Airfare rates. To wait or not to wait?

[FreeTime]

I am trying to book tickets for 12. I have checked with all airlines for group rates, which are always higher than the website rates. So I continue to check the websites daily but am struggling to find a flight in June from Cols, to Orlando for less than $260 RT. Many times in the past, at different times during the year, we have been able to snag airfares on Delta or SWA for $100 or less RT. If I could get a rate of $200, I would be satisfied. With having this many people though, should I just go ahead and book or do you think the fares will start going down if I wait until April or so? Thanks

 

[disneychard]

I was wondering the same question for our summer vacation?

 

[deegack]

I'm no expert in airfare, but I can't imagine it will be going down (generally some individual flights might). If gas is looking at $5+ a gallon by this summer, jet fuel will only be going higher. Even if airlines have contracts to pay less than going rate, airlines will tack on fees or use high fuel costs as a reason to jack up rates.

We just bought our tickets for September because I think its as cheap as its going to get.

 

[DanenRox]

What makes it even harder is while there is a obvious and strong argument about fuel prices going up so airfare rates will go up too....there's a history with SWA that shows despite fuel prices, Southwest still comes through with low rates (sometimes, good old day rates). I bit at $135 one way from PVD ON A WEDNESDAY just because I figured...eek...maybe this time they'll stay high. Still, I'm not biting at the return for $150. I'll bet one of my kids on the fact that'll come down. Of course, as always, you've got to be willing to play the SWA game... I've played worse games, like this Pong thing, that's awful and messy.

 

[heathrow42]

What airport is COLS?

I think finding $100 roundtrip from anywhere isn't likely. I've only seen those flights for what I would call micro-regional.. for example the fly within california for $39 each way.. or raleigh to bwi. I bet if you are any where north of Georgia, South Carolina, you won't find air fare under $100RT to mco. We've been flying BWI - MCO 4-8 times a year (for the last decade) and I haven't seen those $56/each way fares in almost 2 years. Man I miss those.. heck even the $76 and $98 each way fares would be nice about now. Fares for the weekend we wanted in March have been over $350 since November.

Try an off brand airline.. Allegiant air has some super cheap flights to MCO ($70/each way)-- but from our area, they only have 2 flights a week. The airport is 2.5 hours away for us, but the savings might be worth it. You might luck out and have an Allegiant air nearby!

--heather

 

[Tara]

Are you searching for 12 people? If so, that could be part of the problem. Fares are grouped into fare categories, and each has its own price. If there aren't enough fares in the lowest-priced category, you'll be quoted a higher fare category (and price) for all. Try searching for 1 and if you find a fare you like, search again, adding another passenger each time to test how many you can book at that rate.

 

[imtheluckyone]

Are you searching for 12 people? If so, that could be part of the problem. Fares are grouped into fare categories, and each has its own price. If there aren't enough fares in the lowest-priced category, you'll be quoted a higher fare category (and price) for all. Try searching for 1 and if you find a fare you like, search again, adding another passenger each time to test how many you can book at that rate.

THis exactly! I found even booking 6 passengers that some flights only had "3 tickets lefts at this price" so I was getting higher rates when I tried to book all six.

Also- call the airline and ask for a group rate. The airlines I checked would consider 10 or more a group.

http://www.delta.com/planning_reservations/plan_flight/group_sales/index.jsp

http://www.southwest.com/html/air/business-groups/group-travel.html

SWA claims to offer special discounts for groups. GL!!!!!

 

[39CINDERELLA]

I was keeping an eye out from cle to mco in June for my DH.. It was staying steady at 680.00 rt for a couple of weeks. It finally went down to 390. so I booked. I have never paid this much to fly it is crazy. I could not wait anymore, had to make sure he got on flight with me and DS on return flight.



GOOD LUCK

 

[aubriee]

With Air Tran pulling out of Dallas this past Nov 23rd, airfare from Dallas has skyrocketed in the last few months. Airfare that was routinely $220.00 is now running well over $400.00. $220.00 r/t used to be the base price for both Air Tran and American, then we'd grab it on sale around $148.00-$198.00. It looks like those days are gone. With Air Tran gone, there is no one to keep American's prices in line (Southwest, Delta, and Continental are usually higher than American). Air Tran and American were our only options to fly nonstop and kept each other competitive. Now if I could find a r/t flight (even with a layover) for $250.00 or less I'd grab it. Spirit is going to start flying one nonstop a day to and from Orlando in midMarch and I did buy airfare for both my May and Sept trips through them for around $148.00 (prior to luggage fees). Even with the luggage fees they were still a whole lot cheaper than the over $400.00 the other airlines were charging for the same dates. However, they have already changed the times on both the departing and arriving flights for my May trip and now I am losing a whole day of my vacation, so I'm not particularly thrilled with Spirit right now either, so don't want to book them for my Oct/Nov trip. It looks like I'll be paying more and flying with Southwest (with a layover) or American nonstop. I check flights for my Oct/Nov trip daily. The first flight I can find for $250.00 or less, I'm grabbing. It still irritates me that my trip last Nov was only like $198.00 and the one a few months before that was only $158.00. Even if they weren't on sale, flights were still $220.00 r/t routinely. Those days are gone though. They left when Air Tran left Dallas.