Booking Airfare for May 2007 - What would you do?

[jenjen3574]

Our travel dates are Sat. 5/5/07 - Sun. 5/13/07 and are pretty inflexible because of work/school schedules. I've been thinking about booking our flights soon, but all the sales are for travel dates that occur much sooner. However, I'm worried that if I wait for a sale, the earlier nonstop flights I want will be sold out or not part of the discounted fare anyway.

My DS and DH are both nervous flyers and if it would result in a substantial discount we'd consider a layover - but everyone will be much more comfortable with nonstop flights. I also have a 2 1/2 year old DD who has never flown before - so I don't know how she is going to be... Of course we are also trying to get to Orlando relatively early so that we can get in a half day at the parks that first day.

I've got it narrowed down to two possible options:

1) Northwest
departure - MKE to MCO 7:00 - 10:35am Nonstop
returning - MCO to MKE 8:15p - 9:57pm Nonstop
Total - $882.04

2)Midwest
departure - MKE to MCO 7:35am - 11:05am Nonstop
returning - MCO to MKE 1:55pm - 3:40 pm Nonstop
Total $1110.00

The Midwest flight has gone up a few times since I started watching flight prices in August, and if I price this same option as if I were leaving sooner, the price only gets higher - so I think it likely that it will continue to go up and possibly sell out.

The Northwest option has one major drawback - the late time coming back. This is the only flight option for our return, even if I allow for a layover - unless I want to pay upwards of $400 per ticket (which is more than the more convenient Midwest flights). Since DS will have school Monday morning, I don't want to get back so late. Also we will be dropped off at the airport after our cruise (we are doing a land/sea package) sometime mid morning to early afternoon, and who wants to wait in the airport for nearly 8 hours before getting on a plane.

Just don't know if the convenience of the Midwest flight is worth the extra $230 or so....

Thoughts? Any stratagies I'm not thinking of? Wondering if any of the more seasoned travelers here have any shrewd advice about waiting to buy or jumping on the tickets now?

Thanks!

 

[marcyinPA]

I wish I had some advice for you. We are going in May too (12-19) and the airfare I've been seeing is RIDICULOUS! We are flying from either Philly or Newark, depending on what we can get. I'm holding out for a while longer. I'm at least waiting until Southwest starts booking into May. I can handle being without airfare right now, but 2-3 months out and I would become a wreck. I'd like to have it narrowed down by Christmas.

Good luck!
Marcy

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Our travel dates are Sat. 5/5/07 - Sun. 5/13/07 and are pretty inflexible because of work/school schedules. I've been thinking about booking our flights soon, but all the sales are for travel dates that occur much sooner. However, I'm worried that if I wait for a sale, the earlier nonstop flights I want will be sold out or not part of the discounted fare anyway.

My DS and DH are both nervous flyers and if it would result in a substantial discount we'd consider a layover - but everyone will be much more comfortable with nonstop flights. I also have a 2 1/2 year old DD who has never flown before - so I don't know how she is going to be... Of course we are also trying to get to Orlando relatively early so that we can get in a half day at the parks that first day.

I've got it narrowed down to two possible options:

1) Northwest
departure - MKE to MCO 7:00 - 10:35am Nonstop
returning - MCO to MKE 8:15p - 9:57pm Nonstop
Total - $882.04

2)Midwest
departure - MKE to MCO 7:35am - 11:05am Nonstop
returning - MCO to MKE 1:55pm - 3:40 pm Nonstop
Total $1110.00

The Midwest flight has gone up a few times since I started watching flight prices in August, and if I price this same option as if I were leaving sooner, the price only gets higher - so I think it likely that it will continue to go up and possibly sell out.

The Northwest option has one major drawback - the late time coming back. This is the only flight option for our return, even if I allow for a layover - unless I want to pay upwards of $400 per ticket (which is more than the more convenient Midwest flights). Since DS will have school Monday morning, I don't want to get back so late. Also we will be dropped off at the airport after our cruise (we are doing a land/sea package) sometime mid morning to early afternoon, and who wants to wait in the airport for nearly 8 hours before getting on a plane.

