Airfare has.... uh... increased a tad since 2016

[Hikergirl]

Expedia has roundtrip flights from JFK to MCO that week for $2400
If you are looking for non-stop, prime departure times during that week then of course it will be more. That is winter break week for alot of the Northeast with many traveling to warmer vacation spots.

 

[Mikey15]

If I drive to Orlando I'm going to have to play "Holiday Road" on repeat all the way down there.

We don't "have" to go to JFK, but it's the only one we can easily get to with mass transit. We live on Long Island so we can walk to the train and ride all the way to JFK. If we do LGA we'd have to pay for a taxi which is probably $60 each way so we'd have to take that into consideration for the airfare price. And if we did Newark, well it'd probably take the same amount of time to drive to Orlando as it would to get to WDW via Newark (not really, but it would probably take 10 hours door to door)

Out of curiosity I looked up splitting the flying/driving difference on Amtrak. 23hr train ride with 2 roomettes (for 4 people). $2,156. Probably makes sense to fly in that case. Gas at 25mpg plus a hotel each way driving would be more like $500. A 16+ hour drive each way though doesn't make for the most fun 1 week vacation.

 

[PerfessorZ]

A 16+ hour drive each way though doesn't make for the most fun 1 week vacation.

No, but depending how bad the winter is, lots of us northerners would suck it up, if that's what had to happen to get us someplace warm for 5 or 6 days.

 

[DVCcurious]

Out of curiosity I looked up splitting the flying/driving difference on Amtrak. 23hr train ride with 2 roomettes (for 4 people). $2,156. Probably makes sense to fly in that case. Gas at 25mpg plus a hotel each way driving would be more like $500. A 16+ hour drive each way though doesn't make for the most fun 1 week vacation.

Now that my interest has been peaked on this I don't know if driving is really much worse than flying. Let's go with 17 hours drive. We would leave Friday after kids get off school (take afternoon off work) and drive for 6 or so hours from 3-10 (1 hour stop for dinner). Then on Saturday we'd get up at 8:00 and drive the last 11 hours from 9:00-10:00PM (1 hour for lunch and 1 hour for dinner).

Or for flying let's leave Saturday and keep the same 8:00 AM wake up time as the drive. So you get up at 8:00, leave the house at 9:00, get to JFK at 10:30 (via the LIRR), flight leaves at 12:30, arrive at MCO at 3:30, get to the Mickey Bus and check in 4:00, bus ride to WDW 5:00.

So with flying you'd really save about 5 hours on Saturday. In the flight scenario you could get to a park by 6:00 and have 4 hours at the park whereas driving you lose that 4 hours of park time.

And it would be a similar idea on the way home, you'd lose Friday evening at the parks and then some hours Saturday morning before leaving for your flight (assuming you have a flight that leaves at 5:00 and would get us back hime by 10:00).

 

[Lvsdisney]

I know someone posted google flights, but I also use Kayak. If you adjust your flight times/dates, it seems like you get closer to $600 per person.

 

[kaytieeldr]

What about Islip?

 

[LovesTimone]

Sign up for price drops, I just got one from and Orlando to JFK was 189.00 RT per person... It wasn't in my time frame, so I had to pass.

Keeping checking and rechecking... be ready, have CC in hand and go for it.

We are heading to Vegas in a couple of weeks, We fly delta most of the time, when I went on line, it was 701.00 RT per person basic economy... What... normally around 400.00... so for a about a week I just would check, and searched around... Last weekend we started to search, thinking we were going to have to bite the bullet... Well 457.00 RT per person, and that was main cabin upgrade so we could pick our seats and such.... happy dance...

 

[kmacht]

Go look at southwest. They are currently having a sale. You will need to leave from LGA instead of JFK but it is much cheaper.

