Airfare Insane?

[heynowirv]

My MIL who is 85 and disabled would like to join us for a late aug.trip. I love the idea since she hasn't had a real vacation in over 15 years.We can easily get a 1bdr. for ADA but have been having a bear of a time finding decent airfare from Philly.The dates are aug20-25 or thereabouts.Southwest which we know would be best for our needs has minimal serve for those dates and the fare IMHO is outrageous.Anyone have any ideas?

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

Possible to fly from BWI? May be more competition. I know that I am having a similar problem getting to the Fort Myers area. All of the best rates are into Tampa from the DC area.

 

[heynowirv]

We would that if we didn't have my MIL

 

[Mousewerks]

I've been watching flights for the last day of July and they recently have gone through the roof. Not sure what's up with that but I think I'll wait a little longer.

 

[JimMIA]

What are the fares you're looking at? Philly is typically a cheap flight for us from Miami - usually right around $200 round trip.

We went there last October and it was very reasonable. And coming to Florida in August is a slow time for us. Florida schools go back in August and it's probably the slowest month of the year for tourism.

Did you check American? It's not always a good bet that any one airline would be cheaper.

Did you also check travel sites like Expedia, Travelocity, etc? I usually look there first to find out what the cheapest fares are, and then go to the airline site to get better flights.

 

[minorthr]

My MIL who is 85 and disabled would like to join us for a late aug.trip. I love the idea since she hasn't had a real vacation in over 15 years.We can easily get a 1bdr. for ADA but have been having a bear of a time finding decent airfare from Philly.The dates are aug20-25 or thereabouts.Southwest which we know would be best for our needs has minimal serve for those dates and the fare IMHO is outrageous.Anyone have any ideas?

I do a ton of flying for work out of Philly and since the Usair American merger completed airfare in philly has gone up a lot. They have also reduced a lot of direct flights from philly. Airfare to orlando you used to be able to get for under $250 round trip now unless you want to fly at 5am and return at midnight your looking at over $340. LA direct is running over $600 you go to BWI its $350.

I'm hoping some airlines or new airlines will start running more flights out of phl and push prices down because right now american controls like 75% of the flights out of there.

check frontier they seem to have some for around $200

 

[dclpluto]

American Airlines at the 5 month mark can give you good rates. I just looked round trip straight flights start at 222 for decent time it's 249 round trip. Frontier is cheaper don't know how they are. How low was you excepting?

 

[heynowirv]

To be honest I'm used to seeing flights at about 200.RT Now I'm seeing 246.00 on southwest out of philly,Don't want to use Frontier as you have to pay for everything including your carry on.BWI is actually the cheapest at 166.RT

 

[Mickeycrocs]

I have always had good luck with jetblue, they also will give you a schedule to show you what dates to fly are the cheapest for that month.

 

[minorthr]

To be honest I'm used to seeing flights at about 200.RT Now I'm seeing 246.00 on southwest out of philly,Don't want to use Frontier as you have to pay for everything including your carry on.BWI is actually the cheapest at 166.RT

Yea $200 or below used to be the standard for roundtrip to MCO. Not anymore.

 

[minorthr]

I have always had good luck with jetblue, they also will give you a schedule to show you what dates to fly are the cheapest for that month.

JetBlue flys direct to Fort Lauderdale from philly that started in November but not orlando you have to connect via boston.

 

[DisBuckMan]

I really wouldn't consider $246 roundtrip from Philly to Orlando to be "insane". Sounds pretty cheap to me, actually.

 

[heynowirv]

JetBlue flys direct to Fort Lauderdale from philly that started in November but not orlando you have to connect via boston.

I saw that,nothing like flying 300 miles north to go south,LOL

 

[heynowirv]

I really wouldn't consider $246 roundtrip from Philly to Orlando to be "insane". Sounds pretty cheap to me, actually.

From my perspective that's high,like I've been saying I'm used to paying about 200.RT and with the cost of fuel down I would expect it to be still about that.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Air fare has not gone down and any decently run airline is now doing rather well. Another merger or two to erase competition and they can start really making some money.

 

[jerseyduke]

check multiple times. flights prices vary day to day

 

[heynowirv]

check multiple times. flights prices vary day to day

Duke I've been doing that for over a month

 

[BillPA]

If you can switch your dates you can save some money. The best fares are Tuesday or Wednesday. I have S/W from Philly for Sept at $157. booked that last week.

 

[CraigInPA]

I recently flew Frontier from PHL to MCO. It was $29 each way (+$20 per checked bag). Granted, their departure and arrival times are horrible (really early or evening/night), but it's cheap! My wife and I decided to fly in the night before our BCV reservation and stay at the airport hotel, hopping on DME when it opened. Worked out very well, and saved us a few bucks over booking an American flight early in the day as we usually do, even considering the cost of the airport hotel.

Just checked Frontier: $89 to MCO, $49 back to PHL.

 

[DisDadDVC]

From my perspective that's high,like I've been saying I'm used to paying about 200.RT and with the cost of fuel down I would expect it to be still about that.

You are going to need to adjust your perspective. $200 RT is not going to be common. The lower cost of fuel has had zero impact on flight prices. Airlines sometimes lock in the fuel prices years in advance.