All those wanting PHL to MCO

[Sarah'sMomfrom PA]

Avp is literally in my back yard (only one exit away in Moosic) and we end up driving to Allentown to fly to Orlando. They have spent so much tax payers dollars on fixing up Wilkes Barre/Scranton airport and there are no airlines out of there that offer a decent and competitive rate. Look at all of the money that they gave to Hooters and Vacation Express only to have both go belly up. Someone's pockets are being lined somewhere.

 

[goofyforlife]

By the way, has anyone used Econopark Express at BWI? The rates are unbelievably cheap $5.75/day with coupon and I was just wondering if anyone had any experience, good or bad.

Yes, we used them last trip in Dec.....

Much better than dealing with BWI's garages or lots.....

You enter the lot....They follow you in with one of those little jitny buses and will help you get your luggage on the bus. (no rush involved or squishing or having to drag your luggage down a level to the elevators.)

I think if two families arrive at once they would wait for both; by when we went we were the only ones so they took us straight to Term A (for SWA.)

When we came back to town; We exited term A at Baggage Claim; only had to wait about a minute for one of the yellow buses; they helped us load in and took us back to the lot and directly to our car. The driver even waited to make sure our vehicle would start (it had snowed/iced and it was very cold).

The best part is that if you sign up for frequent parker program you get a free day of parking (for your next park) for every 6 paid days.

 

[MinMouse]

Wow! Glad to find this thread. We usually drive to WDW but are flying next month and again in October (and November too . . .if the price is right!). Anyway, I had no idea the stress around finding great airfare deals. I'm enjoying reading all the great info though. We live 20 minutes from PHL so I hate the idea of driving 90 minutes to BWI on the trips we are not making the long drive to WDW. But I guess I should check out those deals. I'm joining you all in waiting for the next SW dates to be released!

 

[DonnaL]

Sarah'sMomfromPA,

Hi, neighbor.......I too have AVP in my front yard (I live in Moosic) and we haven't flown from there for several years. We make the trek to PHL and fly SW several times a year. You can't get better customer service from any other airline.....not to mention their sale fares. We always have a running credit for the next trip. A few years back (after we became disgusted with what we could get from AVP) we did attempt to try ABE once (when Southeast was still there) We got a decent fare from Southeast, nonstop flight, good time, etc. Then, three weeks before our planned trip Southeast went bellyup and I had to scramble to get alternate flights. Fortunately, it was in January so it wasn't that difficult to get flights at three weeks out. We've been loyal SW fans ever since. I always book as soon as our dates are firm and providing SW's schedule is out (waiting for our Oct. trip now) and then just keep watching for the sale fares and accumulate credit for the next trip.
SW is also the only airline that allows you to change fares or flights without a penalty fee, I believe. I love it!!! I simply go online to the Travel Center and make any changes and I've got a credit for next time. Can't beat it........ As a side note, I see you're also a DVC member.......which is your home resort? We have VWL and SSR. Best vacation decision we ever made. As everyone else says "We wish we had done it sooner."

 

[daddyof2]

I am in going to WDW the 2nd week of Dec. (not sure of exact dates air will decide probably 6th to 13th)

any way im new to flying never done it but I am waiting for a ding from SW and if there isnt one then I will have to pay what ever thay want but I am sure there will be a ding

also doing a park and fly from philly about $100.00 for night and parking for up to 2 weeks Im pretty sure

I think the hotel is four season,stars something like that again i dont know till i book air

THE WAIT FOR SW IS KILLING ME

 

[DonnaL]

daddyof2,

You probably have a while to wait for December fares for SW. My guess would be mid August at the earliest. And a Ding fare will probably be a bit longer. They haven't even offered a Ding fare for June yet. If air travel remains as sluggish as it appears over the summer you might see some Dings a little earlier if only to boost travel somewhat. I usually book as soon as the fares are released. Then, I patiently wait for any sale fares. I just recently installed Ding (we have all Mac's in our house and only recently could get Ding) so I haven't actually used a Ding fare yet, just SW's regular sale fares. I snagged $59 ow fares for first week of June (total rt about $137 with all taxes). I am waiting to see if a Ding comes out for $49....if not I can live with the fare I've got. Now I'm waiting for release dates for our Oct. trip.
But, we traveled last December the same time frame you're looking for and I booked the flight down on 12/10 in late July (however, SW seems to be running about two to three weeks behind last years releases) and we returned on 12/17, which I had to wait until third week of August to book.
Good luck with your wait!!!

 

[Sarah'sMomfrom PA]

Never realized that there were this many NE PA Dis'ers!!

