Airfares in Dec/Jan

[Kristin5]

I'm back again, because I'm planning another Disney holiday

The idea is to go over the Christmas period next year, to visit WDW (never been before). At the moment, I have costed out the entire trip - airfares, hotels and theme park tickets based on this year's prices, departing Melbourne around 2nd weekend in December (which is the 13th, this year) and arriving home 2nd weekend in January (which is the 9th, 2015). So itinerary would be:

Melbourne - Denver (3 nights)
Denver - Orlando (14 nights - includes Christmas)
Orlando - Washington (3 nights - includes NYE)
Washington - New York (5 nights)
New York - Melbourne

We will probably be flying with United as they have direct flights, and new planes on the Mel- LAX route. My question is about airfares and when (if at all) are there any sales for this December/January period? Currently, based on this year, airfares add up to around $8600 (2 adults, 1 child). Is this the best I can expect?

 

[ssour]

Unfortunately there are unlikely to be any sales for that time period. Sometimes the first week of December is included in sales but even that's not guaranteed. We are flying out the first week this year and haven't seen a sale that includes Our dates at all so just sucked it up and paid the expensive fare.

 

[mellyB]

I'm back again, because I'm planning another Disney holiday

The idea is to go over the Christmas period next year, to visit WDW (never been before). At the moment, I have costed out the entire trip - airfares, hotels and theme park tickets based on this year's prices, departing Melbourne around 2nd weekend in December (which is the 13th, this year) and arriving home 2nd weekend in January (which is the 9th, 2015). So itinerary would be:

Melbourne - Denver (3 nights)
Denver - Orlando (14 nights - includes Christmas)
Orlando - Washington (3 nights - includes NYE)
Washington - New York (5 nights)
New York - Melbourne

We will probably be flying with United as they have direct flights, and new planes on the Mel- LAX route. My question is about airfares and when (if at all) are there any sales for this December/January period? Currently, based on this year, airfares add up to around $8600 (2 adults, 1 child). Is this the best I can expect?

We're going in December next year but to DL not WDW and I've also done our costings based on this years prices. I've been advised to start looking from Jan and if I see a good price book it. I'm looking at $9600 approx for 5 of us (2 adults, 3 kids) flying syd-lax, lax-hawaii & hawaii - syd.

I'm heading to the flight centre USA expo tomorrow and am going to see what people suggest. I'll let you know tomorrow if they have any worthwile tips on getting good priced flights over xmas/new years.

 

[Kristin5]

Thanks for the replies

Ssour, can I ask what you paid for your fares? Stephanie, given those dates you have mentioned, we just might be ok (though our return date is a fraction early). Melly, I would love to hear more about what you find out at the expo. I know I can't book until 11 months out anyway (ie January - though with a return date of January, does that push my booking time out to February?). I am an organisational freak though, and just want to lock it all in ASAP! For our past September/October trips, we have usually booked between Jan-March, as that is when sale fares have been released.

I actually priced the trip for Dec/Jan vs Sept/Oct, and it came out at $500 cheaper overall for Dec/Jan (airfares were more but a lot of the accommodation was much cheaper). Dec/Jan suits us as I am forced to take annual leave then, and DH is a carpenter, and the building trade shuts down at this time, and of course it is school holidays for DS.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Hi Kristin,

Forgive me for not actually answering your question as I don't know the answer, but I just wanted to check you are aware of the crowds you are going to encounter during your dates at WDW.
Many Americans go on holiday the Saturday before Xmas, so the crowds will be huge from Sat 20th. The week between Xmas and NY is the busiest of the year. So busy that they often shut the gates before lunchtime when the parks reach capacity, and anyone who leaves often can't get back in. The queues for rides are usually around 2hr+, so people often go that week just for the Xmas atmosphere, not to do any rides.

I only mention this because it might be worth restructuring your holiday to combat this. For example, those 3 nights in Denver may be better spent getting to WDW 3 days earlier and making the most of the lighter crowds before the 20th. Or alternatively, go to WDW in January when the crowds will be way lighter.

If the dates are set in stone, perhaps also consider a 4 night Disney Dream cruise for Xmas day. The cruises at that time are expensive, but the calm of the ship and Castaway Cay would be a nice reprieve from the parks.

