Airfare from MSP

[magicaldisney]

To my fellow DISers from the Twin Cities.....

Our next trip to the World will be mid March 2011. We have never traveled to Florida in March before and we are curious about typical fares for that time frame. Right now Frontier is offering the lowest at $300 (total) per person but with not so great times and Delta (who we for the most part have used in the past) is the highest at $600 per person.

I know we are early in the game here since fares just came out, but I'm nervous this is the typical fare for this particular time of year. Can anyone tell me their experience with this? Sun Country hasn't come out yet. Are they also this high for March?

 

[Dugette]

You know, I'm really not an expert on this, and I can't speak on March specifically, but here's what I do know: We're flying out of MSP on Delta in 9 days, booked it in March, grand total with tax (for good schedule, non-stop) was $199.40/person. But Delta likes to mess around with their fares a lot. At the time of booking, they kept bouncing up and down (went up to almost $100 higher) during the course of a few days. Luckily, if you book on Delta's website, you can cancel your flight during the first 24 hours without penalty. We had to do this twice before we got exactly what we wanted (the right schedule & under $200).

For our last two trips (Sept. 2009 & Jan. 2010), we took Delta on both and paid around $250/person, I think. So, my expectations are to get non-stop, good schedule flights for less than $250. We plan to head back a couple times late this year and haven't booked flights yet, as they're too expensive for my preferences right now (over $300). I'm gambling that they go down.

I guess my advice is:

1.) If you see something that you're excited about on Delta, book it online. You can think it over and cancel in 24 hours. If you wait even a few hours to book, the rate may disappear.

2.) Keep an eye on the specials. Sign up for the email fare alerts. Sun Country had a deal awhile back for 1/2 price airfare if you book hotel through them. It was a pretty good deal, but by the time we'd thought about it, it was gone.

3.) I saw a tip on these boards to sign up for yapta.com. I did and now I get alerts when the prices of my desired flights drop.

Hope this helps somewhat.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I've flown in and out of MSP a few times and either used Delta or Sun Country to MCO. Anything $250 and less is a good deal no matter when you're going. We haven't flown in March lately, but they don't seem to have a lot of good deals unless you're doing a spring break package to Mexico or something. Sun Country seems to wait longer to open booking too.
We're flying at the end of July and got $199 RT with Delta.
If you're willing to go with a stop or plane change, the deals are out there. Now MSP has a few more options, such as AirTran. It's worth checking into. It's cheaper, but takes a whole day to get there!

 

[Nicole1476]

I am having the same problems... would love to get non-stop from MSP to MCO for march 12-20 (give or take a day) but everything is still well over $500. I'm waiting for Allegiant to come out with their fares... they fly Duluth to Sanford, they fly non-stop and their prices look reasonable thus far.... of course the March schedule isn't out yet...

 

[CarolMN]

To my fellow DISers from the Twin Cities.....

Our next trip to the World will be mid March 2011. We have never traveled to Florida in March before and we are curious about typical fares for that time frame. Right now Frontier is offering the lowest at $300 (total) per person but with not so great times and Delta (who we for the most part have used in the past) is the highest at $600 per person.

I know we are early in the game here since fares just came out, but I'm nervous this is the typical fare for this particular time of year. Can anyone tell me their experience with this? Sun Country hasn't come out yet. Are they also this high for March?

We chose SWA for our trip in April and will fly them again in October. They had the best fare by far for our dates and of course no charge for checked bags. Travel time is longer, since you will need to stop and probably change planes in either Chicago or Midway. We thought the longer time was more than offset by the reduced fare.

I found that getting the best price on SWA requires booking as soon as they release the fares for your dates. If you wait, they are often MORE expensive than the other airlines. I buy EBCI option for the return trip so that I do not have to worry about checking in at the 24 hour mark (rather be in the parks and not worry about it). We've been paying about $238 per person RT, incl the $10 fee for EBCI on the trip home.

If you don't want to fly SWA and aren't traveling the week before or after Easter, my advice is to wait for SC to release their fares. Keep an eye on fares and jump on anything close to $250 per person, especially if it's non-stop.

I have found this site a good one - it predicts the trends once you get within 6 months of your departure. I used it to our advantage for our recent trip to Boston.

www.farecast.com

Good luck!

 

[john1928]

When I travel for business I will usually select Delta or Continental (MSP home for Delta, with Houston being a common destination) for non-stop fares at somewhat higher prices. I'll also eat the bag fee if needed for dress attire etc...

Sun Country is often competitive (or lower) for non-stops if they fly where/when you want to go.

Southwest only has a handful of non-stop options from MSP right now (though they keep adding cities one at a time). We're heading down to MCO in September/October on SW. Our fares ended up at $135+taxes/fees round trip ($79 each way, -$25 Florida coupon code). For a 17 day vacation where we were going to need to bring checked bags this was a savings of almost $500 for our family and we decided the extra ~2hrs of travel time (stop but no plane change in Chicago) was worth it. In March that Chicago stop may double your risk of a winter weather delay, so something to consider...

We had actually booked when prices were slightly higher, but since SW allows free changes (big benefit when booking far in advance) we rebooked at the lower rate and now have a credit for the difference to use at some other time.