Air fare is making me cry.

[StrwLady]

Actually the booking of this entire trip is making me cry!

Air fare from Dallas to Orlando for the first week of June is SO SO HIGH! At most in the past I have paid $250-$275 with taxes and fees but right now the cheapest I can find is $380. That is playing around with +/- a couple days of my desired dates. I have even looked at connecting flights (which I really don't care to do but will if I can get it considerably cheaper) but those are similar rates.

Normally I wouldn't worry about it being it is still 4 months out but I keep an eye on the seats available on the flights I am interested in and they are starting to book up. There is still decent availability but i would say in the last week or so at least 1/3 of the seats are showing taken.

I am getting antsy. There is no way I want to pay $380 for a flight to Orlando but I'm getting concerned this is the lowest.

Add all that to waiting on the June AP rates to come out....cry!!! I have the money now to pay my trip in full (Yeah tax refund) so I want to book it all!!!

 

[Lewisc]

Southwest has $162.80 available, leaving May 25 and returning June 1.

I don't know if it's too early for better rates in June or if the airlines think they'll be able to charge profitable fares in June.

 

[n2mm]

Can you purchase one way tickets on two different airlines to save money. We do this all of the time. We use to fly down on SW and home on Jetblue or Airtran. I watch airfare daily as I have a trip in May, August and October and I've not even bought my May tickets for the return home flight yet. We are very flexible on what day we leave and time (as long as it's not early morning). I use Yapta to help me track flights. Normally prices change on Tuesday/Wednesdays so I watch those days carefully, esp. throughout the day as often the prices sometimes change in the afternoon. I still think you are pretty far out for any type of sale. Keeping in mind that some sales are only for a few seats, so you may have to break into more than one reservation to get a bargain.

 

[Lewisc]

Use Kayak. You can get airfares starting at $202 R/T. Leaving 6/1 or 6/2 returning 6/7 or 6/8.

 

[MichelleVW]

I'm in the same boat, but we're not leaving until July. We usually don't pay over $250 and I just checked and the cheapest I found was 329. We may drive, which I would rather not do since it's so far from DFW, but it's an option. I'm hoping that Southwest drops their rates when it get closer to the date, but if not, we'll just drive.

 

[Abibaby]

Those are the prices $350 - $380 we were finding for our august trip...Air tran just released thier rates for our dates and I found a R/ T for about $250 / per person. I was really hoping for even lower than that - had seen $179 - $199 as recent as december, but with the other rates being / staying so high Im jumping on my $250.

 

[capstubbs]

Last week I booked tickets on Delta from Boston for our Dec trip. Cost was 250 pp checked yesterday and the same flights are now 553 pp. Glad I booked early even though everyone thought I was crazy.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

I can relate and I am glad to see that I am not the only one that thinks airline fares are high now, especially compared to last year. When I started a thread on this particular forum four days ago ("Discouraged by summer airline fares"), some of the replies I received made me think maybe I was being "unrealistic" about airline fares.

 

[chabs]

You're not the only one! I'm thinking that for about the same money we can go to Disneyland instead. How can it be cheaper to fly west than it is to fly to MCO? It's crazy this year. We've been putting off DL because of the airfare. If I'm going to spend $1300 from NY, I might as well be getting my money's worth!

 

[macraven]

sign up with yapta, kayak and smarter travel alerts.

i go the 4th week of september and return after columbus day.

all the fares from chicago to orlando were so high, as in $390 rt.
that put me in a panic.......

i received an alert on saturday and bought my rt ticket for $134 + tax of $20.40. for AA.

this is cheaper than what i paid last year for my trip of the same time period.
i always book when the price is low no matter how far out my trip is.


don't give up hope.
try some of the travel sites for additional information for fares.

 

[Cherinva]

I'm going to Orlando the first week in April....The airfares have changed +/- 4 times now....unfortunatly, I didn't book with it was the cheapest....I'm watching now to see if they go any lower before I book..hopefully Tuesday or Wednesday.....

 

[djsgirl1109]

All I was finding for 4 from Boston to MCO was close to $2K! Then I checked Southwest. If you booked online you got amazing deals. I saved $1K this way! Plus bags fly free. We also chose to leaeve from Providence and the parking is $60 compared to $200 at Logan....