Just don't know if the convenience of the Midwest flight is worth the extra $230 or so....

Thoughts? Any stratagies I'm not thinking of? Wondering if any of the more seasoned travelers here have any shrewd advice about waiting to buy or jumping on the tickets now?

Thanks!

I would, without a doubt book the Northwest flight TODAY. In my book the late departures are an added bonus day of vacation. So, you're tired the first day back to work/school after a vacation, don't worry, you'll get over it. If you take the Midwest flight departing at 1:45 p - that day is not a vacation day, but it is now a travel day. You have have to be leave the hotel at 10a - therefore missing a day. Take the later flight.

 

[JJ&JSMOM]

I wish I had some advice for you. We are going in May too (12-19) and the airfare I've been seeing is RIDICULOUS! We are flying from either Philly or Newark, depending on what we can get. I'm holding out for a while longer. I'm at least waiting until Southwest starts booking into May. I can handle being without airfare right now, but 2-3 months out and I would become a wreck. I'd like to have it narrowed down by Christmas.

Good luck!
Marcy

We're going those dates as well (May 12 - 19) and we've booked our airfare through US Airways - we'll be flying from Maine into Philly and then Philly to MCO. Airfare was very high but I just wanted it all booked. Maybe we'll be on the same flight. Have a great trip!

 

[jenjen3574]

If you take the Midwest flight departing at 1:45 p - that day is not a vacation day, but it is now a travel day. You have have to be leave the hotel at 10a - therefore missing a day. Take the later flight.

Ordinarily I'd agree with you... but since it is a land/sea vacation and DCL bus will be bringing us to the airport sometime before noon... we are just going to be stuck at the airport all that time. It is going to be a travel day pretty much regardless. I'd rather be home and getting rested to go back to work than stuck in an airport. Just not sure it is worth the extra $$$.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Ordinarily I'd agree with you... but since it is a land/sea vacation and DCL bus will be bringing us to the airport sometime before noon... we are just going to be stuck at the airport all that time. It is going to be a travel day pretty much regardless. I'd rather be home and getting rested to go back to work than stuck in an airport. Just not sure it is worth the extra $$$.

Opps, sorry, missed that part....

 

[marciemi]

I just booked Midwest MKE to MCO for next late July/August and paid $205pp. From what I've read on these boards Midwest tends to be cheaper the further out you book, which seems to be what you're finding. Northwest can go either way. I've booked at a reasonable rate (to wherever - we were in Detroit until a few months ago - say $200), then had it go up exponentially (say $1000) quickly and never come down. I've also not booked because of the price being $400-500 (planning on driving to NY instead), then a week before the trip gotten an email that the air had gone down to $130 and purchased it then. Is the Midwest flight one of the "nicer" ones - with the leather seats and 4 across and cookies? That might help justify the price difference (kind of like flying first class) and with the time convenience might tip the scale.

 

[alcoromom]

Is the cost better by doing one way tickets?Down on Northwest,Home on Midwest?

 

[jenjen3574]

Is the cost better by doing one way tickets?Down on Northwest,Home on Midwest?

No - I tried pricing it that way and it is more expensive than just buying the Midwest tickets. I could also fly Airtran for $904 but it would include layovers in both directions and from what I read here, it would be likely any good schedule I'd pick now could easily change by May - and then I'm back where I started with the Northwest flights.

marciemi - The return trip has the cookies, but the trip down does not. I have a hard time paying $230 for 4 cookies.... but I'm leaning that way to save the time waiting in the airport. Just pains me to fork out the extra $$.

 

[Shirrie]

check Delta.com, i found round trip nonstop tickets for $135 yesterday, total $542 for our family of four!!

 

[wdwfamilyinIL]

We are going on May 19-26 2007. We too are hoping for cheaper flights than what I have seen so far. Does anyone know when SW will release for May? We are flying Indy to Mco if anyone has any ideas. If nothing great happens, we are just going to drive.

 

[MagneticxBoy]

I'm in the same situation you are in..Going May 3rd- May 10th

I want to book my flight soon!!!!