LGA-MCO 2/16 - $293
Depart 9:45am, Arrive 4:15pm

MCO-LGA 2/23 - $293
Depart 11:40am, Arrive 5:55pm

8x293 = $2344

If you can't figure out how to get from your house to LGA for less than the $1600 difference flying out of JFK I'm not sure what to tell you. I am almost positive that there is a shuttle that runs between JFK and LGA. If that is still too steep then you could always look into flying into Tampa instead of Orlando. If you are renting a car anyway, it is a little less than an hour drive from the Tampa airport. Southwest has some fairs as low as $189 each way for your dates from LGA to TPA.

Keith

 

[DVCcurious]

Go look at southwest. They are currently having a sale. You will need to leave from LGA instead of JFK but it is much cheaper.

LGA-MCO 2/16 - $293
Depart 9:45am, Arrive 4:15pm

MCO-LGA 2/23 - $293
Depart 11:40am, Arrive 5:55pm

8x293 = $2344

If you can't figure out how to get from your house to LGA for less than the $1600 difference flying out of JFK I'm not sure what to tell you. I am almost positive that there is a shuttle that runs between JFK and LGA. If that is still too steep then you could always look into flying into Tampa instead of Orlando. If you are renting a car anyway, it is a little less than an hour drive from the Tampa airport. Southwest has some fairs as low as $189 each way for your dates from LGA to TPA.

Keith

how does Southwest work when you have kids? The few times I’ve flown I don’t get a seat assignment and by the time my group is called there are only middle seats. I don’t want my kids sitting between two strangers


edit: I googled it, you only get to Board with your kids if they are 6 or younger. Since mine are 7 and 9 we’ll get split up. No thank you.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

how does Southwest work when you have kids? The few times I’ve flown I don’t get a seat assignment and by the time my group is called there are only middle seats. I don’t want my kids sitting between two strangers


edit: I googled it, you only get to Board with your kids if they are 6 or younger. Since mine are 7 and 9 we’ll get split up. No thank you.

Well no one gets seat assignments with SWA. You get a Boarding position which marks the order you board the plane. It's open seating from there.

You wouldn't get split up in the sense that that's how it is, it will always depend on each and every flight. FWIW most often people advise better luck with heading towards the back of the plane.

You can purchase EBCI (Early Bird Check In) which checks you in 36 hours prior to your flight along with the A-List passengers who are also checked in at 36 hours prior to your flight and your Boarding positions are given accordingly. Passengers without EBCI would check in at 24 hours and that's when their Boarding position is assigned.

If you absolutely 100% want assigned seats then obviously SWA is not for you. But do know that when it comes to airline costs posters were/are trying to look for cheaper options and SWA does happen to be cheaper.

 

[kmacht]

I fly all the time on southwest with my family. You can either pay an extra $10 per person and get early bird check in or check yourself in at the 24 hour mark to get an early boarding number. Never once have I had a problem finding a seat for everyone. If for some reason you board late they will not split you and your kids up. They will ask people if they are willing to swap seats untill they find at least two pairs of seats together for you.

The alternative is to go pay $4000 in airfair for your family. A number of people have pointed out cheaper options. It sounds like maybe you just want to vent instead of look for a solution. Nobody here is going to magically change the price of the exact airfairs you first searched.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

You can either pay an extra $10 per person and get early bird check in

Just an FYI it hasn't been $10 in a long time. It was $15 for a while. Now,however, that recently changed. EBCI is now dynamic pricing with it being between $15 and $25 Per Person Per Way. It depends on market and demand as far as the pricing. FWIW most people seem to be reporting $20 as an average now for EBCI.

 

[trenty]

I fly all the time on southwest with my family. You can either pay an extra $10 per person and get early bird check in or check yourself in at the 24 hour mark to get an early boarding number. Never once have I had a problem finding a seat for everyone. If for some reason you board late they will not split you and your kids up. They will ask people if they are willing to swap seats untill they find at least two pairs of seats together for you.

The alternative is to go pay $4000 in airfair for your family. A number of people have pointed out cheaper options. It sounds like maybe you just want to vent instead of look for a solution. Nobody here is going to magically change the price of the exact airfairs you first searched.

