Flight prices suck!

[markb681]

$228 R/T from Cincinnati to MCO on Delta...non-stop both ways...April 26th to May 5th...got what I thought was very good flight times...LV @9:10 am going down...LV @ 1:10pm coming back

I tried to fly out of Louisville on SW BUT all the flights had LONG layovers in BWI...3+ hours! UGH...no way!

 

[Shelbizzles]

I know! it does suck. I love using magical express, it's just so convenient but it seems to limit our options as to what airline I can use. And for 3 people with baggage fees we are around 900-1000$ I hope things go down. I'm really fairly new at booking flights. We flew to Disney twice with delta but that's all I've ever done. Some people seem to get really amazing deals but it's always to other airports not MCO.

 

[markb681]

I know! it does suck. I love using magical express, it's just so convenient but it seems to limit our options as to what airline I can use. And for 3 people with baggage fees we are around 900-1000$ I hope things go down. I'm really fairly new at booking flights. We flew to Disney twice with delta but that's all I've ever done. Some people seem to get really amazing deals but it's always to other airports not MCO.

Where from and when are u flying? IMO...its not where u fly but WHEN u fly that makes the difference...

 

[Shelbizzles]

From Michigan. I've tried researching nearby airports and they are all around the same price.
We are flying from on a Friday to the following Saturday, which I know is typically higher prices but it's what we can do with our work schedule/time off. In September 2015 my husband I flew for around 500 dollars from a Tuesday to the following Wednesday. We will have 3 people this time though. I just wish I could get a good deal!

 

[markb681]

Well Saturday is always cheaper than a Friday to fly....but what dates are u flying and where do u live? The reason i'm asking is SOMETIMES its cheaper to split ur flights...what I mean is take one airline down and a total different airline back AND as this may sound stupid...BUT prices tend to come down at weird times of the night.... I was flying to Disneyland back in Sept 2016...every time I checked prices thru out the day I kept getting the same $350 ish prices...well one night I woke up at 3am and just for giggles did the same search...BAM! $182 RT....I couldn't get my credit card out fast enuff! lol

So what i'm saying is don't be afraid to ck different airlines and even different airports...I've flown out of one and back to a totally different airport especially if u have several airports in ur area....I have 3 that are roughly the same distance...the best price wins my business!

 

[IrishNYC]

It was cheaper for me to split our trip into two one-way flights. R/T on Delta was over $320, R/T on JetBlue was around $260. I split it up and paid $97 one way and $127 (including luggage) back.

 

[JiminyOhana]

Here in Chattanooga we have Allegiant Air, that fly's into Sanford Airport(SFB). My wife and I can usually fly and rent a car for the week for $400-$450. Delta is usually much higher, to get a decent price on Delta we have to fly out of Atlanta.

 

[Tess]

We are flying out of DET Metro (I also looked at Flint). Nothing direct from SW. We paid $187 with Delta last year, but right now the rates are $290.


I've heard that too, but so far no luck. I keep checking (and clearing cookies/search history).

It is ridiculous this year out of DTW, FNT and GRR. We used to get nonstops on SWA out of FNT and/or GRR for $150 or so r/t. Now SWA doesn't have a single direct flight out of MI. SWA was always our back up because we prefer Delta. Delta this year is crazy high! We can sometimes see a $278 (economy fare) but the only way to get it is to leave MCO at 6:00 a.m.! That's way too early at the end of a vacation. All other flights bump the r/t rate to over $300. We have never paid more than $250 r/t on Delta and we have been going since 1993. All of our recent fares (last fall for example) have been in the $220 range--not sure what the heck is up with the huge increase.

We are looking at doing a SWA into TPA and fly home for a bit more through MCO to DTW. I am not a fan of the plane change, but for a couple hundred bucks--we will more than likely suck it up. We are fast approaching 90 days out and hoping Delta drops the rate and opens up the other return flights for the outbound rate. I really hate the airline games. . .

 

[pigletto]

We fly from Buffalo too. We paid about $170 round trip in December on SW. Both ways were nonstop- early flight down, evening flight back. I am still waiting to book for early May. Right now the early nonstop is $157, evenings are 157 & 132, so round trip would be almost double our Dec prices. There are some $105 flights, but they are late flight down, early flight back. SW seems to have changed their strategy about pricing.

