Finding the best flight strategies?!

[SeptemberGirl]

This is great info! I am particularly happy to find that there's decent Jet Blue fares - we are looking for Feb and i am freaking out about the cost!

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

Wow I would love to get the kind of prices you all are talking about......I just paid $400 round trip each for 4 of us from Portland, OR to Orlando in December ......Yikes!!

 

[SarahD]

Check Tampa airport, too, if you're renting a car. I was able to stretch our Southwest points into four roundtrips from Columbus, OH vs. only three using Orlando. We have a few days free car rental from National, so rented an SUV on either end of vacation to get to parks and then back to airport. National has a few rental places at WDW.

 

[lovesdumbo]

I have flown SW out of both Manchester and Providence but found Jet Blue out of Logan works best for me.

I have found booking the day flights open works best for lately. I have started using yapta to track flight prices and they alert you when the price drops. You can use them either before you book to keep an eye on pricing or after you book so you can get a credit if the price drops. Jet Blue will give you a credit if the price drops.

We were late planning our summer trip and I ended up booking our flights at $440 RT. I signed up for Yapta and got the prices down the very lowest they ever dropped before our trip-I think about $239. The credits were enough to book another 3 RT tickets to Orlando.

I have to say I really miss the days of SUPER low SW prices. I flew one time for $105.60 RT and several other times for $135.60 RT. I used to be able to get airfare for just under $200. I booked a January 2012 trip the day flights were released and paid $227 They are now $274.

I booked my November trip after flights had opened. I didn't like paying $309 (and if I was using credits) but they are now $650.

 

[SeptemberGirl]

I am SO glad to have found this thread!

We live in NJ - Monmouth County - and plan to go to WDW in Feb for my daughter's school break. We can fly down Sat the 18th or the 19th and come home either Friday the 24th, Sat 25th, or Sun 26th. I cannot find flights form Newark less than $500!

So we are looking at either Spirit(AC) or Southwest (Philly).

Tell me more about this magic Yapta! If you book a flight and it goes down, that site will give you credits? Or do you need the actual airline to give you the credit?

I am thinking that although normally flights seem to go down, flights for these dates will just go up.

 

[fitzperry]

http://www.hipmunk.com/ is another great site. It displays flight choices on a grid sorted by "agony" (some measure of total duration, number of layovers, price, etc.) If you sort by agony, prices are listed on the left side of the graph so you can easily see which are cheapest. You can also sort only by price or some other factor.

 

[woodleygrrl]

I would also try looking here:

www.kayak.com

They check all the flights that are out there and send you where you can get the best price. Warning: they do not check Southwest, but from here in DC they are generally not the best rate for me anyway.

I always check here first before I book.

Jennifer

 

[THERESA522]

I am SO glad to have found this thread!

Tell me more about this magic Yapta! If you book a flight and it goes down, that site will give you credits? Or do you need the actual airline to give you the credit?

I am thinking that although normally flights seem to go down, flights for these dates will just go up.

You're flying during an extremely busy time - that's why flights are so expensive!

I don't think all airlines will give you a credit if the prices go down, but I know JetBlue will.

 

[ocean702]

SW gives credit if the airfare goes down, and i think i've heard you can do it right from their website. I called when 3 hours later my flight went down from 129-59.

I use airfarewatchdog that sends me email updates when a specific flight path goes below a price mark. I find that I tend to get the emails Tuesday or Wed mornings.

Only when we fly internationally do we find that Logan is cheaper than PVD. We do factor in the cost to park at Logan. Some SW flights fly direct from PVD to MCO but they dont' from BOS. Hartford is hit or miss with the price, sometimes they are much lower than PVD and BOS other times much higher. Also as an educator, we fly at the most expensive times, so we never really catch a good priced flight.

