Anyone so fed up with airline prices that you are actually considering driving?

[PinkTink63]

I'm so fed up with the prices this year! If I didn't live almost 3,000 miles away I would probably drive! The flight we normally take is about $200 more per person and then there's another $120 on top of it for bag fees!

 

[MistressMerryweather]

Right now I am getting $800 for 4 people from Pit to MCO. I have a coupon code that is good until August 1st for $25.00 off each round trip ticket. I just keep watching and hoping something comes up by Aug. 1st. It's about 20 hours for us to drive with a 1yo, 5yo and 7yo and I just can't do it. I'll take the nonstop SW flight any day. SW had $59/each way flights in April, so I am crossing my fingers for those to come up again. With the coupon it would only be $100 per ticket for round trip!

 

[Lewisc]

Last time I got airfare to MCO for $105 R/T was in 2001. JMO but $200 is a good price and and anything under $300 might be a good price.

SW has reduced the number of flights to Orlando. Even if PIT has the same number of flights passengers that used to fly N/S to Orlando may connect in PIT.

Some people will still be able to find good fares.

$200 is very good fare. What will you do if it goes higher? Drive? I'd probably budget at least $250 for airfare.

SW will give you a credit if the fare goes down. I'd book now. Alternatively book 3 tickets. Use a credit from a fare reductioin to help pay for the 4th ticket. Fare goes up and you'll only be paying the higher fare for one passenger.

 

[mamapajama]

We are a family of 5 including a 2 year old and 2 teens and we are driving. Airfare, all things considered, would cost a minimum of $1400. Gas prices have dropped 30 cents/gallon in the last 2 weeks and airline fares have not. Our car is not great on gas (Durango) but we still will not spend $1400 on gas! We only lose a day of vacation since we are now going to leave Saturday morning instead of fly out Sunday. We lose a day on the end. If my son wasn't starting High School we would just stay the extra day since the first day of school is literally the ONLY school day that week because of the Jewish holidays. But he really doesn't want to miss his first day. We have driven before and also taken the auto train. For the auto train we would need a sleeper car and that jacks the price up a lot so we are driving. We are looking forward to it, even with the baby, lol. We actually drove with a baby once before-my first daughter-now almost 17. She was about 18 months old at the time and we drove in a Honda Civic from Queens, NY to Palm Beach County-it was fine.

It doesn't matter how much time you save or how much cheaper it is per mile if you can't affored the airfare-whatever it is. For our family, this year that money we save on airfare pays for something else on our trip. We flew last year and will fly again. But this year, we drive!

 

[mamapajama]

Deleted.

 

[Lewisc]

Some of the posters are missing something. Flying gets many of us to Orlando in 2-3 hours vs 20+ hours driving. Airlines charge by the passenger. Our car expenses are virtually the same, regardless of the number of people in the car.

Flying should cost more. The fact that we can even have this discussion suggests fares are very low. People who think there a way airlines can profitably offer $100 R/T fares are living in fantasyland. Some customers may be able to grab a sale and get money losing fares but you shouldn't budget your trip with the assumption you'll be able to find that kind of fare.

edited to add There is nothing wrong with driving. Some people do it to save money. People who are within an 8-12 hour drive might do it for convenience. Leave exactly when you want. Pack what you want. I wouldn't drive 20+ hours but different people have different priorities. The point is airlines don't owe us deeply discounted, money losing fares. Sorry but airline employees shouldn't have to take large pay cuts so we can book such fares. It's not realistic to think airlines can "fleece" business fliers to subsidize our fares to Orlando.

Airlines, including SW, are reducing the number of flights to Orlando. Spirit is facing a pilot's strike. People holding out for $100-$150 fares may get lucky but more likely won't.

 

[Melora]

We live in California and I simply cannot believe what it would cost us to fly this year. The airfare is about $500 per persona and with 5 people thats almost the cost of our week in Florida.

I cannot afford both the trip and the airfare so I will probably have to cancel August trip which is killing me.

I thought about driving (it would be less than half the cost but not sure the kids want to take a 3 day car trip.

**SIGH**

 

[Lewisc]

SW is currently offering LAX-MCO for around $400 R/T. You might get lucky, find a sale and get some credits. What were you budgeting for airfare when you planned your trip?

 

[NancyIL]

We live in California and I simply cannot believe what it would cost us to fly this year. The airfare is about $500 per persona and with 5 people thats almost the cost of our week in Florida.

