Can't believe airline ticket prices!

[Sydnoahmom]

We have been looking at flights for our June 2014 trip leaving out of Moline, IL. Right now prices are over $500 per ticket! Then you have to add on baggage fees. Are these prices going to come down?

I looked at driving to Ohare and doing the park, sleep, fly. Tickets there are about $385 right now, but then I have to add on gas and hotel and inconvenience.

We will rent a car in Orlando as we are staying at The Fountains and will also go to Fort Myers overnight to see Grandma. We are thinking of driving and I never thought I would do that again. DH is even considering renting a car so as not to put the miles on our aging vehicle. Just priced that out and we can get a Jeep Grand Cherokee for $36/day on a Hotwire deal for a total of $530, plus gas. I figured renting a car in Orlando at $400.

I know we will have gas, food and extra hotel if we drive, but somewhere in my head I just can't justify over $2000 for 4 plane tickets.

Anyone else going through sticker shock?

 

[bumbershoot]

I wouldn't be looking that early at all.

We got our tickets for October last month, and they just went down. (just not for the right flights...the miles went down on the flights we booked in cash, and the cash price went down for the flight I booked with miles, LOL)

I'm not even looking at January 2014 yet.

 

[JMNE]

Wait until you are a lot closer. We got a pretty good price on our tickets for next week back in July. Some of the cheaper airlines don't even have fares for June available yet. Just give it time, they should come down.

 

[tiggernpooh]

Hi Sydnoahmom,
We, too, are looking at going to Disney in June 2014 and are from the QC and I have started my airfare checks. I agree with the others that it is too early to book for June, but I start checking now so I know when a good deal when I see it (and we still need to firm up our dates).

We have found the best fares 2-4 months out. From the Moline airport, you can book Allegiant to Stanford airport since it sounds like you are renting a car anyway. Their fares are not out that far yet, but we were able to book for about $1000/for 4 tix last year over spring break - of course you have to pay for all your luggage (checked and carry-on) so you have to factor that in, too.

We have also flown on Southwest out of Midway (to both MCO and to LA for our DisneyLand trip last year). With their free luggage and multiple flights per day, I like them more than Allegiant. (You can park at a reputable off-site facility for about $9/day and add about $50 for gas round trip and SW is comparable or better than flying from Moline. I personnally don't like the Park,Sleep, Fly route because I don't sleep very good in hotels, especially the night before a flight and found it more expensive ($160/ room at the Fairfield + dinner = $200 vs. $90 for our 10 nt. trip) than just parking off-airport - so we just drive up on I-80 a few hours early to catch our flight.) Using the SW Low Fare Calendar, a couple of weeks ago, I found $222/person ($1048 for 4 total) in Jan./Feb. (their flights for June are not out yet).

You can also use this tool to check the major carriers: http://matrix.itasoftware.com/
A few weeks ago, I found $342/RT person ($1469 for 4 total) on United MLI to MCO on Tues, Wed, or Sat.

I think by doing some watching and waiting, you can do much better than $2000, even out of Moline. The lowest fares usally seem to come out on Tues - Thursdays - and not on weekends, Holidays, or just after holidays. And if you can fly on Tues, Wed. or Sat - those will usually be the cheapest.

Good Luck!

 

[sam_gordon]

We have found the best fares 2-4 months out.

I'm curious, how long do you look? Do you start looking at the 6 month mark? The 8 month?

 

[WishnDisney]

I'm in the same place. We had such a great trip this past June, we decided to pull the trigger and go again next year. We even booked our resort so we could be sure to have a room at CSR business class for that period. So, now I'm looking at airfares, and they are double what we paid last year (granted we booked our airfare in November last year).

I figured that AirTran, SW and Allegiant don't even have fares listed that far out, so there will have to be lower rates. I've just never had to monitor rates to see when they are at an amount where you decide it's safe to book. I'm wondering if there are alerts you can set up somewhere?

Don't worry...I'm sure we will find lower rates as time goes by. (OTOH, I'm also a little worried this mess in Syria will affect fuel costs...)

Thanks.

Lynne

 

[sam_gordon]

I'm in the same place. We had such a great trip this past June, we decided to pull the trigger and go again next year. We even booked our resort so we could be sure to have a room at CSR business class for that period. So, now I'm looking at airfares, and they are double what we paid last year (granted we booked our airfare in November last year).

I figured that AirTran, SW and Allegiant don't even have fares listed that far out, so there will have to be lower rates. I've just never had to monitor rates to see when they are at an amount where you decide it's safe to book. I'm wondering if there are alerts you can set up somewhere?

Don't worry...I'm sure we will find lower rates as time goes by. (OTOH, I'm also a little worried this mess in Syria will affect fuel costs...)

Thanks.

Lynne

The bolded is what I think is going on. Gas prices have been trending up for the last couple months, and so has airfare.

 

[WishnDisney]

The bolded is what I think is going on. Gas prices have been trending up for the last couple months, and so has airfare.

