Booked for Aug 2013 - when and how to get flights?

[arieliwish]

Hi all,

I've finally booked for OKW for a year today with DDP and tickets through wdtc. They advised that they can't book flights until 11 months out and that they can be added on later.

So - has anyone any advice on whether to book through them or try to source them independently? We'd prefer direct flights from Manchester (Newcastle or Leeds would be better but I can't find anything direct from there) so I assume I'm limited to VA??

Had intended to book for March for DD 18th but she insisted she couldn't have time off during her A level year. More planning now as to what to do for her 18th!!

Cheers

Lynn

 

[wayneg]

You can add them but expect a figure of around £1,000pp for August.
Your only scheduled choice is VA, expect around £800pp
Look at charters but again direct will be expensive.
Indirect look out for deals, could be anywhere from £450pp upwards, depends what offers are around.
Inconvenient but we also consider London instead of Manchaster, can be big savings.
The more flexible you are the more chance you have getting the price down.

DS has just finished his A levels, he wouldn't take 1 day off the whole 2 years, paid off now he has his Uni place so I can understand her not wanting to take time off.

 

[bazzanoid]

Get quotes for both, there are literally loads of flight sites on the net, so dig around on sites like expedia, opodo, skyscanner etc to find the flights you want, then phone up WDTC and tell them the flights you want, compare the prices and book appropriately

 

[WiganTony]

Most of the scheduled airlines won't be releasing prices until 330 days (around 11 months) from your return flight, so you may find prices coming down from then on. In addition to the sites noted above, also check kayak.co.uk as you can set up daily e-mail fare alerts.

Also worth keeping an eye on this board. We booked our OKW stay this August direct with Disney in April 2011, but didn't book our flights until September last year, which thanks to a post on here we got for £500 flying MAN-CDG-MCO with Air France.

As Wayne notes, if you can be flexible with departure and/or arrival airports, you can also get good prices. For our visit in July/August 2010, we managed to get direct LHR-MIA flights for £403 each with American Airlines - we used Air Miles for connecting flights to and from LHR and booked a Travelodge (£19) for the night before we travelled. When searching for flights, if you also check Tampa (about an hours drive from OKW) this can sometimes save quite a bit of money.

 

[MrRomance]

We are in the same position (we booked Oct '13) and we plan on waiting until the 11 month window and then searching online independently. That said, we went in Feb '12 and we got premium economy flights through Disney with Virgin and they were significantly cheaper direct through Disney.

Basically, the advice I would give is do your own research at 11 months out and get the best price you can, then go to Disney and see if they can add flights for less.

 

[arieliwish]

Thanks guys, our return date is 8 Sept so I can't look until first week in Oct I suppose.

Will let you know what I eventually find!

Cheers

Lynn