I cannot afford both the trip and the airfare so I will probably have to cancel August trip which is killing me.

I thought about driving (it would be less than half the cost but not sure the kids want to take a 3 day car trip.

**SIGH**

I flew on American from Orlando to Orange County (SNA) in April for $115.20 each way. Those tickets were booked in September. Too bad they are so much higher now.

 

[mamapajama]

I just checked SW again and the fares are $95 each way so it would be $955 for the 5 of us with the $25 discount. But now everyone WANTS to drive, LOL! They're all looking forward to the road trip. We'll still save money but now not as much. I guess my kids really enjoyed our prior road trips!

 

[Brian Noble]

and then there's another $120 on top of it for bag fees!

Per person, or total? If that's per person, I'd bet you could probably squeeze down to one bag per person, and cut that in half or better.

For better or worse, every airline analyst I'm reading is saying the same things: prices have to be higher for the industry to sustain itself. One way or another, that will happen---even if it means some airline has to fail (removing its capacity from the system) to do it.

We live in California and I simply cannot believe what it would cost us to fly this year. The airfare is about $500 per person

Most of my West Coast flights have been a good $100 higher than "usual" this year, minimum, and some quite a bit more. It's one reason we've put off a trip back to Disneyland for a while, and are instead staying East of the Mississippi for our vacations for the next year. We have an Alaskan cruise booked next year, and I figure that a summer fare to Seattle or Vancouver is easily going to run $400-$500 per person, maybe more. We'll probably burn a good chunk of Delta FF miles for that trip, either via pay-by-miles, or a 40K or 50K round trip.

As Lewis points out, we still might find a bargain here or there going forward. But, especially for the near term---at least through the summer, and maybe the rest of 2010---we might have to swallow hard and either pay a little more than we are used to paying, drive, or not go.

The real kicker though, is that deciding to drive or not go is okay with the airlines. Their current strategy is to fly fewer seats at a higher average price. And, the airlines that are profitable are willing to go along, because this makes them even more profitable.

 

[WDWFWfan]

All depends on where you're from. We only live about 600 miles from WDW, so we always drive. Costs us about $300 in gas vs. $1,000 in flight + rental car (I don't want to be without a vehicle).

 

[goofy4tink]

For us to drive, from Mass to WDW, it would cost about $150, each way, for gas. And that's going straight through, no side stops. So....around $300. Add to that $250 for lodging, both ways, and food costs, about $200-300. That's about equal to two r/t fares for us. It would take us 2 days of driving each way..so 4 days of vacation gone. Not to mention the wear and tear on the car.
Now...if we were planning on making stops in DC or Williamsburg on the way, then that's a different story. But, then I wouldn't be talking about a week's vacation..it would be closer to two weeks total. The 'drive' would be part of the adventure.

But, again, there are just three of us. It's a whole different ball of wax when you have a family of four or more.

 

[thosecrazystephens]

We are planning a trip SLC to visit family in August 2011 and will make a "detour" to Disneyland rotfl2: what my husband looked like when I called it a detour) for our kids first Disney experience (currently ages 4,3,2, and 1).
We are also planning a September 2012 trip to WDW hopefully staying in the BLT or BCV.

We have done several rode trips since we have been married including driving from Baltimore to San Diego when I was six months pregnant (never again ) we have driven with a 2.5 yr old, a 15 month old, and a 5 month old to SLC from Tulsa. We have also driven with a 4, 2, 1, and 8 month old from Tulsa to Baltimore.

We drive straight through. We leave around bed time and it generally takes us about 30 hours (either way) when you include stops at play lands to help the kids get the wiggles out.

It's been awful! Especially since we don't have a van or large SUV (we have a jeep cherokee with an after market 3rd row seat). At Christmas this year we had to use a roof top carrier to make it home with the presents and everything else we accumulated.

My husband loves rode trips and hates all the waiting associated with flying (plus he used to fly every other month as a teenager so he got sick of it).

Right now we are planning on driving for both trips (though renting a van to make the trip easier, unless we end up buying a van before then). We figure $1500 total (probably less when you get down to it) for gas, food, van rental, tolls, etc.
I've been pricing flights around the same time I want to fly, and it will cost us around $2200 for all of us to fly (no vehicle rental, no food included). Because of where we live there is pretty much never a direct flight anywhere. We would have to drive 4 hours to catch a direct flight.