I know...it's all such a guessing game, isn't it? Do I wait until much closer to the time I travel until I book a flight with the hope that flights will come down? Heck, it's 10 months away. Or do I do it now so I can guarantee the flight in case things get really out of hand and the price of fuel really goes up. You never know. I remember the price of fuel about 6 years ago or so and it was out of sight. We were traveling by car to Myrtle Beach that time and it took a chunk out of our vacation budget.

Even if you take the Middle East turmoil out of the equation, you still never really know what airfares are going to do.

I'm really new at all of this WDW planning. Like I said, last year was our first trip. Prior to that, since I've had a family, we have done most of our vacations via car. Don't get me wrong, I love planning, but the arena of flights and rental cars is really all new to me.

Lynne

 

[Sydnoahmom]

Thanks for talking me off my ledge everyone. I am a planner and this unknown is killing me! I am going to focus on other more exciting aspects of planning for a while.
Tiggernpooh thanks for the local info. We didn't live in the QC the last time we went so the logistics are different.
Happy planning everyone

 

[luvmy2babies]

I was just thinking this morning I don't know when my crew will fly again. I had to make the decision to drive on our most recent trip after flying down to Florida the previous 3 times.

Fortunately we live in NC and are 10 hours from WDW, but it is just me driving and one of my 2 children is just 3 years-old so I still split it into two days. We stopped in Savannah, Ga each way to stay overnight. Even with those 2 stops, food along the way and gas (I drove my own vehicle) I came out over $300 less than if we had flown. Add to that I was able to take food from home.

Planning to return in May 2014. SWA hasn't published the prices, so I'm going to check. But my 10 year-old has already said she actually enjoyed the drive and wants to go that way from now on. This is the child who starts asking "Are we almost there" before the vehicle is really warm. My son did fine as well. So at least it won't be a disappointment if we have to drive again.

I hope things work out for you.

 

[disneygma]

My family used to fly out of Moline when AirTran was there, now we fly out of Chicago Midway. We take Amtrak from Princeton Il to Chicago, It only cost about $15 per person each way, Then we walk to the Orange line EL which takes us right to Midway. Cost is $2.25 per person each way. This way we don't have to drive in Chicago traffic or pay to park. It doesn't cost any thing to park at the Amtrak station. We take the first train out at 8:35 am, and then an afternoon one stop flight to MCO.

 

[WDW-BWV]

We are all paying for the govt allowing Southwest cattle car airline buying AirTran ! Few seats in to MCO less competition means JetBlue and others don't have to compete for our business!

 

[Donna M]

I get our tickets when SW or Jetblue come out with their new rates which is around 6 months out. This year I have our Feb. tickets and they are the lowest I can remember, $201 out of NH r/t.

Hopefully your prices will be better in a few months.

 

[can]

We are from Chicago and unfortunately, because I work in the educational field, am very limited to when we can take vacations. Am looking at spring break which would be 3/22 to 3/29 and for a family of four, SWA airfare is about $670 rt per person. Am getting very discouraged with SWA as I don't see anything about this air fare economy at all. Not just them, but all the air fares are extremely high for this time of year. So, on top of the almost $2800 for airfare, we would need to add hotel, park tickets, and food expenses on top of this. Almost impossible for a family to vacation anymore. Very sad.

 

[njmom47]

http://www.faredetective.com/farehistory/flights-from-Moline-MLI-to-Orlando-MCO.html

This is a link to a chart that shows historical airfare prices. Maybe that will help you decide. I, too, would definitely wait to purchase. Unfortunately I agree the Syria issue may affect prices.

 

[keltiesmom]

We booked our flights last year using last minute travel in cyber Monday, we saved quite a bit. I would recommend keeping your eyes out and looking around thanksgiving for any deals.

 

[pbarager]

We just booked today for early December and for 4 of us. Southwest non-stop both ways out of Detroit was $999.44!!

 

[Srbright]

We just booked today for early December and for 4 of us. Southwest non-stop both ways out of Detroit was $999.44!!

Keep looking!!! We are flying FNT to MCO (nonstop) and we booked at $978 for 4 RT. It has gone down to $775 and we got credits for it.

Stacy

 

[Minnie404]

Hi-I'm in Chicago and finding the same issue. I normally pay no more then $250 per person and I'm looking now for a trip in late February and the flights are $330 each. Can't decide if I should book or wait. It is so frustrating because the flights are so high. If it continues people aren't going to be able to afford to fly anymore. I looked at Early Dec and mid Jan just to see if it would go down since that is between the 3 and 4 month mark and December was more $ (this is early Dec) but Jan was about $50 less per ticket. I just hope it comes down. Planning on surprising my son and daughter and going to Disney for their birthdays. ;-)

 

[Planogirl]

I'm still trying to find a decent price for travel this December! I was all set to drive but we lose two days so it would be nice to fly. So far I've found $684.20 for two from Dallas on Southwest to be the best unless I count Spirit and I'd rather not deal with them.

I'm a bit on the ledge myself right now.