Ever fly (or going to) over Thanksgiving?

[kpgclark]

I have been looking into airfare to MCO over Thanksgiving and I'm really surprised at how high the price is. When I think back, I don't think we've ever flown over Thanksgiving! Are prices always very high at that time? Should I expect the airfare to drop at some time during spring or summer?

 

[CarolA]

I have flown Thanksgiving weekend a lot and prices can be very high. The Wed before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after are the two busiest travel days in the year. My solutions (and I am flying from Nashville to Boston) is to fly EARLY on Thursday morning and return home Saturday evening. Usually saves me over a hundred dollars. If you can avoid Wed/Sun you will generally do better. Even if there is a sale there may not be many seats on those days.

 

[seashoreCM]

Yes I have done WDW over Thanksgiving. One year I chose to return home Saturday night nonstop rather than take the more expensive Sunday night nonstop or the not more expensive Sunday connecting flights, fares as of when I booked. Another year I returned home the Wednesday after. The sunday eve. plane fare for the best flights shot way up well before a third of the seats on the seat map were claimed.

Nov. 2003 I plan to be at WDW again over Thanksgiving, having snagged a good fare including Sunday evening back. So I expect to see for the first time how crowded MCO is on Sunday after Thanksgiving.

On many of the choice flights to and from WDW around Thanksgiving and other peak dates, the cheapest seats are gone 331 days in advance. Within two weeks thereafter the price can reach the maximum, or Y booking class. There may be periodic reductions over the months but generally not by many dollars.

There is constant traffic to the airlines' web sites by those who missed the initial offering of cheap seats and hoping to hit not so much an across the board fare sale but rather another allotment of cheap seats. The if and when of such an offering is normally completely unpredictable. In 2003 I observed that Delta (... Express) had a second offering of cheap seats for Thanksgiving dates in mid January when Boeing 757's were substituted for 737's on the BOS-MCO run, a third offering on the JFK-MCO and BOS-TPA runs when Song began booking on 4/1, and probably a third offering on the BOS-MCO run when Song began booking between those cities ca. 4/14.

The airlines know that they can fill the planes on the choice dates for "full fare*" eventually and also know that the entire plane will sell out 300 days in advance if all the seats were cheap. So they only offer a few cheap seats at first. I do know for a fact that Delta and US Air did have some cheap seats (about $110. one way MCO-BOS) for Sunday eve. after Thanksgiving and I conclude they had some cheap seats for every single flight 331 days in advance.

Travel tips:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

* Delta Express has had a non-refundable Y fare typically just under USD $300. each way (BOS-MCO) as well as a refundable Y fare of about $600. each way.

 

[beattyfamily]

I made the mistake of planning this year's trip the first week of December which this year meant flying down to Orlando Thanksgiving weekend. I started looking 330 days out and it fluctuated between $220 and $200 and then on the 3rd day (327 days out) it went to $181 non-stops so I booked it. Since then it's been VERY high at $380 and hasn't come down since. My DH thought I should have waited; well, I'm so glad I didn't.

In the future, I will try to avoid Thanksgiving weekend!

 

[kpgclark]

Normally from Philly to MCO I can get a flight for about $185. Now the price is double that! I am thinking that I might be able to get a deal when AirTran publishes their fares which is 6 months out. I just can't see paying $370 per person to fly to Orlando for each of our family of four. That just seems outrageous.

 

[seashoreCM]

>>> Should I expect the airfare to drop at some time during spring or summer?

Yes, but not by much for a general fare sale. The $220. not-so-peak date round trip fares may drop to $180. but the $380. fare mentioned (probably $270. down Thanx. weekend and $110. back) I think will drop only to around $330.

This year (and also two different years some time ago) I have been checking back at Delta.com often and the fare for my trip (I got $220. RT BOS-MCO) has, except for the short lived additional offerings I mentioned, hovered around $555. RT. One other year I kept checking the fare, it hovered around $550 but I saw one dip to $450. that lasted at least a week.

I havven't checked special internet fare sales often but when I had, I didn't see any to Orlando that included peak dates like Thanksgiving.

Anyone succeed in booking Delta or Song BOS-MCO in mid April for less than $300. round trip including the return flight to Boston on Saturday or Sunday PM after Thanksgiving 2003? If so this will prove that a cheap seat offering occurred then which is when Song's BOS-MCO bookings began.

 

[kel3420]

We have done many family vacations over Thanksgiving in the last ten years. I start checking fares usually six months in advance, daily, and when I find something good I book it. The closer the dates, the higher the airfare goes. We flew into Orlando from Chicago last year at $220 rt. A month or so before we left, I checked the fares and they were up almost to $1000 rt.

We usually leave the Thursday or Friday before Thanksgiving and fly home the Friday after. Most people who travel for Thanksgiving like to fly the Wed before and go home the Sunday after, so if you rearrange your schedules a little to accomodate for that, you should be able to find good fares. For example, we got a great deal last year, since we were willing to fly home on a noon flight out of Orlando the Friday after Thanksgiving. Not too many people are willing to fly that day. Travelocity is a great site for playing around with dates. Just put in that you are "flexible" about dates, instead of putting in actual dates, and you can come up with all available dates.

 

[mareed]

Well, I'm counting on the fact that when Southwest extends their schedule out, airfare will be cheaper than what's available now. I'm looking for tickets from Tulsa, OK to MCO the Saturday before Thanksgiving to the Saturday after. These are not the dates blacked out for use of the frequent flier free tickets, so I'm hoping that also means they'll offer their low, discount fares for these dates. I'm hoping that these aren't the peak Thanksgiving travel dates which will help me get decent airfare. When I check current prices for other airlines, it's $358. Southwest fare for Saturday to Saturday in August is $232, so I'm hoping that's what I'll be able to get for Nov.

Back to the question from the original poster, I'd think that if you're flying from somewhere where Southwest flies, and if your dates are flexible enough to not be the peak days, then you may see airfares drop when Southwest extends their schedule. At least I hope so.

 

[noodles]

We flew from Seattle to MCO on the Saturday before Thanksgiving last year. I started watching the prices in April and they were really high, I want to say around $400.00 rt. In June/July Southwest announced their rates and my rate on AA droped to $220 roundtrip. I booked it right away and when my dad decided to join us on this trip a few months later the price had climed back up to $350. We are going again this Thanksgiving and Im again waiting for Southwest to announce thier rates so I can book with Alaska!