Booking 11 months and flights

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

We are brand new DVC owners and getting ready to book our first trip for December 2017 at VWL. We always fly southwest to Orlando and this time we should have enough accumulated points to book our flights using only points. The only problem is I can’t book flights until summer and obviously don’t know which dates will be cheaper days to fly. Our travel dates are somewhat flexible but once booked, they won’t really be changeable come summer since it is high demand time. Has anyone else combatted this? I think my plan at this point is to book a Thursday to Sunday trip as planned and if it’s cheaper to fly down on Wednesday or if the flight times are better on Wednesday then I can just book us a room only reservation for that first night. Anyone have other tips or suggestions?

 

[DougEMG]

We pretty much always book at 11 months. I normally have a rough idea when we want to go and will book as many days as possible and then I'll remove days from the beginning and/or end of the trip once I have the flights booked. I find it is always better to book more days and then remove days at both ends once I've book flights rather doing the reverse and trying to add days to match the flight. Of course this doesn't work well if you are borrowing points for your entire reservation.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

We pretty much always book at 11 months. I normally have a rough idea when we want to go and will book as many days as possible and then I'll remove days from the beginning and/or end of the trip once I have the flights booked. I find it is always better to book more days and then remove days at both ends once I've book flights rather doing the reverse and trying to add days to match the flight. Of course this doesn't work well if you are borrowing points for your entire reservation.

That's definitely good to know for future! Unfortunately it won't work this time since we will be using what's left of our points. To add on days we would have to borrow.

 

[BillPA]

We use S/W most of the time. I have found that Tue/Wed and sometimes Sat have the best prices. We fly from PHL.
If you check this link to see when the flights open for booking, and go on ASAP on the day they post you can get a good price. https://www.southwest.com/html/travel-tools/ Just don't wait too long as the best prices go quickly.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

We use S/W most of the time. I have found that Tue/Wed and sometimes Sat have the best prices. We fly from PHL.
If you check this link to see when the flights open for booking, and go on ASAP on the day they post you can get a good price. https://www.southwest.com/html/travel-tools/ Just don't wait too long as the best prices go quickly.

Thanks for the info.

 

[JohnnyB2]

Hi ! during most times planning a trip around the airlines prices is definitely to be considered, but December with the first 2 weeks being very point friendly and then the Christmas rush, December is a very popular time for DVC . Especially for the studio's.I would be trying to make the reservation online @ 7am ( EST ) , 11 months out and then address the air! JMHO

 

[BillPA]

That's 8am EST

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Hi ! during most times planning a trip around the airlines prices is definitely to be considered, but December with the first 2 weeks being very point friendly and then the Christmas rush, December is a very popular time for DVC . Especially for the studio's.I would be trying to make the reservation online @ 7am ( EST ) , 11 months out and then address the air! JMHO

I am not expecting to actually change my DVC reservation but was just trying to explore options if air travel dates turn out to be more cost effective on different arrival or departure dates.

 

[JohnnyB2]

That's 8am EST

Thanks Bill, you are correct. It's 7am my time (central)

 

[mrp4352]

I am not expecting to actually change my DVC reservation but was just trying to explore options if air travel dates turn out to be more cost effective on different arrival or departure dates.

We've found that sometimes flying in late the night before will save enough money on the airfare that we'll hotwire a room close to the airport that provides airport transportation and still save. You can then go back to the airport and catch Magic Express the next morning.