airfare is out of control

[Tiffany]

Hi,

I was just looking at flights because we are thinking of taking an unplanned trip to WDW over the Memorial Day weekend. And airfare on JetBlue and Song out of Boston to MCO is over $600.00 for the two of us. Is this normal for May? We usually go in Sept and Jan and the most we have paid is $215.00 per ticket total. One combination of time and dates gave me a total of $650.40 on Jet Blue and $668.92 on Song. I took a look at the seats left and neither flight is half full. I can use my SkyMiles but I hate to do that on a flight to Orlando.

So for those of you that travel in May what do you think? Is this the regular going rate in May or is it because I am only about 90days out? We usually book far in advance.

Well, I will not know if we can take this extra trip until bonuses come out around 03/15/2004 so by then the prices could change. But, is anyone willing to comment on these prices?

 

[msdis]

Delta went up $10.00 across the board for every ticket yesterday afternoon. I checked several differnt ones in the am with intentions of booking when I left work yesterday. At 2pm everything was up. The news last night said some airlines had increased their rates by 10.00 per ticket but Delta and some others were not going to. I guess they either changed their minds or thought no-one was looking. Traditionally the closer you get to a holiday weekend the more it goes up. Play with your dates and times a little more. I was looking at that same timeframe and best I can get is 282.40 each. Good luck!

 

[alexturner74]

Originally posted by Tiffany
I was just looking at flights because we are thinking of taking an unplanned trip to WDW over the Memorial Day weekend. And airfare on JetBlue and Song out of Boston to MCO is over $600.00 for the two of us. Is this normal for May?

Not necessarily normal for May, but is for Memorial Day weekend. It will be tough to find a good fare for that weekend unless the flights don't fill up, and the airlines decide to put them on sale to get the passengers. Sometimes you can find good last minute deals for holiday weekends.

 

[anabelle]

We are going this week as well as many other folk.
We finally booked on Southwest a couple of weeks ago and we only paid $177 round trip. I had to settle for a non direct flight though. Everyone else was around $225 round trip. Rental car was the biggest shock though. We are paying twice what we paid for last year.

 

[Goof]

I have researched Delta's fares for quite a long time and they seem to make most of their changes over the weekend. Their fares tend to go up and down during this time. Although this may not be a recurring pattern for Delta, it seems to have been such for quite a few months.

 

[DebbieB]

I'm having a hard time with USAir. I've been watching May 2 to 7. Some of the desirable flight combinations are almost $700 PER PERSON. One is over $1,000 (9:15am PIT/MCO). Some of them have quite a few number of seats open. The only ones under $300 are late afternoon/evening flights to MCO and early morning returns, which wipes out 2 days at the parks.

 

[safetymom]

I had that problem once last year from PIT. The expensive flights were the best times. I went to the airport several hours early and flew standby on the expensive flight. It worked out well and it only cost me $25.

 

[Lachesis00]

You should see what it cost to fly out of SE Alaska. I thought a 4 day trip to anywhere would be nice... we're looking at $700.00 per person to fly to Seattle.

 

[ksaybolt99]

I booked last June for our trip first week in May. Our flight home from MCO is at 4:40 on Saturday. My fare was $201. I checked today and my same flights would be almost double the price, and actually the flight home is sold out.

They always charge more for premium time flights.

 

[joanb]

Delta did not go up $10 across the board- I saw a decent price Fridaay didn't book-got up the nerve to do it Saturday and just checked and the price is still the same. It is the lowest that I have seen it in the past month by about $20 and great flight times. Non stop from Greensboro, NC to MCO.

 

[pumpkinboy]

Originally posted by ksaybolt99
I booked last June for our trip first week in May. Our flight home from MCO is at 4:40 on Saturday. My fare was $201. I checked today and my same flights would be almost double the price, and actually the flight home is sold out.

They always charge more for premium time flights.

Absolutely right! If you are booking this late for a holiday weekend, and there is any kind of demand out there, the cheap seats are already gonna be sold out. And if you want to fly direct and at desirable times, you had better book early or be prepared to pay more. It's not the airlines try to gouge you, it's just that other people already bought the cheaper seats and that is what JetBlue and Song charge for seast when a plane is already half full 3 months out.

 

[disneysnowflake]

On Friday I found a roundtrip ticket on Northwest for $225 each.
My husband had to work over the weekend. I talked to him about the tickets on Sunday night.
This morning I went back on Northwest's website and the same tickets are $297 each.

On Travelocity the ticket prices for our trip have gone up at least $50 each. The price I got for US Airways has our roundtrip tickets for December at over $325 each.

I'm hoping they go down some.

 

[mom_rules]

We got burned on our airfare over Easter by one day-was $450 per person then the seats started to sell out-couldn't even get a flight out-our TA searched for an entire day and finally got us a flight but for $650 per person-I've never paid that much. There are 5 of us and it really hurt. Be careful you don't get caught in this too!

 

[NotUrsula]

Always try to avoid booking flights on a weekend. The airlines tend to float the price increases on Friday; if other airlines don't follow, they tend to drop back down by midnight on Monday. Tuesday/Wednesday tend to be the best times, esp. if SWA is in your market, as SWA usually posts sales late on Monday night.

 

[Stiff]

we are booked on southwest, leaving the saturday of memorial day weekend

all three of us, round trip (direct flight)....total price for all three was $530

thats from baltimore

 

[*Fantasia*]

I am flying on May 7th from DTW (Detroit) to MCO for $162 pp rt. SouthWest airline. I booked it right away. The following day, I checked the flight and the price. It went up, the fare is now $220. I am just so glad I grabbed $162 when it came out. I knew the price wasn't going to go down.

$650 is a lot of money. I don't think I would want to pay that kind of money to fly unless it is an emergency.

 

[msdis]

Airfares were still the same all day, even a couple hours ago, now.......... they are 10.00 less pp on the several I have been entertaining w/ Delta.

 

[Disneyland_emily]

My may airfare is staying steady so far- I booked Delta from SLC for 228- Not as good as I hoped but I was losing the perfect times

Now SLC to Anaheim-- Another story

-em

 

[mom_rules]

Our same flight now would cost $1700 per person-$650 isn't looking too bad but like I said before-I have NEVER paid that much.

 

[Goof]

The same flight i booked 5 months ago on Delta for $138 is now over $215!! and possibly on the rise even further