Calgary-Orlando Airfare Help

[WDWBOB1]

My wife and I are flying our 2 daughters who live in Calgary to Orlando in May. The rates have consistently been in the high $700s-&800s range. I've tried all airlines (US and Canadian), all search engines like Side Step, Flight Network, Hotwire, Orbitz. Travelocity, etc. but still come up with this too high airfare. Adding to my dilemma, I need to get them to MCO on a certain date and on an early flight with minimal stoppages so I can't be too flexible on travel times. Should I just cross my fingers that airfare will drop for next May when we get into the New Year? Any other suggestions? Thank you.

 

[ABCanada]

We are flying for under $500 each just before Christmas and have had flights for under $400 although that was a year ago.
I would sign up for all the special notifications and wait.
Some of the specials only last a day or so so you need to be quick. Westjet has a direct flight but it looks like it only flies on Saturdays in May.
My search engine of choice is kayak.com.
Good luck.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

We head down to Orlando from Edmonton every May. Looking back at when we've purchased our flights (all on US carriers), we've historically gotten the best deals on flights in Jan/Feb. I agree, you need to sign up for the email specials with the airlines who have the flights that best suit your travel itinerary. You can also sign up on sites such as Farecompare who will notify you when the flight you are looking at goes down in price.

 

[dis_guy]

We head down to Orlando from Edmonton every May. Looking back at when we've purchased our flights (all on US carriers), we've historically gotten the best deals on flights in Jan/Feb. I agree, you need to sign up for the email specials with the airlines who have the flights that best suit your travel itinerary. You can also sign up on sites such as Farecompare who will notify you when the flight you are looking at goes down in price.

I agree!

Things are silly right now. Our Christmas flights for 4 were $2200 last Feb when we booked. Today the very same 4 flights are over $7000!!

Last year, last minute Christmas fares could be had for around $300 pp.

Things will settle down in Jan, be sure to check often and at different times of day, too. We got our best price at 01:00 AM.

Oh, we fly out of Edmonton, so you should do even better from Calgary.

 

[Sue M]

How close is a U.S. city? Can they take a bus to the US to catch a flight? I don't know their ages. My daughter took a bus from YVR (Vancouver) to Seattle airport to get a flight to Florida. The bus, airport to airport was cheap, and US fares are alot cheaper.

 

[dis_guy]

How close is a U.S. city? Can they take a bus to the US to catch a flight? I don't know their ages. My daughter took a bus from YVR (Vancouver) to Seattle airport to get a flight to Florida. The bus, airport to airport was cheap, and US fares are alot cheaper.

I don't think this will work in this case. The nearest would be Billings MT (I guess) and flights tend to be expensive from there. At least they were when I checked out the prices awhile back.

 

[drag n' fly]

OP the prices will significantly drop in the new year. In addition to the tips already suggested, we have consistently found the best times, prices (with itineraries) through travelocity.ca (odd I know).

The best price and itinerary for our last few flights for business and pleasure (we live and fly out of Calgary) have been through Continental (again found through travelocity.ca) However Continental is now under the star alliance umbrella so that may have changed.

Here is another little savings tip. We have used this option many many times (mostly for business travel).
*Look at booking a package from Calgary to Orlando with a cheap hotel included*

Many times you will find significant cuts on flight prices when they are trying to push packages. We have many times found flights much cheaper with the hotel included (we rarely use the hotel portion). The additional benefit to using that option is you are also able to choose from much better flight times and usually packages offer direct flights. The more fleabag the hotel the better the deal. You wont use it anyway so it does not matter

As for US departures that is not an option for us Calgarians. You save no money by going to the closest US departure point. The time and cost involved would negate any potential savings.

Hope that helps

 

[CdnKayDee]

Well keep searching. We got 492 round trip out of Regina in Oct. When we started searching rates were so high we thought of driving to Minni to save money. We just kept checking and finally one day the rates just fell like a rock.

 

[suejai]

Don't forget to keep checking Westjet though. I found a direct flight from Calgary to Orlando for $99 one way last year.

And booked a return flight for 4 for $1692 with United through Expedia.ca.

As a pp said the best deals are usually in Jan/Feb.

ETA: Forgot to say these flights were all for the first two weeks in May.

 

[Mom of a *Princess*]

I agree with the PPs, flight prices should drop in the new year and likely closer to the departure time. Unfortunately there aren"t many direct flights from Calgary to MCO. Good luck!

 

[WDWBOB1]

Thank you everyone for the excellent suggestions! My one daughter actually lives just inside the BC border in a little town called Fernie (the other is in Calgary). Ideally I wanted her to drive to Calgary so the 2 sisters could go down together. I haven't totally eliminated her option to drive to Kalispell and catch a flight there. But I think a better plan would be for me to be patient and hunt for a good airfare out of Calgary for the 2 of them in the New Year.