Airfare

[wahmtexas]

Not much of a frequent flyer, which airlines are lower cost for baggage these days? looking for deals in Sept, any tips on purchasing lower cost tickets? has anyone purchased through Disney?

 

[r&kmommy]

Southwest bags fly free!

It's so hit or miss. I do not like using third party sites for flights (hotwire etc...) I prefer to go right through the airlines. But that's just me lol. I check daily (multiple times a day if i'm bored lol) and book when I see my flight go below $200.

There really is no strategy. BUT once you book your flight, check every day and make sure the price doesn't go down. If it does you can call the airline and get refunded!

 

[PrncesKMW]

I just booked my flight for September last week and I had a doozie of a time!

I used Kayak.com - you cannot book through Kayak, but it pulls flights from multiple sites (including expedia, hotwire, the airlines etc...) and compares them. I agree with the previous poster - I do buy through the airline when I have that option.

Also, if you go to bing.com and type in the dates and airports to/from, it will automatically "farecast" your flight and tell you if rates are trending up or down. I know that from PA down to FL it was trending upward, and it wasn't getting any cheaper.

If you have the option of a few different airports, play around with it. We are flying out of Harrisburg but flying back into Baltimore - ended up being cheaper and we got MUCH better flight times.

Lastly - remember that Magical Express (if you are using it) leaves your hotel 3 hours before your scheduled departure flight - makes a 9 a.m. flight going home look not so great!

 

[Harmonysmomma]

I just booked my flight for September last week and I had a doozie of a time!

I used Kayak.com - you cannot book through Kayak, but it pulls flights from multiple sites (including expedia, hotwire, the airlines etc...) and compares them. I agree with the previous poster - I do buy through the airline when I have that option.

Also, if you go to bing.com and type in the dates and airports to/from, it will automatically "farecast" your flight and tell you if rates are trending up or down. I know that from PA down to FL it was trending upward, and it wasn't getting any cheaper.

If you have the option of a few different airports, play around with it. We are flying out of Harrisburg but flying back into Baltimore - ended up being cheaper and we got MUCH better flight times.

Lastly - remember that Magical Express (if you are using it) leaves your hotel 3 hours before your scheduled departure flight - makes a 9 a.m. flight going home look not so great!

How are you doing that with a car? We live right near hburg.... and this airefare is stressing me.

None of the options are very good.

 

[tigger51276]

Not much of a frequent flyer, which airlines are lower cost for baggage these days? looking for deals in Sept, any tips on purchasing lower cost tickets? has anyone purchased through Disney?

I always fly Southwest as they don't charge for bags. I have a real problem with an airline charging me to bring a suitcase with me! I would also consider flying Jetblue since they at least give you one suitcase each, but have always found better deals at SW and a better option of flight times/direct flights.

 

[WDWorBUST]

What airport are you flying out of?

 

[caravarela]

SW I believe gives 2 bags free per person, and Jetblue gives 1 bag free per person. I hear great things about SW, but for our trips their fares are always significantly higher then JB. We've had great experiences with JB. No fees for our bags, nonstop flights, we get to select our seats when we book, free snacks, movies/tv/wifi, etc. Unfortunately our closest airport doesn't have JB, so we drive an hour and a half north and leave our truck at the in-laws house so we can fly out of their airport.

 

[PrncesKMW]

How are you doing that with a car? We live right near hburg.... and this airefare is stressing me.

None of the options are very good.

We were lucky enough to have someone to drop us Harrisburg and then someone else to pick us up at BWI. If not, we would have been flying back into Hbg instead of BWI.

There are also some good flights out of Philly. If you have someone who can drop you at the Amtrak station in Harrisburg and you take the train to Philly, there is an airport connector right out of 30th street station.

I agree - the options out of Harrisburg aren't that great!

 

[SandrA9810]

I see you're from Texas, if you're near dallas. Flying Southwest is totally worth it. Flights are cheaper out of Love Field (which they're the only airline flying out of there, so it's very easy to find your way) and into Orlando because those are two of Southwest's hubs. They're also probably cheap flying out of San Antonio because they're official sponsers of Sea World.

Right now they're also offering 25$ off round trip flights to/from florida. There's a topic floating around here some where. It takes like 3 days to get the code.

I always flew Airtran between DFW and MCO because it was about 10-20$ cheaper and I wasn't checking any bags. But I flew my first Southwest Flight from Dallas Love Field to Sacramento, CA and was pleased with the service. Plus I like the open seating thing that they do. Since I was checking two bags, it was a big perk.

Another perk to Southwest, is if your flight does go down in price they'll give you southwest credit to use up to one year from your flight. And it's transferable. So say some one wants to fly to see you, you can give them the credit. I recieved credit from a fellow DISer for my flight, and I've seen a few topics here and there of people giving away credit that are about to expire. Airtran is starting to do this as well, but it seems to be a hit or miss depending on who you talk to.

 

[SandrA9810]

And always book through the airline's website. If anything happens with your flight, they're much much easier to work with. I had a heck of time when my flight was booked through expedia and I missed my flight.