 

[ssour]

Hi Kristin,

In the end we went with a premium economy sale Qantas had since it worked out about $1500 more per adult than the economy pricing at the time which was sitting at $2300 with Delta. I took that as a sign I was meant to upgrade since I'll never pay double the economy fare for the privilege.

We went in late January this year and every sale that was released last year included the first week of December but not mid January (well not until a few months away anyway and I'm to OCD to wait that long) and ended up paying about $2400.

This year every sale has included mid January but not the first week of December. I think they're playing with me! If they include the first week of December in next years sales then I'll know they're screwing with those of is that like to plan in advance. We look at the previous years sales, plan a trip around those dates and then they don't give us a sale. It's a conspiracy I'm sure LOL!

If you can go in the first week of December you'll probably get slightly better fares.

 

[Kristin5]

Thanks Wanderlust. I did read the unofficial guide which said the 2 weeks after Christmas are the busiest. Originally we were doing WDW at the end of our trip, which would have taken in those 2 weeks. So I changed it. We will now be there for 10 days prior to Christmas which, while busy, shouldn't be as bad. On the 26th we are planning to switch over to Universal, which will also be busy (but at the moment Harry Potter isn't a necessity for us, so we can do all the other rides instead). And we can't change Denver as then we wouldn't be able to see a football game (end of their season, unless they make playoffs, which are hard to get tickets to). Guess we'll just have to be prepared for crowds and long waits! And hopefully we can use the FP+ system to our advantage (and extra hours?). Iam actually pretty scared about WDW - looks like you need to be super organised and plan way in advance. I prefer DL, which is a lot more relaxed!

If we're staying on site, I think I read it is less likely we'd be locked out, if crowded - is that right?

As Ssour suggests, maybe we should plan to go a week earlier - however I'm not sure that will work either. We have to still be away over NYE (it's our 10th wedding anniversary), and it would mean DH missing out on another week of work at what is usually his busiest time of year (as everyone wants things completed).

I have played around with dates, and this is the best I can come up with at the moment. Though telling DH all about the planning required for WDW (and the crowds), means he now thinks we should just stick to DL!

Ssour, we have gone in mid-late January before, and always got really good prices. Sounds like that has changed though? One time, we booked 5 days before we flew out (Denver made the playoffs, so we flew over for a championship game!) - yes, I can be quite impulsive at times!

 

[Meemoo]

MellyB - I was lazy and didn't end up going to the expo - please let us all know if was worthwhile and I shall insist on going to the big one next year

 

[elphaba91]

Our dates for this year are a smidge earlier than yours (24/11-13/12) so this mightn't apply, but my travel agent/aunt advised me that they tend to have specials around the time of the Melbourne Grand Prix. She said that Virgin usually have an earlybird special then to coincide with the release of their ski packages (her agency specialises in ski travel) and Qantas usually does one too, but their financial state can affect that (she doubted they would have any this year, but we went with United anyway). I booked our United flights on 18 March which was the last day they were offering a special fare. It was just under $5000 for 3 adults to do MEL-LAX-NYC-LAX-MEL. I'm not sure whether that is a regular special, however, or just an introductory special for the new route.

If you need to add a couple of days to your trip, as the other Stephanie suggested, then have you considered staying a couple of nights in LA as you will be flying through there anyway?

 

[Kristin5]

That's a good idea elphaba - I can always do with another DL fix! Or we could just stay a little longer in NY. We'd have to weigh up the savings for airfares vs the costs of accommodation/entertainment. I just want airfares to be released now, so I can lock it all in!

That price you got for your flights is fantastic! I only wish we could get ours that cheap!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Thanks Wanderlust. I did read the unofficial guide which said the 2 weeks after Christmas are the busiest.

I could be wrong, but this does contradict pretty much everything I have read. Just to be sure, I would suggest you ask a few questions on the WDW boards to double check this.

It largely depends which days of the week Xmas and New Years fall, but from my understanding the busiest weeks are generally the week of Xmas and the week of New Years. In 2015, that is Sat 19th Dec through to Sunday 3rd Jan. The first week of January the crowds should slowly subside and only bounce up again for the Marathon. Universal will be really busy also during the holiday weeks.

The downside to January is that rides often close for repairs after the busy season. The upside is that accommodation is much cheaper.

