Book now with Westjet or wait for seat sale?

[EvangelineG]

We are flying from Winnipeg to MCO late Nov/early December 2011. There was a direct flight to MCO for $248 to fly out on a Saturday, with $228 return on a Wednesday. We thought that sounded pretty good, but were going to wait a few months and see if any seat sales pop up. I just checked the web site and those flights have actually each gone up by $10, I imagine due to fuel prices, but now I'm nervous. Are we better off just booking now in case the prices increase any more? Or should we hold out in case of a sale? We'd be fine flying with other carriers as well, we just want a good price, and would prefer a direct flight if possible, but would consider otherwise for a good price. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[b-1]

its tough to know what to do but I think I would hang on and keep watching.

we are going dec 26-jan 7 and I've started to watch all airlines from winnipeg. I suspect we will be purchasing our flights at the end of july to end of august.

We are also considering grand forks and fargo and minneapolis, but we want to save $100 net per hour of driving, after paying for fuel and hotel if necessary.

check out KAYAK and set up all your flight options and they will send you an update daily about the price of your flights. I'm just kooky enough to double check all the pricing and they are quoting correctly.

 

[EvangelineG]

Hey, nice to meet a fellow Winnipegian on the boards.

Thanks for the tip about Kayak. I signed up for their notifications. Also signed up on airfarewatchdog.com. I guess I'll hang on and hope for that sale. I really would like to do better on the airfare if I can.

I took a look at Fargo and Grand Forks on the advice of a friend who flies frequently out of those airports and saves a tonne of money, a couple weeks back. The savings don't seem to be there right now though? We will have 3 people with special needs in our party, and I am thinking that unless it is a dramatic savings it just isn't going to be worth the extra time and stress. $100 per hour seems like a good benchmark.

 

[b-1]

there are a few winnipeggers on the board...

Note that some of the airlines (like Allegiant) do not fly into orlando (MCO) but into sanford (SFB) which would impact your transportation costs to the hotels near Disney. If you were already renting a car then that might not matter.

have fun planning, I know I do!

Edited: in late november 2009 we were able to snag the direct westjet flights for early december flights for under $350 return, taxes and fees included! we had already booked on delta from fargo for our dates so we snagged the direct westjet flight and saved the delta flights for a later trip. you could book on westjet and then watch to see if the flight drops and then change, BUT they charge a $50 change fee, so the price decrease would have to be substantial. Its sort of like gambling really...

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

We are flying from Winnipeg to MCO late Nov/early December 2011. There was a direct flight to MCO for $248 to fly out on a Saturday, with $228 return on a Wednesday. We thought that sounded pretty good, but were going to wait a few months and see if any seat sales pop up. I just checked the web site and those flights have actually each gone up by $10, I imagine due to fuel prices, but now I'm nervous. Are we better off just booking now in case the prices increase any more? Or should we hold out in case of a sale? We'd be fine flying with other carriers as well, we just want a good price, and would prefer a direct flight if possible, but would consider otherwise for a good price. Any advice would be appreciated.

To me, if those flights are direct - and into MCO - I think those are great prices. I can't get those prices from here in Atlantic Canada - and we are closer than you.

 

[cab0899]

Also from Winnipeg. I think the cheapest we have ever got from Wpg is $1600 for 4 of us. The prices you are quoting aren't bad, you might get them cheaper but most of the time it will be more. We're booked Dec 31 -Jan9 but used airmiles to get direct flights with Westjet.

 

[b-1]

i think that early december will go on sale in august. you'll have to be quick without a doubt and be checking everyday.

good luck.

 

[EvangelineG]

The prices I quoted are without the taxes & fees. With, it comes to just over $600 per round trip.

I did some googling about last year's seat sales for flights in Nov/early Dec. And like b-1 said, it started on Aug 12th, and then there was a sale offering big discounts that took place over a few days in November. Seems like it was similar for 2009 too. So I guess the gamble is with this year's rising fuel costs and recovering economy will they give the same type of sales that they have in the past?