We book SW or JetBlue, they have the only nonstop flights to Orlando from Buffalo. JB changed their times, their nonstop is no longer early morning. Their flight to Buffalo is now the early morning flight & then they return to Orlando & get in there at about 2:30. Those times seem to waste both my arrival & departure days, so we won't book them, even tho we prefer JB over SW. SW does have several nonstops every day. I just need to get my mind around the increased cost this year.

We're flying out of Buffalo on Jetblue in August. Flight down is at 7:30am and the flight home is at 3:30pm. Have you checked recently?

We had a bunch of flight credit from Jetblue so we used the bulk of it to book the BUFF to MCO flights in August. There was no out of pocket cost for that. We had a bit left and a bunch of points so we booked REALLY cheap flights from BUFF to Fort Lauderdale in May on a whim. They were $59 each way. We paid maybe $100 OOP after exchange to cover two sets of non stop flights for four people. I realize we'll be driving three hours to get to Orlando from Fort Lauderdale but it's an impromptu bonus trip so it's worth it.

So overall, we were very lucky on flight prices this year because we had so much credit. I'm pretty sure if prices continue to climb the way they have, we'll end up driving for our 2018 trip.

 

[focusondisney]

We're flying out of Buffalo on Jetblue in August. Flight down is at 7:30am and the flight home is at 3:30pm. Have you checked recentlY?

JetBlue might change the times a little, but nothing that significant after they are released. The May flights have been this way since they were released. I have noticed that JB sometimes changes the times of their nonstops when they release new dates. May flights to Orlando from Buffalo leave Buffalo at 11:40, get there at around 2:30 pm. And the return home flight leaves Orlando at about 8:30 am, getting into Buffalo around 11:15. I know the September flights don't have the same flight time pattern.

Glad it is working out for you tho, wish we could have better times but nothing we can do about it.

 

[kristenrice]

It is ridiculous this year out of DTW, FNT and GRR. We used to get nonstops on SWA out of FNT and/or GRR for $150 or so r/t. Now SWA doesn't have a single direct flight out of MI. SWA was always our back up because we prefer Delta. Delta this year is crazy high! We can sometimes see a $278 (economy fare) but the only way to get it is to leave MCO at 6:00 a.m.! That's way to early at the end of a vacation. All other flights bump the r/t rate to over $300. We have never paid more than $250 r/t on Delta and we have been going since 1993. All of our recent fares (last fall for example) have been in the $220 range--not sure what the heck is up with the huge increase.

We are looking at doing a SWA into TPA and fly home for a bit more through MCO to DTW. I am not a fan of the plane change, but for a couple hundred bucks--we will more than likely suck it up. We are fast approaching 90 days out and hoping Delta drops the rate and opens up the other return flights for the outbound rate. I really hate the airline games. . .

Even though we aren't travelling until October, our dates are available now on Delta, American and United. I refuse to fly out at 8pm and return at 6am just to get the lowest fare so I don't even factor those options in when I look at prices. Out of GR, the fares are insane...over $500! And even going to DTW or FNT, which would require the additional cost of gas, parking and possibly an overnight hotel stay, the prices are still around $400. I've never paid more than $300 round-trip on any airline out of Michigan.

Just to compare, I looked at flights towards the end of SWA booking window. I also looked at Allegiant (from GR) and JB (from Chicago)....seriously?! Allegiant is over $350! And JB was $500.

