DVC....Airfare....Chicken & The Egg Theory

[DVCJman]

Had not planned to make a trip to WDW this summer, but can't help trying to go mid-June to first of August, total flexibility....my question:

How do you do a short notice trip?.....do you check airfares first and then try to get that date at DVC

or.....do you find availability at DVC and then try to get the best airfare you can to MCO?

Just curious as to what the well seasoned travels might do?

Thanks

 

[schucrew]

We've only done one short notice (2 months) trip. An airfare sale triggered it for us.
We knew the approximate dates of the sale, so called DVC to check if there was even any availability first- there was! We then called the airline and booked a flight - they generally will hold it for you 24 hours before you need to actually put it on your credit card. Then called DVC back, booked the nights we needed to correspond with our flights, and finally called the airline and paid for the airfare. It sounds worse than it was - actually went pretty smoothly, and with annual passes burning holes in our pockets, we couldn't resist the $82 round trip airfare!

Good luck!

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Oh how I wish I had that problem. My wife will not fly, so we drive from Connecticut. The drive down is pretty fun actually, but the drive home...well, you fill in the blank. Funny thing is, I fly a jet for a living!!!

 

[kel3420]

I first check airfares, then call DVC for availability, go back to airfare and book it, and then call back DVC for rooms.

I hope that made sense, lol.

 

[chris1gill]

If you are looking for this summer, head over to www.iflyswa.com to see if the Friends Fly Free promotion is available for your dates. Generally speaking I get our accomodations in order FIRST & then I get the airfare. It's much easier to get air than accomodations in our experience. I figure if time draws near & there's a problem with dates I can adjust our nights to drop or add nights as needed to accomodate flight schedules. I've only had to do that once in about six years though, so we've been pretty lucky in this regard.

 

[Chuck S]

If your planned trip is more than a month away, I try to book the rooms first, then the airfare. If it doesn't workout, then you can cancel the room prior to the one month cancelation window without penalty (depending on your banking/borrowing use year). Right now I have a ressie for a 1 bedroom at OKW Dec 1 to 13, however, because of the weird Thanksgiving weekend, I'll probably have to cancel Dec 1 and Dec 2. I'm waiting until mid-June to see if I can get free air tickets after flying later this month, then I'll change the room ressie accordingly. If airfares don't work out at all, then I'll drive.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

We did this in December. I found a $135 airfare--UNHEARD of! After that we decided that I would take my last two personal days and have a 4 day weekend so I could see the Christmas stuff. I didn't have any points (had already booked this July trip) but we got a great AP rate at the Poly and went for it. Two days later that airfare was gone so I'm glad I acted. I could only get $197 for this trip.
Robin M.

 

[CIPG]

Online travel services such as Expedia will also let you hold a reservation for 24 hrs with no charge. It is very simple to go back after you checked availability at DVC and finish booking your tickets. You have to give them your credit card number, but they do not charge it until you actively finish the booking. Expedia also makes it easy to change the reservation without entering the info again. I have held several reservations and ultimately let them run out with no problem. No charges on my card.
ColdNorth

 

[DVCJman]

Thanks for the help and well thought out responses....it now appears that such a summer trip won't be able to materialize for me and my group....we are now looking at going to WDW at Christmas, which would be a first...

thanks again...

 

[wdwnut]

hi: just another thought: ms can also check airfare for you. the really super airfares seem to go very quickly though. i asked them to check for us the last trip and the fares were the same as i had gotten through the airlines.

 

[kamgen]

We drive, so for us it is the DVC availability and getting off work! LOL!
If fares were cheaper than driving, we would consider it, but it doesn't make sense to fly unless we are short on time.

Kamy