Airfare for Christmas?!

[Love2BinDisney]

Crazy question: What are the chances of airfare going down for December 21st through 26th? Do you think airfare will continue to climb for the holiday season or do you think at some point it will drop a little? I know it is difficult to predict and right now they have the times we like to travel.

 

[ntsammy5]

You're right, it's impossible to predict, but right now it's hard to imagine prices will decline significantly.

 

[GranddadTom]

We're going down on December 19th and returning on the 23rd. I'm a "hold out for a price that I like" type of guy but this year I changed to a "hold out for a price a can afford" guy. I was waiting for SW to come out with their airfares for December (on June 26th) but the opening prices were too high for my blood ($439 + taxes each RT). I'd been watching JetBlue and Air Tran and when Air Tran dropped to $328 with taxes and seat selection earlier this week, I went for it. I noticed this morning that Air Tran is back over $400. Air Tran, you say? I figure that if they go under, things will be so bad that I might just as well cancel the whole trip.

To answer your question - yes, I think they will go down - but if may only be for short promotional periods and I'm afraid that will all these cancellations we hear about, seats may get difficult to find.

 

[kimmie]

We booked back in March for Christmas. Got $279 rt on United. Two tickets were on miles. Glad we did it.
I think you have to decide what you are comfortable with paying.

 

[CalvaryMike]

With the weakening dollar and oil hitting another all time high again today, IMHO, I don't see prices going down. We've already booked our December tickets and since then, it's gone up $125.

 

[CarolA]

Well it's not Orlando, but I bought tickets to Jamaica leavng 12/22 and returning 12/28 about three months ago.. The airfare has done nothing but climb!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Also not Orlando, but I wanted to go to Las Vegas around Christmas, and only on JetBlue (hey, I'm fussy!). Every day's low fare was between $190 and $300... except if I come home ON Christmas. It's 'only' $150 that day

 

[musicmama]

Booked AirTran and had to adjust my dates to get a price I liked. I knew we wanted to come home on Christmas Day - heard it was usually cheapest that day plus wanted to see family - and so I started looking ahead.
-- It definitely is cheaper on this day - at least on AirTran - MCO to PHL as low as $79. plus fees. 8:30am non-stop, works for me!

Friday (12/19) - yikes! Over $300. one-way plus fees. Forget that, even though DD is now done school til New Years and DH's finals are done.
Thursday (12/18) - almost as bad! Just under $300. one-way plus fees. No way.
Wednesday (12/17) - wow! $79. plus fees. Even for the last non-stop of the day. If this works, DD only misses 2 days of school, I take 2 days of vacation, and DH just gives early finals. Booked it!

$ 536. total round-trip for the 3 of us, used Amex membership rewards to end up costing me $94. plus seating fees. Yes, I paid for seating, figuring that the planes just might fill up later. AirTran flights are usually full when we've flown them.

Bottom fare has been pretty consistent at the $79., with an occasional spike to $86. for both dates. HOWEVER -- the flight numbers have changed, and the times have changed by about 15 minutes.

As long as AirTran is still flying at Christmas, I will be fine.

 

[Charleyann]

Crazy question: What are the chances of airfare going down for December 21st through 26th? Do you think airfare will continue to climb for the holiday season or do you think at some point it will drop a little? I know it is difficult to predict and right now they have the times we like to travel.

Last Christmas I purchased tickets for my friend and her daughter. We got seat sales. She got jetblue for $69.00 to Orlando on Dec 21st and $89 back with Airtran on Dec 29th.

There is a chance!

Charleyann

 

[Disney-&-Baseball]

We booked our trip for the first two weeks in Dec. back in February. We are flying Delta out of Portland OR to Orlando with a stop in Salt Lake City. We got the tickets for $250 a piece plus tax. I was just on the Delta website checking our flight status(because they have changed our flight times slightly a couple of times now) and I noticed that the tickets had gone up to $715 a piece! We definitely would not be making the trip at those prices.

 

[conniehar90]

I was waiting patiently for Southwest as everything I was tracking out of Chicago was $500 - $1000 !! We had to change our plans around when SW released their fares as they were still too high for me - about $450. We are now departing for WDW on Xmas Eve and returning on NYDay for about $330. Last year we paid about $220. It hurts. I am wondering if it will be less crowded this year because of the prices. I seriously thought about canceling the trip but DH didn't want to. I keep checking almost every day for a special but so far the prices keep climbing.