Airfare Help from BOS - April Vacation Week

[Jen in MA]

Hi,

I'm trying to book a flight from BOS to Orlando for school vacation week in April. I'm shocked at how high the airfares already are! In the past, I've booked later and payed alot less. Any advice or tips for finding a better rate? What would you all consider reasonable to pay? I really don't have much flexibility with dates. I'm a teacher, so I'm kinda stuck with going during school vacation week. On the upside, this year our break does not coincide with Easter. That happened 2 years ago... and I will never again visit WDW during Easter week! Way too crowded! Oh well, thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[alexturner74]

I suggest that you wait. It may be a while before any fare sales come out for that time period. Plus, fares will likely come down when Southwest starts selling tickets. Right now, they're only selling through December I believe.

 

[Jen in MA]

I'm just so afraid that the fares will just continue to increase... What is a reasonable price to pay?

 

[Kruuzin]

I don't think you will see the fares go much higher (or lower), but the thing you need to watch out for is the flights selling out completely. If you wait you will end up traveling on the Wed or Thur before or Mon or Tues after. This happened to friends of ours a few years ago. We left on Sat and they couldn't join us until the following Tues.

 

[debster812]

You might want to stick it out until Southwest publishes fares Manchester NH. (they also fly from Providence, and Hartford, but I think Manchester would be most convenient for you?) I am waiting them out for Feb vacation, so I feel your pain.

You can also look into flying into Tampa, as it is an easy 1.5 hour drive.

Good Luck!

 

[CapeCod95]

I would try Boston to Tampa. We are going from MA during school vacation week too as my wife is a teacher and all of the direct flights to MCO at good times were almost all filled up the first day they were on sale (330 days outs). I paid about $385/ticket for a direct flight to Tampa on Song. Extremely high but I didn't want to chance it by waiting for new fares to come out. I have a 1.5 and 3.5 year old so direct flights were a must. I was going to rent a minivan anyway and got a $223/week Windstar from Budget as well. I 've done Tampa before and it's a quick 1 hour ride to DW. On a side note, we too were there two years ago on Easter week/school vacation week and it was wall to wall people , I agree with you. Good luck

 

[beattyfamily]

Originally posted by CapeCod95
On a side note, we too were there two years ago on Easter week/school vacation week and it was wall to wall people , I agree with you. Good luck

So how much better is Spring break when it is NOT near Easter crowd wise???

 

[jmcross]

I am a teacher in the Boston area, also. I booked my family's flight through Travelocity back in April. I got $216 round trip per person to Orlando from Logan for February vacation week! I was thrilled with that fare as I've paid double or more in the past.

I would not wait much longer as what people have said is true. Those flights for a school vacation week will sell out. Keep checking Travelocity. I'm glad I did!
Joanne

 

[poohbear2]

We are also looking for tickets the last week of April, our vacation week. The lowest so far is 277.00. I am hoping they go down to 200.00. We usually leave from Manchester. Last year we went Easter time and paid 298.00 a ticket so I am surprised that the tickets are almost the same price. I've just been visiting the web sites every day.

 

[Jen in MA]

The best price I've found is $294 on Delta (not direct flights). The other thing is that the second leg of the return flight is on a little jet operated by Comair. Has anyone ever been on one of these smaller planes???


Beattyfamily-- The crowds are alot better when Easter does not fall during the school vacation week. Don't get me wrong, it will still be crowded, just not insanely crowded. From what I hear, Easter is almost as bad as the week between Christmas and New Year's.

 

[sandyneck]

Have you tried AirTran out of Boston? We are also from MA and ended up having to go to FL during Easter Week at the last minute. All the flights were crazy(350.00 and up) I had just about given up and I booked on airtran thru orbitz for 250.00. It is difficult to get much lower than that for April vacation. I am afraid the prices will not go down for that time frame. They know all us northeners go down then. It is usually part of Canada's break also. If you try for southwest out of PVD make sure you check everyday and as soon as the rates come out book them. They were gone in a matter of hours last year. Keep checking and have faith!!

