Anyone with Christmas booking experience (SW/AT/JB)?

[BuzzLiteyear]

I am considering booking a flight on Southwest, AirTran, or Jetblue over the Christmas holiday. I was just wondering if there is a "holiday" premium or do the discounts seem to be inline with the rest of the year? Any insights would be appreciated.

 

[atigeg]

book quick and be prepared for sticker shock. due to demand there are very limited if any discount seats for the holiday.

 

[Bobo912]

I am considering booking a flight on Southwest, AirTran, or Jetblue over the Christmas holiday. I was just wondering if there is a "holiday" premium or do the discounts seem to be inline with the rest of the year? Any insights would be appreciated.

I haven't flown over the Christmas holiday, but I flew to Olrando last Dec 16 and back on Dec 20 on SWA and the price was not significantly different from any other time of the year. I originally booked the flights early in Sept, but the price went down last week of Oct and I rebooked. I think the price drop was just on the trip down on Dec 16, but I don't remember for certain. I fly out of Nashville and we usually have pretty good deals on SWA. We don't have Jetblue or Airtran here.

 

[wdhinn89]

I haven't flown over the Christmas holiday, but I flew to Olrando last Dec 16 and back on Dec 20 on SWA and the price was not significantly different from any other time of the year. I originally booked the flights early in Sept, but the price went down last week of Oct and I rebooked. I think the price drop was just on the trip down on Dec 16, but I don't remember for certain. I fly out of Nashville and we usually have pretty good deals on SWA. We don't have Jetblue or Airtran here.

That time frame is not considered Christmas holiday. I few days make a HUGE difference. I see it for the summertime. First day of summer vacation and the fare sky rockets. Same with the holidays.

 

[familyS]

We have flown AT over the holidays twice, leaving Christmas Day and coming home New Years Day. Each time we flew on a direct flight for less than 150 per person round-trip (yes- even in 2009).
We purchased the tickets directly from AT as soon as they went on sale with an internet special price. This button does not show up on all of their screens, I remember having to hunt around for it last year.
We have never had a problem flying with them on the actual holidays and even got bumped to business class for free this past trip.

 

[Bobo912]

That time frame is not considered Christmas holiday. I few days make a HUGE difference. I see it for the summertime. First day of summer vacation and the fare sky rockets. Same with the holidays.

I'm sure that is sometimes the case, but that hasn't been my experience with Southwest flying from BNA. For instance, they have fares from Nashville to/from Orlando for $105 on May 4 and they have the same fare on and around July 4. We got a $55 fare last year on Memorial Day week, booked 4 weeks before travel date. Don't know where the OP is flying from, but we tend to have pretty good fares on SWA from Nashville. But not like we used to have. In 2007 we got $25 each way to/from MCO during summer vacation. The good old days...

 

[Tam1067]

We went to WDW for Xmas of 2009--just two months ago. We flew Southwest from Chicago.

We flew from Chicago to Orlando on 12/19 (Saturday) and returned on 12/28 (Tuesday). I booked tickets the day they were released, and we paid I think $78 each way. I know for sure it was less than $80 each. They ended up going higher after we booked, but this price was on par with what we usually pay. We're taking the same flights in July/August (Tuesday to Saturday, same flights even), and we're paying $74 each way for those (unless they go down).

 

[wdhinn89]

It must be a New York thing. I paid $378 rt during our Easter break through Southwest. Delta was $650.

Isp-Mco is $142 each way beginning June 25th, first day of summer vacation. Previous days are $89.

The airlines know the dates of school vacations even before we get the information