 

[The 4 "Quay"balleros]

We try to plan our trips around airfare- it was much easier though when my oldest wasn't in school yet. For our upcoming trip, we were looking at the President's Day weekend- wow it was very expensive(Spirit Air) Spirit has a nice feature though on their site- they list all their fares on a monthly calender. Looking a couple weeks before, I was able to get flights for $17 each way With all of the silly fees(seats and luggage) and taxes we paid $610 total for 5 people.(FYI by moving our trip back a couple weeks my son will only miss 1 more day of school and we were able to get free dining!)

 

[SeptemberGirl]

We try to plan our trips around airfare- it was much easier though when my oldest wasn't in school yet. For our upcoming trip, we were looking at the President's Day weekend- wow it was very expensive(Spirit Air) Spirit has a nice feature though on their site- they list all their fares on a monthly calender. Looking a couple weeks before, I was able to get flights for $17 each way With all of the silly fees(seats and luggage) and taxes we paid $610 total for 5 people.(FYI by moving our trip back a couple weeks my son will only miss 1 more day of school and we were able to get free dining!)

WOW those are great fares! Go you!!!

Spirit is probably what I am picking this time around! Unfortunately, or fortunately, we have three days off of school - 20, 21, 22, so I kind of have to take her out that week and not the week before. Oh, well. We are getting lodging for free this time so at least we are saving there!

 

[The 4 "Quay"balleros]

WOW those are great fares! Go you!!!

Spirit is probably what I am picking this time around! Unfortunately, or fortunately, we have three days off of school - 20, 21, 22, so I kind of have to take her out that week and not the week before. Oh, well. We are getting lodging for free this time so at least we are saving there!

WOW your school is out 3 days for Presidents Day! Well I guess my school is no better- off the 20th and 1/2 days on the 15th and 23rd Silly Jersey schools

 

[SeptemberGirl]

WOW your school is out 3 days for Presidents Day! Well I guess my school is no better- off the 20th and 1/2 days on the 15th and 23rd Silly Jersey schools

I know, it's SO weird. Last year we were off 3 days in March and I didn't do a thing with it - this year I feel like I have to make this time count! Plus, I will be there on the 25th for the Half Marathon, so why not just take a week!

We ended up booking Southwest out of Philly. My DH and DD will fly round trip in and out of Philly. I will fly down on a one way on Southwest with them and then fly home alone dirt cheap on Continental to Newark after the race.

 

[The 4 "Quay"balleros]

I know, it's SO weird. Last year we were off 3 days in March and I didn't do a thing with it - this year I feel like I have to make this time count! Plus, I will be there on the 25th for the Half Marathon, so why not just take a week!

We ended up booking Southwest out of Philly. My DH and DD will fly round trip in and out of Philly. I will fly down on a one way on Southwest with them and then fly home alone dirt cheap on Continental to Newark after the race.

The schools are so weird now- My Easter break '11 and '12 are only 3 days (the Thursday/Friday before and Monday after Easter)????

 

[hotblooded]

JetBlue is driving me nuts with their rollercoaster fares. The flight I want is currently priced $25 over the upper range of what I'm willing to spend, so I went ahead and booked my second choice on Delta. It came out to $75 cheaper per seat than the JetBlue flight would have been, and no amount of brand loyalty can beat that. It's a shame.

But on the bright side... it's all real now that we're booked!

 

[hotblooded]

JetBlue is driving me nuts with their rollercoaster fares. The flight I want is currently priced $25 over the upper range of what I'm willing to spend, so I went ahead and booked my second choice on Delta. It came out to $75 cheaper per seat than the JetBlue flight would have been, and no amount of brand loyalty can beat that. It's a shame.

But on the bright side... it's all real now that we're booked!

Okay, I know this is ridiculous, but I was able to secure seats on my first-choice JetBlue flight less than five hours after posting that!

The flight dropped by $30 per seat, and that was enough to clinch it. The best part is that Delta has a 24-hour risk-free cancellation period, so I got a full refund on the flight I booked yesterday. I love it when things work out!

P.S. It's still BEYOND me how a flight can be $265 on 10/11, $175 on 10/12, and $145 on 10/13. Probably to convince suckers like me that my almost-reasonable rate is a steal.