Cheap gas and airplane prices

[kandb]

We are going to WDW at the end of August. With the cheap gas prices, we are considering driving from NJ. I am checking JetBlue prices and if they come down, I might reconsider. Right now, I could get around $125 each way but with flights and a rental car, I could still save over $1000 if we drove. Big decisions! Anyone think prices will come down due to low fuel costs? I am waiting it out and may drive if the prices don't come down.

 

[sam_gordon]

Purely my guess, but no, low fuel costs won't make a dramatic impact to airfares. At issue more is supply and demand. As long as they continue to fill the seats, prices will continue to be high. Of course, this opinion is only worth what you've paid for it.

 

[Alesia]

Anyone think prices will come down due to low fuel costs?

Nope. Gas prices have no impact on airline prices.

 

[stinkpickle]

I'd imagine that most airline fuel was purchased on contract a long time ago, so recent price drops won't make much difference.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

When gas goes back up I bet it will have an effect on airline prices, and everything else. But prices will never go down when gas numbers tumble. When a gallon of milk goes up .45 because of high gas, well that will be the new normal price. When it goes back down, that .45 is still there. When it goes back up, hey there's another .45.

 

[OKW Lover]

Purely my guess, but no, low fuel costs won't make a dramatic impact to airfares. At issue more is supply and demand. As long as they continue to fill the seats, prices will continue to be high. Of course, this opinion is only worth what you've paid for it.

Just keep in mind that the airlines have a say in the supply side of that equation. Customers can decide not to fly (demand) but the airlines decide how many seats to supply. In order to capture market share and taking advantage of lower fuel costs price wars may develop. Or at least we can hop so.

 

[DSLRuser]

air lines buy their fuel in LARGE quantities years out. What you are seeing now is a result of high cost of oil from 3-4 years ago. On the flip side, in 2-3 years, you will see air prices fall because of the historic low cost of oil we are seeing now.

That is how southwest was able to stay so cheap for so long. They bought like 10 years worth of fuel the last time oil prices were real low.

 

[nacho113]

We are going to WDW at the end of August. With the cheap gas prices, we are considering driving from NJ. I am checking JetBlue prices and if they come down, I might reconsider. Right now, I could get around $125 each way but with flights and a rental car, I could still save over $1000 if we drove. Big decisions! Anyone think prices will come down due to low fuel costs? I am waiting it out and may drive if the prices don't come down.

To us it would come down to how much our "on vacation" time is worth.
We drove down from Canada in our younger days (before kids). It was a 30+ hour drive which we did in 2 very long days on the way down. We were pumped about our vacation at WDW but exhaustion set in when we arrived and spoiled our first couple of days. Decided to split it into 3 days on the return trip, which seemed even more long and grueling on the way home. Actual time we were able to enjoy ourselves "on vacation" was about 7 days of our 2 week vacation (and then needed a vacation from the vacation our first few days back at work.
Since this trip we always fly. Even though travel days can be a PITA when flying (lots of hurry up and wait), arriving in Florida after 3-4 hours of flying is much more "vacation cost effective" to us compared to 2-3 DAYS of driving time before our vacation starts.

If I had to save money, I'd pay the higher airfare and shorten our trip by 2 or 3 days rather than spend 4-6 days of our 2 week vacation, driving to and from our vacation. IMHO

I'm sure your drive wouldn't be as long as ours since you are coming from NJ but I would say that you are looking at a 15-20 hour drive which is a long haul for 1 day so you'd be looking at 2 fairly long days down and 2 more back, out of a 2 week vacation giving you only 9-10 days in the magic.

My advice would be take 10 days and fly and use the money you save on 4 days resort and food to offset the cost of the airfare.
You could take 2 weeks and drive to save money but you'll still only have 10 days in the Magic plus you will still need hotel and food on your travel days.

 

[Disneytam]

I don't know what airport you are flying out of but do you have the option to fly Southwest? Flying out of Albany, NY nonstop to MCO for $79 each way in Feb. and returning early March. I have been seeing a lot of nice low prices for Southwest lately. We do have 2 nonstop flights a day with Jet Blue but I enjoy Southwest so I haven't looked into Jet Blue fares.

 

[finnster77]

Nope. Gas prices have no impact on airline prices.

Incorrect.
Gas prices affect supply and demand for a great number of things, airline prices included.

 

[dioxide45]

Incorrect.
Gas prices affect supply and demand for a great number of things, airline prices included.

I don't think fuel prices have any impact on supply and demand. Sure if fuel prices are up and airline prices are up, then demand may go down some. But fuel prices don't impact supply or demand. They are the underlying cost the airlines incur to do business. The overall economy and peoples desire to travel is what impacts demand. Supply is driven by the airlines and their desire to compete against each other.

 

[luvdisney00]

Wow! We are flying from NJ mid-August and i would be thrilled to get $125 each way. I can't find less than $300pp RT at any decent time out of Newark. We drove once and will never do it again, but many people do it. It's a long drive compared to a 2.5 hr flight.