I live in Louisville but im considering getting my airfare from AirTran from Indianapols for $187

 

[marciemi]

I read on another thread that if you called sometimes an agent could give you the lower price for more people. Don't know if you tried, but if you book one person on the Midwest flights you have planned, the total is only $245 (for a total of $980 for all 4 of you). But once I up the number to 4, it jumps up to the price you quoted ($1110). On the Orbitz site, it says "Book quickly, only one seat left at this price!" If nothing else, you could book one of you at that price and the other 3 separately, saving $32 or so. But people were saying if you called and talked to someone, told them you saw the lower fare, and wanted to book it for your family, the agent might be able to override the computer, which you couldn't at home obviously. Worth a try! That would bring the difference down to $100 - saving you $130 at least! Good luck!

 

[jenjen3574]

marciemi - THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I am so glad I posted here before buying. I did a little experimenting on the Midwest site after reading your post and I was able to buy three of our tickets at the lower price. You just saved me about $96!! I bought the last ticket at the higher price and we have two reservations - but since I was able to pick our seats I made sure we will still sit together.

Thanks again. We are still spending about $130 dollars more for Midwest over Northwest - but I'm much happier.

 

[bgirl29]

If it helps you feel better about spending the extra money, my husband and I bought the cheaper tickets in a similar situation and I was bored to tears with just the two of us waiting 8 hours at the airport. I cannot imagine having done it with the kids along.

Have a great trip!

 

[marciemi]

Glad I could help! I think that timing will work better from you and hey, you'll get cookies on the way home (just what you need after the cruise! ) and have more roomy seats and no 8 hour wait at the airport. I know it's hard to draw the line on spending more and more money on the trip. We started with the basics, then changed the dates from June to July which raised the price, then decided to do Universal as well, then decided we had to book one room at Universal for a night to get the front of the line stuff (even though we still have a rental house booked that night), then found the deal on air and decided it would be much easier to fly, then decided a bigger rental car would be better...it goes on and on! I think yours is one of the worthwhile ones , just like I think flying will be for us instead of driving 26 hours each way (including minimal stops!). Have a great trip!

 

[jenjen3574]

Wouldn't you know it that as soon as I go ahead and purchase my tickets for fear of them going up even higher - they dropped the price to $207.99/person! UGH! Since it was within 7 days of having purchased the tickets, Midwest did give me vouchers for the price difference - but geez I wish I would have waited a few more days!

Good thing I was paying attention though, I called less than 12 hours after the price went down and got our vouchers, and then less than 12 hours after that the fare was back at $228 (for 4 people - you can still get 2 tickets at 207.99), which I guess is still cheaper than the $259 that I originally bought our 4th ticket at.

Guess the vouchers give me a headstart on paying for the next trip! I was smart enough to ask the Midwest rep to put the vouchers in mine and DH's name only since they are nontransferrable - maybe we can go on a trip without the kids next time! :lol

 

[marciemi]

That seems to be the way it always turns out! Does Midwest only issue vouchers if it's within 7 days? I keep checking ours (for July) just in case they go down, but since it's been more than 2 weeks, if that's the case, I just won't bother anymore. Thought most airlines would give vouchers for lower prices but maybe Midwest is different! If so, glad you were able to get the vouchers at least!

 

[jenjen3574]

The Midwest website indicates reduced fares are available for 7 days after original purchase only for nonrefundable fares - but I think it would be worth a call to ask for the vouchers anyway. The worst they can do is say "no". Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

When I called, the rep did rattle off something like, "since it is within 7 days, I can issue you vouchers", so it sounds like that is their rule. But you never know if they might be willing to make an exception.

 

[marciemi]

I did look up all the rules on their website and found that it says that if it's within 7 days of purchase, they will give you a voucher for the difference. If it's more than 7 days, you get a voucher for the difference minus the change fee (in our case, for nonrefundable tickets, $100 per ticket). So unless the fare goes down by more than $100 per ticket (probably not very likely since we paid $200 per ticket), they won't adjust it or give you the voucher. Guess I can stop watching the website! Have fun on your trip!