 

[iluveeyore]

I booked our March Break trip only six weeks out and had to pay over $400 r/t each - I usually pay that for three of us together! Then of course the morning after I booked our return on Airtran, it went down $60 each, and now I have a credit I don't need! SWA was not as cheap as usual either, pd $244 each one way - I know it's our March Break though, and played with days as much as I could. Still, it's for DD's Sweet 16 in May, and I didn't want her missing school so chose March Break instead. At least my room at Pop was cheap! I think I'll just pretend 4 of us went for the $850 airfare so I can sleep at night! I'm still going though. If they're that expensive for the family to go in October, we'll just drive. It wasn't possible this trip with me being the only adult and doing a 21 hour drive myself with DD scared me, so the flight is worth the peace of mind.

 

[NYDisneyKid]

wake up people. this is 2011. yet you say nothing when park tickets go up

 

[CowboyCO]

I have never paid more than $250 RT from Denver to MCO, but this year, we planned a June trip to WDW. I love Southwest, so when when fares opened at $145 each way, I felt I could wait (as I normally do) and get a better fare. Up, up up and I finally bought tickets at $348. Today that same fare is $535!!!!

Gas prices are going up, Egypt is burning and we have an off-shore drilling ban stopping helping to raise oil futures.

I recommend booking now if you can afford it.

 

[LIFERBABE]

What are your dates?

I fly out of DFW also and may be able to help.

So far we have SWA on 6/2 and we paid $59 each

Looking for our return but we may drive back using the 1 way car rental deal which would take care of our rental car and return trip home expense.

 

[castle1]

I just booked today on American from DFW to MCO for $181 + 21.40tax for our trip in May. I believe the fares are good through May 24, if booked by Feb. 8. (tomorrow!) For the OP, I know this doesn't help you for your June dates, but maybe for anyone traveling this spring.

 

[StrwLady]

We are going June 3rd to June 14th. There is a little flexibility in the dates. June 3rd is the last day of school for most school districts in the area (unless we have to make up all snow days) So before that the fares are better for the outbound. I can't take my son out earlier as he is in middle school and they do exams right up to the last day of school.

I am pretty savvy when it comes to finding good fares. I will sit on the computer for hours looking at every site trying different days and whatever I can. I picked the 14th as the return since flying on Tues and Wed usually have the lowest fares. My son and I will leave on the 3rd and my hubby will join us the Wed after. So far the best I can find for all 3 tickets is $1100. OUCH. I can swing that if I need to but it really hurts when in the past we could do it for $750 for all three.

I have considered Southwest. We love them and nornmally take them to New Orleans. They do not fly direct but do have several one stop no plane change options. I don't mind this at all. And yes even if the fare is similar we will save because we usually have 3 bags and American's bag fees are insane.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have calmed down some. I have to wait a little longer before booking anything as they are talking about more snow this week and the school district hasn't officially said what they plan on doing about the missed days.

I hope I can hang in there waiting for fares to drop and not panic and buy too early!

 

[nrpofp]

I bought our tickets for our May trip in October and I am so glad I did. I was worried I bought to early, but I keep checking and prices just keep going up.

 

[brymolmom]

We are going June 3rd to June 14th. There is a little flexibility in the dates. June 3rd is the last day of school for most school districts in the area (unless we have to make up all snow days) So before that the fares are better for the outbound. I can't take my son out earlier as he is in middle school and they do exams right up to the last day of school.

I am pretty savvy when it comes to finding good fares. I will sit on the computer for hours looking at every site trying different days and whatever I can. I picked the 14th as the return since flying on Tues and Wed usually have the lowest fares. My son and I will leave on the 3rd and my hubby will join us the Wed after. So far the best I can find for all 3 tickets is $1100. OUCH. I can swing that if I need to but it really hurts when in the past we could do it for $750 for all three.

I have considered Southwest. We love them and nornmally take them to New Orleans. They do not fly direct but do have several one stop no plane change options. I don't mind this at all. And yes even if the fare is similar we will save because we usually have 3 bags and American's bag fees are insane.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have calmed down some. I have to wait a little longer before booking anything as they are talking about more snow this week and the school district hasn't officially said what they plan on doing about the missed days.

I hope I can hang in there waiting for fares to drop and not panic and buy too early!

I'm not getting your trip dates or something. Are you talking DFW airport? I am getting $267 total for 4th to 14th or $292 3rd (early evening - figured needed to wait until school was out that day) to the 14th. Is it just that you are worried/concerned because direct flights are more expensive at this point or are you shopping for indirects too?

IDK - with airfare the way they are - if you can get a r/t ticket in the same range as in the past but with a layover - it might be the best we can hope for this summer with fuel prices.