Early Bird Chck in is now more than $10. I think the price depends on the flight and can be as high as $20.
@DVCcurious I have flown with family (kids) many times. Never got EBC and we always sat together, usually in the back of the plane. You have to log in to your SW account at exactly 24 hours before your flight and check in. You should get a "B" boarding group if you do this. (I have never gotten C; and sometimes even got A).

But if you are really worried about it -pay for the EBC. Even then you might get assigned a B group.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Early Bird Chck in is now more than $10. I think the price depends on the flight and can be as high as $20.

It's actually as much as $25.



It was $10 in 2009, went up to $12.50 (can't remember the date) and then it's been $15 since 2016. The most recent change that went into effect a few weeks ago is the dynamic pricing from $15-$25 range.

 

[trenty]

It's actually as much as $25.

Wow. The flights I have been looking at the past few weeks showed $20. I knew they changed to varied pricing. Didn't know it went up to $25. Not worth it. When it was $10 I would occasionally get it for a return flight if I knew I couldn't check in at 24 hours. Maybe did that twice. Not going to happen for $25.

Edit: but my kids are older now. if we all travel together we don't need to sit next to each other.

 

[Sagginit]

I'm in a sorta opposite position. I'm within 15 minutes of EWR and sometimes the cheapest or only direct flights are from JFK. This leads to me to commute to the airport which is not always convenient but if its for a few hundred I'm willing to do it. There is a shuttle from PABT to EWR that is super reasonably priced. I have gotten ubers more than once from or to PABT to JFK for $60 as long as its not peak traffic time. Depending on where you are in Long Island if you get a bargain rate at EWR the commute may not be as long as you think (again I am 15 min from EWR and I have gotten to JFK on a weekday afternoon as rush hour was starting in just two hours, 1.5 hours or less for offpeak times.

One thing to look into is splitting flights between LGA and JFK. I just went to Vegas for a wedding and wanted to use miles to save money. I flew out of JFK direct on a Wed. night and flew back Sat. morning on a connecting flight to EWR. The layover was just about 30 min in Chicago so I used it as a chance to stretch my legs and grab something to eat. What I find really annoying about NYC area airports is some airlines only fly direct out of one airport (makes sense to them but is annoying as they are actually far apart in travel time).

Also as odd as it sounds another way I read to be flexible is to look into booking two seats and then another two seats. Sometimes airlines have a limited amount of a certain rate so if you need 2 seats they might quote you the lowest tier they have but if you up it to 4 you will get a higher price per seat as they only had 3 left in that tier. You could possibly still be on the same flight, just book one parent/one child at a time if you find you get a lower price for the first two.

Overall you are going to have to be flexible as overall I have found in this area airfare has gone up. I used to get Spirit out of AC in NJ with my mom for less than $100 rountrip with luggage 8-10 years ago but those rates are impossible to find now.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Wow. The flights I have been looking at the past few weeks showed $20. I knew they changed to varied pricing. Didn't know it went up to $25. Not worth it. When it was $10 I would occasionally get it for a return flight if I knew I couldn't check in at 24 hours. Maybe did that twice. Not going to happen for $25.

Edit: but my kids are older now. if we all travel together we don't need to sit next to each other.

Yeah it seems from most people chiming in on it here on the Boards $20 is the average now but it can be as high as $25. I know that seems pretty steep TBH.

 

[kaytieeldr]

As an individual cost, it seems high because it increased. But combined with the airfare, it should still be competitive or better.

 

[Shanti]

The bottom line is that can find better prices if you would be less picky. Your choice whether to pay through the nose, or compromise.

 

[jimmymc]

Use Kayak or Google Flights to search by day. Also consider using Newark and Laguardia (even though it's terrible it usually has cheaper flights).

Avoid traveling on Sundays, booking Saturday to Saturday flights usually works out well for me. If you can, Tuesday and Wednesday are dirt cheap coming and going from NYC.