 

[alexturner74]

Originally posted by CapeCod95
We are going from MA during school vacation week too as my wife is a teacher and all of the direct flights to MCO at good times were almost all filled up the first day they were on sale (330 days outs).

Really? Just as an example, I checked the Delta/Song BOS-MCO flights for every Saturday next April and none of them are even close to being filled. The worst of them still had close to 150 seats available. It might be that they are not allowed to sell more than just a handful of seats at the beginning, and then they open up the aircraft as time goes and fares are set. You'll be hard pressed to find any flight sold out before 2 months out, even for busy holiday travel times.

 

[Maxwell]

Boston is slowly becoming an unfriendly (price/time) airport for direct flights to Orlando. There used to be many options. Now there are only 4 flights a day non stop to MCO. The earliest in 11:25AM on SONG.

 

[Jen in MA]

I tried Song, but even though they have seats available, the fare is $280 each way... yikes! Way too much

 

[beattyfamily]

It might not be because of spring break though. Song has been pretty high for most flights. Our flights down in Nov/Dec is at $425 when I looked yesterda!!!! Before that it was at $380 for awhile. Luckily I booked right at the 330 day window in January and paid $181 per ticket.

Good luck!

 

[Mike_Ma]

Consider flying out of New York instead. New Yorkers have a different vacation schedule from that of Massachusetts. You will find a better selection of flights available today with decent airfares.

I booked April vacation week 2004 with Spirit Airlines out of LGA last week. A Saturday to Saturday booking was $170. This is a non-stop flight. A Saturday to Friday flight is even better at $150.

Jet Blue also has decent fares at that time out of JFK.

Southwest fares won't come out for some time and the rate may not that great. If you want the peace of mind New York is not a bad alternative.

 

[beattyfamily]

Wow, NY is much cheaper BUT it's about 4 hours away. My DH would never go for driving down there and back at the end of our trip.

It's still good to know as an alternative! Thank you!

 

[Mike_Ma]

I agree that the 3.5 - 4 hour drive to New York is tiring. However, consider that many of the flights out of Logan are not non-stop. How long is the layover for the connecting flight? You may find that the TOTAL travel time from source to destination does not differ greatly whether you fly from Boston, or New York.

Also, you must consider the extra costs of driving to New York. Parking at LGA is 20% higher than Logan. You also have the additional tolls and gas.

I would not drive to New York to save money on the cost of 2 tickets. However, the savings may be more appealing for larger families.

 

[seashoreCM]

I haven't checked April Vacation week but I have often surveyed Thanksgiving Week. Once the small allotment of cheap seats were gone and "the fares went up", the fares stayed up period, for the choicest dates and times. (There may be some fare sales, down to USD $220. one way from $280. one way perhaps. Now with on line internet booking, the instant the flights open up, sometimes 4 PM on the 332'nd day in advance, the cheap seats are gone from some flights. The airline could offer any number, even hundreds, of cheap seats and they would still all be gone within a week or so. Meanwhile using the present pricing structure ($280 one way BOS-MCO) the planes will still be nearly full on departure date.

The 331 day in advance (less for Southwest) on your mark get set go for the on line mad scramble is now a fact of life. Unless perhaps the airlines decide to randomly stagger the opening up of flights, say 320 days in advance some of the time, 300 days in advance some of the time. They could even offer no cheap seats whatsoever on those flights that historically have had a mad scramble. After all, those who missed the 331 day in advance point may have thought there were no cheap seats on certain flights. I haven't checked all of Song's peak period flights but for the flibhts I did check, some cheap seats ($100. or so each way) did exist for every one.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[airhead]

So,I should be prepared to buy my tickets(SWA) 330(320) days out even if I'm going in late June or just Spring break?

Airhead