 

[mellyB]

MellyB - I was lazy and didn't end up going to the expo - please let us all know if was worthwhile and I shall insist on going to the big one next year

Meemoo, it would definitely be worth going to the big expo next year. qantas was offering $999 return to la within certain dates as one of their specials. It would definitely be worth checking if you can get a deal or when you are flying. It was extremely busy though and I will head back in Feb without hubby and kids and will phone him if I can get any good specials. We watched the disney presentation which was pretty good all round info and we now have plans for WDW in a few years, lol! We'll get home and I'll get ready to plan the next holiday

And the disney booth also had specials for their resorts too.

 

[mellyB]

Thanks for the replies

Ssour, can I ask what you paid for your fares? Stephanie, given those dates you have mentioned, we just might be ok (though our return date is a fraction early). Melly, I would love to hear more about what you find out at the expo. I know I can't book until 11 months out anyway (ie January - though with a return date of January, does that push my booking time out to February?). I am an organisational freak though, and just want to lock it all in ASAP! For our past September/October trips, we have usually booked between Jan-March, as that is when sale fares have been released.

I actually priced the trip for Dec/Jan vs Sept/Oct, and it came out at $500 cheaper overall for Dec/Jan (airfares were more but a lot of the accommodation was much cheaper). Dec/Jan suits us as I am forced to take annual leave then, and DH is a carpenter, and the building trade shuts down at this time, and of course it is school holidays for DS.

I spoke to a couple of airlines today and they all said be prepared to book from around Jan-Feb for December travel. I'm hoping I can get a special but know what airfares are going for currently for this dec so dont want to pay more than that if I can help it. And the dates you are talking put you in shoulder/high season, unfortunately.

 

[LisaAJ]

We are going for Christmas this year and our airfares were pretty hefty. We paid $11,300 for 2A 2C PER-SYD, SYD-NYC, NYC-MCO, MCO-LAX, LAX-PER.
We are leaving a couple of days before Christmas though which makes the flights a lot more expensive. We booked at the end of Feb for this dates, as soon as flights came out. I have tried not to look but I haven't really seen much better for what we wanted though I know it will drop down about 3 months out but I'm not prepared to wait that long to get things locked in!

We structured our trip around the WDW crowds so I have done lots of research on this. The crowds are apparently the worst the week before Christmas and then calm down around 4th Jan. I'm sure you will enjoy yourself regardless

 

[Travel Mum]

We are going for Christmas this year and our airfares were pretty hefty. We paid $11,300 for 2A 2C PER-SYD, SYD-NYC, NYC-MCO, MCO-LAX, LAX-PER.
We are leaving a couple of days before Christmas though which makes the flights a lot more expensive. We booked at the end of Feb for this dates, as soon as flights came out. I have tried not to look but I haven't really seen much better for what we wanted though I know it will drop down about 3 months out but I'm not prepared to wait that long to get things locked in!

We structured our trip around the WDW crowds so I have done lots of research on this. The crowds are apparently the worst the week before Christmas and then calm down around 4th Jan. I'm sure you will enjoy yourself regardless

Departures near Christmas are probably the only time of the year where you can normally safely book the best fare available at the time of year the flights are loaded into the system for sale (normally 10-11 months prior so Jan/Feb for Dec flights) and not have to spend the rest of the time second-guessing yourself that cheaper airfares might be released. Flights at that time of the year just progressively fill up until they reach full capacity and airlines know this full well. For our Dec Hawaii trip in 2012 and our Dec Europe trip this year, I booked the day the flights were available for booking and sure enough the fares only went up from that point

 

[losfp]

Meemoo, it would definitely be worth going to the big expo next year. qantas was offering $999 return to la within certain dates as one of their specials. It would definitely be worth checking if you can get a deal or when you are flying. It was extremely busy though and I will head back in Feb without hubby and kids and will phone him if I can get any good specials. We watched the disney presentation which was pretty good all round info and we now have plans for WDW in a few years, lol! We'll get home and I'll get ready to plan the next holiday

And the disney booth also had specials for their resorts too.

Yep, it was mildly underwhelming as expected. No one had anything we could book because we're planning just too far in advance - the Qantas booth said that their airfares usually go on sale about 11 months ahead, so we're about five months too early

The Disney preso was fun - though the 11:15 session was a bit of a shambles because the rep had a mixup with her calendar and was running late, as well as the usual technical difficulties. She only got to cover DLR and WDW which was a shame, I was looking forward to seeing the presentation of DCL ahead of our cruise next year, and also a bit about Aulani because I don't really know much about it.

