Expensive to fly to Orlando from Northeast in early December?

[QuickGold]

I'm trying to get a cheap flight for Mousefest (December 6-10) from the Connecticut area and for some reason it's ridiculously expensive.

From Hartford, it's $344 on Delta and $273 on Southwest!

Call me spoiled but it should not cost more than $170 at most considering I'm flying out on a Wednesday and this trip is in the first weekend of December (a dead time of year).

Anyone else finding a problem getting a good price this time of year?

 

[theblondebee]

Do you have SouthWest Dings? It seems like to me your part of the country gets much better fares than mine.

 

[aynt79]

Is Manchester too far of a drive for you? We just bought a SW Ding fare 2 days ago for $120 per person to Orlando for 12/8-12/15. We'll be driving an extra 1 1/2 hours to go to Manchester vs. a local airport to save over $200. We picked flights so that we wouldn't have to spend the night there and eat up the savings.

 

[pbnjrockette]

If Providence isn't too far you might want to watch for DINGS or Internet-only flights. Also consider flying into Tampa and driving...

Good luck! Hoping for more Northeast DINGS!

 

[katie111]

We're going next week from Boston & had the same problem. I booked about 2 weeks ago. Never paid more than 200 before & that was a much busier time of year. I don't know what is going on, if they just have less flights going or what. Maybe because of the elimination of Song, I don't know. We ended up booking a Disney package through Southwest flying out of Providence. Tix were $300 a piece but then the hotel (Pop century) only cost us $200+ for 5 nights. Separately, the hotel would've been around 500. Not sure if a package is an option for you. The other airlines from Boston were coming in at a low of $400-500 on Expedia & Travelocity. Ridiculous!!

 

[jjan]

We just got $69 one way tickets out of Manchester for the 2nd week of Dec. on Southwest.

 

[Lesprivate]

Can You Leave From Islip Long Island? Southwest Was Cheap For Us.

 

[beccasmom]

Check out these sites; one gives a "historical" idea of fares; the other compares fares from airlines at your airport. Also, trying another airport is a great idea. Perhaps one with more competition (and cheaper fares).

http://www.farecast.com/ - takes you to airline site to book -
http://www.farecompare.com/

 

[QuickGold]

There was a Ding for $89 each way. Hardly a deal but I bought it because it doesn't look like it'll be cheaper anytime soon plus the closest airports are White Plains (no non-stops to MCO), Providence (Southwest is only option and they're expensive also) and LGA/JFK ($177) but I opted to go with Southwest since parking fees are atrocious at LGA/JFK and its a far easier ride to Bradley.

I did some research and Delta has cut alot of its flights from Bradley and so less competition. It's just ridiculous how expensive it is.