Airline ??'s

[ajspring00]

Hi all,
This is my first post here and I am still trying to figure it all out..lol

We are planning a trip for Aug 3-9. My problem is picking the airline/reserving the tickets. I am needing a flight for 5 people from St.Louis to MCO. I know that we could probably fly cheapest w/ SW or Airtran but, I am hearing that you do not have assigned seats. I am just worried that we will not be able to get seats together. This is the first time our children have flown. They will be 4,5 and 15 when we fly. I am debating on flying AA or another airline that we will get assigned seats but, I know if we do that we will be paying atleast 2 if not 3 times more. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions??? This is our first trip to DW. TIA

Angie

 

[EmptyCinema]

Last time I flew Airtran they did have assigned seats. Did you check orbitz and travelocity?

 

[goldneye]

I'm looking for airfare too. Did you check the AAA website? They seem to have a better rate right now.

Good Luck! You'll have LOADS of fun!!

Don't forget...it's alright to act like a kid there! That's what WDW is all about! Once you go, YOU'RE HOOKED for life!

 

[ajspring00]

Yes, I have checked into them, Right now the lowest fare is $303 a person... still looking.

 

[ajspring00]

No, I havent but I will. My AAA ta checked and gave me a quote a month ago or so when I reserved our trip but, it was a little high (or so I thought) Will have to call her again. Thanks!

 

[ortegah]

With southwest you get your boarding pass labeled A, B, etc depending on what time you check in. You can check in online up to 24 hours in advance. If you check in as soon as you can you'll get an A pass which means you'll be some of the first to board, which means you should have no problem getting seats altogether. Besides I'm not sure how it is with SW, but don't most airlines let people with small children get on first typically? I'm betting you'll be fine with SW. We got our tickets to FL for $69 each way with SW

Good luck!

Heather

Hi all,
This is my first post here and I am still trying to figure it all out..lol

We are planning a trip for Aug 3-9. My problem is picking the airline/reserving the tickets. I am needing a flight for 5 people from St.Louis to MCO. I know that we could probably fly cheapest w/ SW or Airtran but, I am hearing that you do not have assigned seats. I am just worried that we will not be able to get seats together. This is the first time our children have flown. They will be 4,5 and 15 when we fly. I am debating on flying AA or another airline that we will get assigned seats but, I know if we do that we will be paying atleast 2 if not 3 times more. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions??? This is our first trip to DW. TIA

Angie

 

[Jestocost]

Lots of issues to address, so I'll give my opinion on a few.

If you're looking for non-stop flights between STL and Orlando, you pretty much are going to be limited to American, Southwest and Air Tran. AA and SW each have a couple of non-stop options each way. Air Tran is limited to one non-stop per day each way. A non-stop flight is going to be much easier when traveling with small children and I'd suggest going that route unless you save a significant amount of money by booking a flight with a stop or a change of planes. At this point, however, there may not be much in the way of non-stops available at reasonable prices.

In most cases, you'll get the best deals booking directly through the individual airline's Web sites. There are special fares offered only through their Web sites in some cases, plus sites like Expedia and Travelocity add a service charge to the purchase of tickets. AA is as cheap as anyone for those dates now. If you can travel down on the afternoon of 8/3 and back early in the morning of 8/9, AA has $178 roundtrips. You can get that price for other times if you're willing to go indirect in one or both directions. Air Tran non-stops both ways appear to be available at the same price. That's a pretty good price that you may want to snag ASAP. SW is considerably more (as in double) at this time.

AA does do assigned seating. Air Tran allows you to select seats 24 hours in advance when you purchase one of their lower fares and you can get assigned seats at booking when you purchase a higher fare. SW does not do assigned seating and their process was described earlier. They do allow passengers with kids under five to preboard in many cases. This almost always will be true in STL and sometimes will be true in MCO. They may allow only one parent to preboard with the younger child or they may allow the entire family to preboard; it just depends on how many preboards there are and/or on the whim of the gate agent.