I am going to talk to my group, and see how they feel too, but I think I am willing to take a chance on waiting until August.

 

[cpbjgc]

As a word of warning, West Jet has been doing a lot of schedule changes when it comes to Winnipeg flights. We have been pretty unhappy with them on our last two flights to Orlando as they changed flights without notifying us. On the last trip this past March they changed schedules twice - first about 3 months out changing our direct flight to a flight out of Toronto, and then changing our flights again 6 hours before our 5:30 am flights (only found out as I was checking for booking a cab) which resulted in 10 hour layover in Toronto. We actually do not plan using West Jet again.

Having said that, not everyone has had our bad experiences, and for flights from Winnipeg you might be better waiting until August. I also recommend Kayak - its a great service for locating low fares, especially if you are not tied to using one airline. You might want to watch the United/Delta flights as well. They code-share with Air Canada and you can sometimes get a cheaper fare through them than from Air Canada for the same flight.

 

[EvangelineG]

As a word of warning, West Jet has been doing a lot of schedule changes when it comes to Winnipeg flights. We have been pretty unhappy with them on our last two flights to Orlando as they changed flights without notifying us. On the last trip this past March they changed schedules twice - first about 3 months out changing our direct flight to a flight out of Toronto, and then changing our flights again 6 hours before our 5:30 am flights (only found out as I was checking for booking a cab) which resulted in 10 hour layover in Toronto. We actually do not plan using West Jet again.

OK, this is good to know. I imagine if they can't fill that direct flight from Winnipeg to MCO, they change the passengers to various other flights. That would suck! Especially a 10 hr layover! The direct flight is the main reason Westjet has been at the top of our list (and we have had good experiences flying with them in the past to various other destinations). We'll definitely consider other airlines too.

 

[iluvtheworld]

Also from Winnipeg. I think the cheapest we have ever got from Wpg is $1600 for 4 of us. The prices you are quoting aren't bad, you might get them cheaper but most of the time it will be more. We're booked Dec 31 -Jan9 but used airmiles to get direct flights with Westjet.

Looks like we will be on the same flight! We are leaving on the 31st as well. When flights first came out they were about $520/pp one way We got our seats for $258/pp on the way there and $219 on the return. I have only seen them go up from there, so I am happy with what we paid. They are currently at $549 and $269/pp. I am glad I bought them when I did!

 

[4orm]

We pulled a risky move. Purchased our flights down for $139 in Oct when there was a seat sale. The dates of the seat sale had an end date of the day we would fly. We opted to not buy our return flight so now I'm hoping and wishing that a sale comes out for mid-Oct so we can get home... or else I guess I'll just have to live at Disney World.

 

[b-1]

We pulled a risky move. Purchased our flights down for $139 in Oct when there was a seat sale. The dates of the seat sale had an end date of the day we would fly. We opted to not buy our return flight so now I'm hoping and wishing that a sale comes out for mid-Oct so we can get home... or else I guess I'll just have to live at Disney World.

we've done this twice.

once it worked perfectly ( just like I had planned ) the other time, not so much. we wound up splitting up to come home on 2 diff't airlines.

the trick is to be vigilant about checking the prices and pouncing as soon as you see the price you want.

also on westjet, sometimes the low price flights are restricted in number, so booking each person on a separate ticket can save you money. EX. if you choose to have 4 people on one confirmation number, and there is only 3 low priced seats available, westjet will only show you the higher price. if you split your group into 3 and 1 you can get the lower priced tickets for 3 of your party.

 

[cpbjgc]

OK, this is good to know. I imagine if they can't fill that direct flight from Winnipeg to MCO, they change the passengers to various other flights. That would suck! Especially a 10 hr layover! The direct flight is the main reason Westjet has been at the top of our list (and we have had good experiences flying with them in the past to various other destinations). We'll definitely consider other airlines too.

