and apply my credit (at the time they offered additional points for booking on the internet).

I fly frequently, so the remaining credit was used in January, although you have 12 months from time of the original booking to use it. You do have to request a refund in writing before the 12 months have elapsed if you have unused credits.

Basically, if Southwest serves your area, you might want to check into it!


__________________
Taja

 

[DebbieB]

USAir has been high for December PIT/MCO. I'm looking for Dec 4 to 10. It's been about $290. I'm hoping frequent flyer will come out with some availability. The last time I checked FF only had 1 flight for each date, 6:00am deparatures with connections both ways. Air Tran is about $215 but they are always changing flight times, I don't want to book too far ahead. In May, they changed their 2:30pm non-stop return to 8:30am (other times available through Atlanta) right before I was going to book it. I lucked out and grabbed USAir with a resonable fare for the times I wanted. One day it dropped from $688 to $245, I bought the tickets and then it went back up to $688!

 

[fkj2]

I'm looking at similar dates, give or take a day, as you. I also have a neighbor who is travelling the week before, so I'm keeping an eye on those as well.

The last (best) fare I had for March was $275 non-stop from PIT to MCO, which I know is high but they only went up from there. I had booked in the end of December. It seems fares from this area are high in relationship to some of the deals I read about from other people flying from MA or from out west to Florida.

 

[BelleBeautyandtheBeast]

I have never heard of USA 3000 either but I did a quick search and found their site USA 3000 Airlines. They do fly out of Cleveland and Pittsburg.

I did a price check for our upcoming July trip and got $194/pp. We paid $223 for our flight out of Akron-Canton in July to Orlando on their non-stop flight. They changed times since we booked and I am not too thrilled about it but what can I do? I would rather arrive in Orlando later than deal with layovers!

For Dec. 5 -12 PIT to St. Petersburg is $162/pp. Sounds like a good deal!

 

[fkj2]

Was that price for USA3000 out of Cleveland or Pittsburgh, or were both prices the same?

And, are you referring to AirTran when you speak of the changed flight times?

Thanks.

 

[mousefan]

hi,
Check in the sunday paper (post gazette), in travel there is usually listed a link to pgh airfares ( discounted ) sorry I didn't get the sunday paper and forgot the link its something to do with fly pgh..but its out of Allegheny county airport that runs the link ...but I got three adult airfares leaving pgh 8am friday the 3rd of december , and returning on 12th of december on usair direct flights for 251.00 each ( tax and surcharges included. ) original cost was 217.00 before all the extras added on. I bought my tickets on March 22nd. These same flights now are going 295.20 with taxes.

I will look for the other link..but meanwhile try this one.

http://www.travelnow.com/index.jsp

__________________