 

[iluvepcot]

It looks like SW took off the internet fares for $109 PHL to MCO. I hope this means they are going to post lower fares. If so, people on other boards are predicting that the fares will be posted on SW site sometime after midnight on Tue. Lets all wish upon a star

 

[iluvepcot]

Summer sale started last night. $94 PHL $81 BWI. Not quite low enough yet.

 

[erin1715]

Do you think that they'll really get lower??? I'm crossing my fingers!!

 

[iluvepcot]

I can only hope. SW has not cut flights to MCO and this is a slow period for Florida. In the past Aug had the best prices for fares. I have flexibility with my days. I can afford to wait for a ding fare. Ding fares have been more restrictive for only mid week travel. If you want a specific time and day, you should book now and wait for a credit. I do think they are going to go down but maybe not for weekend flights.

 

[iluvepcot]

I had to update this thread for all those who posted:

I did get $450.50 RT aug 26 to MCO, sept 5 from MCO to PHL That is total for a party of 5.

I should have had more faith in the ding, but i did not and booked for almost $1000 RT in May. I started to panick that the fares were not going to be good. For awhile the dings were terrible and the internet rates were bad. so I booked $99 plus tax going down and $79 plus, for each of our 5.

Then the dings started to get better. So when they released a few weeks ago $44 plus tax for AUG . I re-booked the trip down aug 26. Original price $521. 50 (party of 5), the ding made it $271.50. I had to take a credit for a future flight as I changed my flight times. So now I have a $250 credit on a future flight.

The return is a bit more complicated: Sept dings started to come up but were higher then the $79 each I had. Just this week there was a ding for $66, so I changed the fare. I kept the same flights and times and was able to get $65 refunded to my credit card. Then two days later another sept ding for $44 plus tax. I kept same dates and times, called SW and had an additional $90 refunded to my credit card.
$439 to $284 so my total refund of $155.

Sorry for long post but the lesson is to keep the faith in the ding. If I had it to do over, I would not have panicked and booked until I got a good ding.

 

[MEK]

That is awesome. I saw that Ding, but already made the decision to fly in and out of BWI - why ?????? because my kids wanted to come home on Sept 3rd (Sun) and not Labor Day Monday. All the good Sunday flights to PHL were booked Months ago! The Sunday flights did not ding and I did not want to change my Disney reservation to come home LD Monday, especially now that booking for the free dining promotion are over. It seemed like too much work to make all those changes.

So far, the best ding for BWI to MCO was $65 and it was only my return flight, not the outbound. Plus the return flight was the wrong time. Right now I am holding at $69 out on 8/28 and $79 return on 9/3. Where are the $49 flights from BWI?

I will be checking my computer non-stop from now until my departure date. I am determined to get a better deal. I am traveling with a friend, but I told her she is on her own as far as rebooking is concerned. I will call her if I get a ding, but that's the best I can do.

I really don't understand how to rebook with the ding fare, so I will call SW as soon as a find something. I only wish I could download ding at work (I can't) since I can only check at night. Next week is the first week of July - they are coming!!!!!!! I feel it!!!!!

_________________________________________________

Max is my favorite cat!

 

[iluvepcot]

From PHL I was going to choose PHL, BWI. also now Washington DC and NYC but when I try NYC is not there and WDC is not there to choose. Does anyone else have this problem?

MEK: I wish you luck on your ding.

 

[DonnaL]

I can't even find an "Update Registration" anywhere on the Ding screens. Where did you go to find that? Maybe I'm just being computer illiterate, but, I've searched the SW site for anything resembling "Update Registration" and
can't find it. I thought maybe it was on the Rapid Rewards area, but, not there either.

 

[1000th happy haunt]

I can't even find an "Update Registration" anywhere on the Ding screens. Where did you go to find that? Maybe I'm just being computer illiterate, but, I've searched the SW site for anything resembling "Update Registration" and
can't find it. I thought maybe it was on the Rapid Rewards area, but, not there either.

Open your DING software. At the top of the pop up box there's an option to Update Registration. That will take you to the update portion of the website.

 

[mrslur]

I have no pop up box and couldn't figure things out until I put the cursor over "File" and on the drop down menu was the Update Registration button. I'm using a Mac so maybe that's the difference.

 

[lynr]

What some people are doing is they booked the $44 one way southwest that came out a couple of weeks ago that was good till the end of August and now they are waiting for another ding to come out for September to make the last leg of the trip home.

 

[DonnaL]

I guess my problem was the same as mrslur........I use a MAC also. I had to go to File also in order to update. Thanks for the help everyone!!!

 

[Cindy B]

never mind