Actually I beleive the direct flight was fully booked (I am basing this on there being two connecting flights out of Winnipeg for Orlando). I think the problem was that their daily flights from Toronto were not full so they cancelled the Winnipeg flight to fill their two Toronto flights. Just guessing, but it seemed pretty clear that there were two full planes from Winnipeg (and several of the passengers on our flight had to wait until the next day to fly out - VERY unhappy campers!)

 

[AprilFool]

Flew out of Minneapolis the last 2 years. In 2009 we paid about $1000 total for 4 people and last year paid about $800 for 4 people! Hotel in Minneapolis let us keep our car there while we were in Orlando too! We flew both times on Sun Country Airlines and the flights were direct and service was awesome.

 

[4orm]

Just book the return flight. The day I wanted but it's with Air Canada (blah) and at 8am (double blah). I really wanted Westjet and their lovely, civilized, 2pm departure but it was over $100 extra each person.

I'm going to try really hard now to NOT to search my flight times in the future. I don't want to see any price drops for my dates lol.

 

[Carol17]

Just a little something to note about West Jet. We flied out of Toronto for our trip to WDW. For whatever reason, the whole area where our gate was was closed. There was a note on the door stating it would open 45 minutes prior to the flight. I intended on buying a magazine or two for the flight, so I thought I would get one that is close to the gate. Well, long story short, we are all lined up outside this door and it was 10 minutes before the flight was to leave! As soon as they opened the door I figured we would be boarding shortly, so I didnt have time to get a magazine. Well, half hour later, we finally boarded. I figured I would live without the magazine since we have in seat TVs! Nope. No tv. Apparently, the 737 600 series of planes don't have a tv. Thanks for telling us. No book, magazine, nothing. To top it off, it was hot and the air flow nozzle thing above the seat did nothing. It was the worst flight ever. I used to prefer WJ of Ac, but now I'm not so sure. Big disapointment.

So, my point being, be prepared for the possibility of a lack of entertainment. I would hate to be a parent of a young child who was counting on a tv to keep the kids occupied for the flight.

 

[averysmom]

Flew out of Minneapolis the last 2 years. In 2009 we paid about $1000 total for 4 people and last year paid about $800 for 4 people! Hotel in Minneapolis let us keep our car there while we were in Orlando too! We flew both times on Sun Country Airlines and the flights were direct and service was awesome.

We've flown out of Minn. the last two times too... in 09, the 4 of us flew for 760 and last year we paid 880 - all on NW (Delta now). Of course, we go down in the summer, so no worries about freak weather patterns Last year, the same price to fly out of Winnipeg (and on the same planes - the MCO-MPLS flights were the same, the only change was the Mpls to Winnipeg) was 2600.00 So we saved 1400.00 by driving to Mpls. (hotel and gas and food was just under 400.00) And I got to go to Ikea

The best price we've EVER flown for was also in 09 - we flew out of Fargo on allegiant for just under 400.00 for the 4 of us during Spring Break! We hadn't planned on going, but for that price and they had the buy 4, 3 free deal we did an enexpected trip for something like 2000.00!!!

The best price we've ever flown out of Wpg. for was just under 1700.. but I'm a teacher and I can't travel during non-peak times.

 

[b-1]

so when you fly from minneapolis do you take extra days off from work in order to make the trip? or do you shorten your holiday? have you ever driven and gone straight to the airport?

We are considering this trip but we're not sure we want to sacrifice part of our vacation time or take more time off from work.

 

[Disney Brat]

Hello from another Winnipegger!! We too are looking for Dec/Jan flights (looking for around Dec 19-Jan 3ish). We are keeping our eyes open for Grand Forks, MSP too! We have flown out of MSP once before, just under $900 for 3 of us return. We drove it straight there and back, got a great rate for a stay park and fly. We just added the couple of days onto our trip.

For this trip, I have been looking at a site called Flight Center, and so far they are cheaper than the airlines websites. Also Trip Advisor has an option where you can set an alert if prices go down, or below a price you set.

Happy Planning everyone!