Best airfare to Orlando from Hartford?

[DisneyWacker]

OK, I've booked my room (renting points) at DVC now, but I'm still looking for a good flight to Orlando from the Hartford area for Feb 18-23, 2007. The flights I'm finding are unbelievably expensive (cheapest are about $600 per person).

I do think that Southwest may be the way to go, but they are only booking through Jan 9 right now. From their current fares, it looks like I might be able to get a flight for under $300 per person if I can get the lowest rate right when they come available (we plan to check every day until they do!).

Does anyone know of a cheaper flight that I'm missing? We'd be willing to drive to Providence or Boston if the flights there are any better.

 

[kikipug]

That's a tough week because of your school vacations in the north... I live in FL and my family is in CT, so I do the opposite route VERY often... Southwest is usually your best bet... sometimes Providence is cheaper (still on Southwest)... I'd say wait for SWA's flights to come out... even at full fare, it shouldn't be much more than $300... I booked Thanksgivng week (which is the WORST) for $350 per person...

 

[iggbees]

i just booked delta from hartford in january for 300$ per person. i thought that was outrageous, especially since i just booked hartford to mco in march for 177$ per person. the day after i booked this time though, the prices went up to 313$ ppson. your best bet might be southwest and a ding fare. i didn't want to wait that long though. boston has some pretty good prices now, but with all the problems (traffic) of the tunnels collapsing i didn't want to risk it, especially since my boyfriend's parents live 15 min from bradley and are going to drive us there.

 

[IMALOVNDISNEY]

We too fly out of Hartord. Have you considered flying into Tampa instead of Orlando? This is usually what we do. Not only are the flights cheaper but the rental car is usually cheaper as well. It usually only takes up btwn. 45 min. and an hour depending on the traffic. The only thing that gets tricky is the drive back to the Tampa airport. You have to allow yourself more time due to traffic and the never ending construction.

 

[flagdaytwins]

Altho we are going soon, end of this sept., I got $158 pp/rt (four of us) from Boston to Orlando on American. This is non-stop.

I always look at Bradley, Providence and Boston since I can get to any of these airports in the same amount of time -- and never have I seen Bradley be a bargain! American's flight out of Providence is not non-stop.

 

[flagdaytwins]

Meant to add: is this school vacation week? aren't fares always higher then?

 

[HeatherC]

I just checked kayak.com and you could do JETBLUE nonstop out of Boston for those dates for $387 a person. Or you could do AIRTRAN with 1 stop each way for $291.

We booked from Boston for Feb. 13-24 about a month ago and I was able to snag nonstops for $229. But...we fly JetBlue down to MCO and then home from FLL on Airtran. (We are visting family in the area there.)

You could price flying home from a different city. Surprisingly, it was $30 cheaper to rent the car in MCO and return it to FLL with an extra day from what I originally booked. Go figure. Also...price different airlines like I did. You can go down on one and back on another. Really not a big deal...we do this all the time.

Best of luck to you. The airfares are just so high for this time of year and really eats into your budget.

HeatherC

 

[gris gris]

You should keep an eye on flights from Providence. I booked tickets from PVD to MCO in January 06 for a November 06 trip and paid $183 per person (including all the taxes & fees). That's the only reason we're going to Disney - we had cabin fever that weekend and since the flights were so cheap we jumped on it!! Good luck. I always check PVD & BDL since I live equidistant between the two and always end up with cheaper flights out of PVD. Not direct flights, but that's okay.

 

[gottaluvdis]

We paid $225 per person last year during Feb vacation week on SW out of MHT. Tampa isn't always necessarily cheaper (especially during vacation week - any Florida destination will be expensive). I've found Tampa rental cars to be more expensive on average than Orlando (less inventory). Definitely wait for SW fares before booking anything, and be flexible with dates if you can. Try flying out on Monday or even Tuesday of the break week, and maybe return the following Monday instead of Sunday (kids will miss 1 day of school). This usually works for us.

 

[Wish Upon A Star]

Since that is a school vacation week I probably would suggest checking the dates around February 18th . . .maybe leave on the Thursday night prior (Feb 15th) . . .

Last time we went during April vacation week, we left late on a Thursday night and also came back on a Thursday night and that kept the costs down.

Also, for some reason, Delta's site seems to be higher when you are looking for flights during the weekend from home . . .best to check their site early mornings during the week.

 

[jiggerj]

Check out the Transportation forum here on the dis for some great tips-

and DEFINATELY download SouthWest "ding"- I have received some fantastic airfare rates-

I fly out of Hartford and I have been very fortunate to get a ding rates for $49-$59 each way- I flew from Hartford to Orlando the last week of Jan into Feb. of this year and had a "ding" of $39 pp each way- I couldnt pass it up and went to WDW!

Good luck!

 

[bdink921]

I would very patiently wait for those Southwest fares to come out and book them the day they're out if you can--unless of course you find something in your price range before then. I waited and waited to book our November flights--I really didn't want to drive to New York or New Jersey--and the parking is so expensive at those airports. The day SW released the fares for my dates, I booked them--$650 rt total for 3 people. Within the next day or so, the same flights were over $900!!! I'm still hoping for a sale or Ding fare, but I'm happy with the price we paid and so glad to fly out of BDL--so convenient for us. Good luck.

 

[monorailsilver]

Ugh! That's alot to pay for a ticket.

I would wait. In 2005, I booked thru Delta for about $200/pp & then about a month later it went down & they had a the flight I really wanted. But that was for July.

BTW, I am just a few towns south of you.

 

[Aanna]

Another airport that I seem to be finding OK fares from is White Plains (HPN). AirTran does non-stops from there.

This with the caveat that I've never actually flown out of White Plains Airport yet.... I've just been pricing flights for our trip next month.

 

[RobinMarie]

Waiting is the key for BDL to MCO. I often check Providence but haven't found it to be any different in price. On our recent trip, I had booked SW then got a credit for the difference when the price reduced. If you are flying within the year, this method may bring you some peace of mind.

 

[magicmato]

Also, look into Delta. We got a rate from them of $300 per person roundtrip on our trip from just before Christmas to the week after new years. That was from Bradley into Tampa.