Any suggestions for flights from Seattle?

[lisalonglash]

I know it's months until our trip in September, but I've been trying to find decent airfare out of Seattle to Orlando. I guess I was spoiled by the fare we found last year - $330 direct return, including all taxes/fees, at our preferred time (we prefer the redeye flight). That flight was on Alaska.

The best I can find at the moment is US$500 each - unless I can find a way better deal, this trip isn't going to happen

We're looking for flights out of Seattle or Bellingham, leaving at night on September 10 or 11, returning September 19. We really need the flight to leave quite late (our preference is for after 10:00pm) because we need to work that day then drive to the airport (SeaTac is about 2.5 hours drive and Bellingham is about 30 minutes drive).

I've checked periodically on travelocity, expedia, kayak, alaskaair, etc., but no joy so far.

Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[yellowdogx]

My first post here!!

Me and my wife and son went last september and flew out of SEA.

We live in Langley and it is SO much cheaper to fly out of the USA.

Try looking on Kayak.com for some good airfares.

We went on Continental last year also like you we worked the day we left.

I think it is a 23:00 departure, but it stops in houston for about an hour both ways

The other nice thing about continental is that you can leave MCO at like 18:00 on the way home. We checked our bags with magical express then checked our carry-on with luggage services at POR and went and enjoyed a few hours in the park the day we left.

I beleive Alaska has a non stop flight but it costs a fair bit more, and I am pretty frugal (cheap?).

I cant wait to head back, we want to go in late September to check out MNSSHP again. If you are there for one you really should check it out.

 

[chrisula]

Hi, I just booked our trip but in March out of Seattle using Southwest air. We were going to go in June and I found a non stop flight on Delta for $200 but I didn't know if I could get the time off of work. I highly recomend using the farecompare web site. Even though Southwest is not included in the Farecompare prices which come up, they had a link to southwest explaining a 4 day 50% off flight to or from Seattle. Flights needed to be completed by April. For September I would keep on checking the farecompare as well as going to the Southwest Airlines website.
Good Luck!! On a side note the flight I just booked came to $285 cdn per person but thats only because our dollar isn't as strong as it was last year

 

[squirrel]

We used AirTran last year for our trip. We had a layover in Atlanta, but it was only 52 min which was just enough time to get to the next gate and use the washroom.

 

[lisalonglash]

Thanks, everyone!

Yellowdogx - to the DIS and thank you for your advice!
Chrisula - to the DIS to you too and thanks for your input, the SW site isn't showing September yet, but I'll keep checking!

Squirrel - thanks for the suggestion, I will check into Air Tran

Keep those options coming please!

 

[yellowdogx]

The only thing that turned me off about southwest was their lack of preassigned seating. (and their OLD crappy 737's...although I see they finally retired the old 737-200's)

The only way that they will let you do a preboard is if your child is under 4. So technicaly if you show up later than everyone else for your flight and there are not enough seats together (in one row) you may not be seated with all of your party. I dont know about you but my 6 year old would not be down siting with someone other than me or his mom.

I would hope that the FA or CSA would help out in this type of situation, but I just didnt want to start the vacation on a sour note.

Maybe someone else that has actually flowen with them can chime in if my fears are warented or not?

 

[aristocat65]

Lisalonglash, Have you considered getting an Alaska Air Mastercard? We got one a few years ago and you get 20,000 miles on approval and a companion ticket for $50, and again every year on the anniversary. It costs about 75. annual fee (which I always said I would never pay for a credit card, but felt this was too good to pass up). It costs anywhere from 25-40K miles return to Orlando, and if you don't have enough you can use some to get half price fares. I don't know how many in your family, but for us (3) We buy one ticket at full price(usually around $500?), get a second one as companion for $50, and use miles for the third(whole thing or half price depending on how many we've managed to accumulate). We put absolutely everything including groceries on the card to get as many miles as possible. (We pay our credit cards in full and don't carry balances, so it works ok for us) I've never paid over $800 total for all three. I have noticed that the prices from Seattle this year aren't much cheaper than from Van on Alaska for some reason. I also saw that they've dropped their redeye and replaced it with a 1:30 pm flight, so I don't know if it would work for you, but it's another idea. HTH.
Marie.

 

[dis_guy]

...although I see they finally retired the old 737-200's)

Believe it or not they have a -200 (in PWA colours) at the aviation museum in Edmonton. I had no idea that anyone in NA was flying then so recently, lol!

 

[CupidsKiss]

Keep an eye...those Sept fares are starting to drop. We are flying out of Seattle too instead of Victoria in Sept

 

[Douglas Bray]

I was able to get a flight last September on Americian Airlines for $223.00 each return out of Seattle with a short layover in Atlanta.

Best I have found so far this year is $400.00 each.

I have had flights on Delta, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and Frontier Airlines and the most that I have paid is $455.00 each for the direct flight on Alaska Airlines.

If you find a good deal please post it as I am looking for September 25 - October 11 for this year.

 

[Douglas Bray]

American Airlines put up some flights today for September for $99.00 USD per person in each direction, a total of $240.00 USD per person return.
After exchange I just booked for $306.00 Canadian per person including taxes for September 24 - October 12.
I now have the airfare, transfers, Disney World Hotel for 10 nights, Deluxe Dining, Passes, & a seven night Cruise on the Freedom of the Seas booked and paid for, now I just need to wait for September to arrive.