However if we could get the cost of the flights down to around $1500 then we will fly. (we are leaning towards BLT so we can walk to MK which is where we will spend the majority of our time) So we are saving money and will watch airfare up until the day we are leaving for our trip and if we can get airfare comparable to driving for us then we will fly.

Right now we really wish we stilled lived in the DC area so we could get all these awesome deals to Orlando! Saw some decent deals out of Dallas but I don't know if we want to drive 4 hours for a flight.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

We were planning to drive from IL (my mom driving to us in IL first and then going together). However, I found airfare for $234 from Minneapolis on SW (so two checked bags included). We are going to do that instead. Too bad I booked before I found out about the $25 credit going around :-(

Time wise, it will be about the same for us by the time we drive to MN, get to the airport on time, take the flight (which has a stopover in Chicago where we don't have to get off the plane), and take Magical Express to the hotel. However, we can split it up a little, nap on the plane, and my three year old is excited for her "first" ride on a real airplane (she flew at 18 months, but doesn't remember it). Gas would have been about 1/2 the price by the time we pay for three tickets (doesn't include wear and tear on the vehicle), but with two drivers and planning to drive straight through, I think we'll save our sanity this way and flying is more novel than spending all day and night in the car.

 

[PinkTink63]

Per person, or total? If that's per person, I'd bet you could probably squeeze down to one bag per person, and cut that in half or better.

That is for 3 people total. We each check in one bag. We stay three weeks and have got it down to that after years of traveling. We don't like to carry on a bunch of stuff either.

I know that prices can't stay the same, but I think $200 more with all the added extra fees being tacked on, is a bit excessive! (JMO) We have been going to DW for the last ten years and the most I have ever paid is $287 RT. This year the same flight we always take is over $500/pp RT, not including the bag fees!

I could kick myself for not buying my airfare back in October when it was quite a bit lower with another airline, but I was waiting on my companion ticket. We like to fly Alaska. By the time it came, the prices had sky-rocketed! They have bounced around but they really have stayed up most of the time. Well, time will tell!

 

[buzz5985]

We are a family of 5 including a 2 year old and 2 teens and we are driving. Airfare, all things considered, would cost a minimum of $1400. Gas prices have dropped 30 cents/gallon in the last 2 weeks and airline fares have not. Our car is not great on gas (Durango) but we still will not spend $1400 on gas! We only lose a day of vacation since we are now going to leave Saturday morning instead of fly out Sunday. We lose a day on the end. If my son wasn't starting High School we would just stay the extra day since the first day of school is literally the ONLY school day that week because of the Jewish holidays. But he really doesn't want to miss his first day. We have driven before and also taken the auto train. For the auto train we would need a sleeper car and that jacks the price up a lot so we are driving. We are looking forward to it, even with the baby, lol. We actually drove with a baby once before-my first daughter-now almost 17. She was about 18 months old at the time and we drove in a Honda Civic from Queens, NY to Palm Beach County-it was fine.

It doesn't matter how much time you save or how much cheaper it is per mile if you can't affored the airfare-whatever it is. For our family, this year that money we save on airfare pays for something else on our trip. We flew last year and will fly again. But this year, we drive!

AAA is reporting that gas will be under $2.50/gallon by July 4.

 

[SurfinTX]

It's those outside of 1400 miles away I feel sorry for. A 24 hour driving time trip really pushes the envelope even with multiple drivers. In that case it would be flying, a long intermediate stop for something fun or not going at all. For me the road trip back is half the fun because I schedule a few things along the way such as a beach or a national park.

 

[wdisneyaholic]

I absolutley refuse to pay close to $2000 just to get there. We have 5 people and that amount is more than our 7 night stay at the Poly. A few years ago we flew direct roundtrip from Pittsburgh for $654 tax included. I'd much rather make the 16hr trip and save $1600 for whatever. Maybe to use at the Outlets on the way down

I know the flying may be a little quicker, but factoring the time it takes getting to the airport early, security and flight my day is almost as long as driving. Plus I can pack what I want and buy what I want. Oh I forgot, renting a car would be $200 -$300.

 

[katallo]

Let's all hope prices for Fall travel settle down a bit. We are waiting to see the rates when SW releases fares. We are lucky we live in an area with a competitive market and have two airports closeby. But, if rates are high, we'll drive. We are also seeing very high rates for car rentals in October and November, so that will be something else we'll have to consider. We're keeping our fingers crossed and will be checking many websites