The Disney booth had a few brochures which I grabbed for light reading (and wifey grabbed another set so she could use them in her scrapbooking). They also had some pins to giveaway, which is awesome as they are usually $8-15 to buy!!! We got a couple and showed them to Superseded Model, who is now very excited about her upcoming pin-trading career kicking off next year. Just quietly, after looking into Disney pins this afternoon, I might buy quite a few myself on our trip.. I love them!

 

[mellyB]

Yep, it was mildly underwhelming as expected. No one had anything we could book because we're planning just too far in advance - the Qantas booth said that their airfares usually go on sale about 11 months ahead, so we're about five months too early

The Disney preso was fun - though the 11:15 session was a bit of a shambles because the rep had a mixup with her calendar and was running late, as well as the usual technical difficulties. She only got to cover DLR and WDW which was a shame, I was looking forward to seeing the presentation of DCL ahead of our cruise next year, and also a bit about Aulani because I don't really know much about it.

The Disney booth had a few brochures which I grabbed for light reading (and wifey grabbed another set so she could use them in her scrapbooking). They also had some pins to giveaway, which is awesome as they are usually $8-15 to buy!!! We got a couple and showed them to Superseded Model, who is now very excited about her upcoming pin-trading career kicking off next year. Just quietly, after looking into Disney pins this afternoon, I might buy quite a few myself on our trip.. I love them!

Yes we got the pins for the kids too. Our 10 year old son has also come home and done some investigation on disney pins and plans to collect & trade also.

And we were also at the 11.15am presentation & were hoping for info on aualani as I'm planning to book a few days there, but certainly wasn't waiting around till 2.15pm. Hubby did speak to the rep on her way back to the booth & was helpful with a few questions we had about DL & WDW. Can't wait till we can book more of our trip and the kids are just a little excited. Now to keep a few surprises up my sleeve.

 

[Kristin5]

In addition to the unofficial guide, I've also now looked at the crowd predictor (for 2014/15) and it shows that your advice is correct Wanderlust For our first few days, crowds are listed at below average. Then they go up to around a 7 in Christmas week, and a 10 on Xmas and Boxing Day. I think we can live with that. By the last 2 days, it'll be more about the shows/atmosphere anyway. If we changed it back to our original plan, all it does is change our least busiest days to the end rather than the beginning of our time at WDW, and only gives us 2 quiet days instead of 3-4. Plus a whole week of 10's! And we wouldn't get free dining

I think our plan will be to minimise our time at WDW between Christmas and new year, which we will by doing these earlier dates from mid Dec (though I understand that Universal will be busy as well - might be worth investing in the express tickets?). We are also still open to the idea of going a week earlier (but I think that puts us in NY for NYE, which would be insanely expensive). I will have to investigate this some more.

If we keep dates as is, I am thinking we will try to book a fantasmic dinner package for Christmas night. Though I am guessing I need to set the alarm to call as soon as bookings open? Any other must do's for ADR's? Mainly we will just do quick service dining for this portion of our trip.

Hmm, this is almost becoming a PTR (but I purposely didn't start one yet as it makes me look like a freak, planning this far ahead! )

 

[losfp]

Haha, mellyB, we might have almost run into each other!! We went off to collect a few more brochures, and then I went to check out the luggage stand near the theaterettes. I noticed the rep was still off to the side talking to another couple, so I bailed her up for a quick chat straight after.

 

[Meemoo]

Meemoo, it would definitely be worth going to the big expo next year. qantas was offering $999 return to la within certain dates as one of their specials. It would definitely be worth checking if you can get a deal or when you are flying. It was extremely busy though and I will head back in Feb without hubby and kids and will phone him if I can get any good specials. We watched the disney presentation which was pretty good all round info and we now have plans for WDW in a few years, lol! We'll get home and I'll get ready to plan the next holiday

And the disney booth also had specials for their resorts too.

That does sound worthwhile! I was hoping I could get a return airfare with Jetstar that was quite cheap to Hawaii and do domestic HNL-LAX. We snapped up tickets in the jetstar take a friend free sale last year and it was very affordable to go to Hawaii for the 4 of us (2 adults, 2 children) around $2400 return. I would consider the long haul to LA with a stop over in Hawaii one way if it was a good deal though.