@Tess...in May 2015, we flew non-stop from GR into TPA on the first fight of the morning. I rented a car through UnderCoverTourist for a one-way trip from TPA to the Car Care Center. I booked it with Alamo and paid about $40 using UCT because Alamo wanted $85 for the same car! We landed at 9am on a Thursday, grabbed our checked bag and headed to the garage and got our car. We drove to AKL and stopped in the parking lot to get directions to Target put into our GPS (DH is a little tech-impaired and I was driving) and then proceeded towards the store. We stopped at the Chick-fil-a drive thru and when we hit the Target parking lot, I received a text that our room was ready. That text came at 11:15am. The reason I say this is because we had actually arrived at the resort about 30 minutes prior to that text which means that our landing to arriving at resort time was only an hour and 45 minutes...from Tampa! That's not too bad...and not that much more than DME from Orlando. We picked up groceries at Target and drove back to the resort. I dropped of DH, the kids and the luggage and then I headed to the CCC to return the car. They have a free shuttle that will take you back to your resort so that's what I did. I was gone all of 45 minutes. After that experience, I will not hesitate to fly into TPA again if the price is right.

 

[Tess]

Even though we aren't travelling until October, our dates are available now on Delta, American and United. I refuse to fly out at 8pm and return at 6am just to get the lowest fare so I don't even factor those options in when I look at prices. Out of GR, the fares are insane...over $500! And even going to DTW or FNT, which would require the additional cost of gas, parking and possibly an overnight hotel stay, the prices are still around $400. I've never paid more than $300 round-trip on any airline out of Michigan.

Just to compare, I looked at flights towards the end of SWA booking window. I also looked at Allegiant (from GR) and JB (from Chicago)....seriously?! Allegiant is over $350! And JB was $500.

@Tess...in May 2015, we flew non-stop from GR into TPA on the first fight of the morning. I rented a car through UnderCoverTourist for a one-way trip from TPA to the Car Care Center. I booked it with Alamo and paid about $40 using UCT because Alamo wanted $85 for the same car! We landed at 9am on a Thursday, grabbed our checked bag and headed to the garage and got our car. We drove to AKL and stopped in the parking lot to get directions to Target put into our GPS (DH is a little tech-impaired and I was driving) and then proceeded towards the store. We stopped at the Chick-fil-a drive thru and when we hit the Target parking lot, I received a text that our room was ready. That text came at 11:15am. The reason I say this is because we had actually arrived at the resort about 30 minutes prior to that text which means that our landing to arriving at resort time was only an hour and 45 minutes...from Tampa! That's not too bad...and not that much more than DME from Orlando. We picked up groceries at Target and drove back to the resort. I dropped of DH, the kids and the luggage and then I headed to the CCC to return the car. They have a free shuttle that will take you back to your resort so that's what I did. I was gone all of 45 minutes. After that experience, I will not hesitate to fly into TPA again if the price is right.

We did that last May as well, but on Delta (nonstops). We are certainly looking at that option as well. SWA is pretty reasonable (given the other options) for our dates and it is still on the table. I am so with you on the timing--I am not arriving at 4:00 p.m. or later on our first day and absolutely refuse to hit that 6:15 a.m. flight on Delta. We have two tentative plans one into TPA and out of MCO and the other into MCO on Delta and out on SWA--the latter still more than I want to pay, but not ridiculous AND gets us in early a.m. on arrival day and departs late on our departure day. Both will involve a night at the airport (early departure and late return), but I am good with that.

JetBlue, Frontier and Spirit are crazy expensive once you add in all the add on fees--Frontier was $1,300. For nonscheduled carriers--that is unfathomable.

We have a June trip to book as well as one in October (with grown children)--not looking forward to the stress of finding rates for those either.

 

[pigletto]

JetBlue might change the times a little, but nothing that significant after they are released. The May flights have been this way since they were released. I have noticed that JB sometimes changes the times of their nonstops when they release new dates. May flights to Orlando from Buffalo leave Buffalo at 11:40, get there at around 2:30 pm. And the return home flight leaves Orlando at about 8:30 am, getting into Buffalo around 11:15. I know the September flights don't have the same flight time pattern.

Glad it is working out for you tho, wish we could have better times but nothing we can do about it.

That stinks. I was able to get May flights BUFF to Fort Lauderdale at the same times as my August MCO flights. I didn't take a good look at MCO for that trip because the prices were so high.

 

[ErinsMommy]

We booked during first week of January for our trip in September and paid $525 roundtrip for 3 people. NJ to FL. Flight to FL leaves at 6:00 a.m. (we love first a.m. flights) and flight back home to NJ leaves at 2:10 p.m.