Flights are driving me absolutely crazy!!!

[PrincessJasmine08]

I am trying to book flights for a trip planned for December 26-January 7. I realize this is peak travel time, but the flights are absolutely ridiculous. We live in Cincinnati, Ohio so I am checking for flights from Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, and Indianapolis, all of which are 2 hours or less away. For our October trip we got our flights for $180/person. I knew Christmas time would be more, but the lowest fare I can find is about $500!

I have checked nwa.com, airtran.com, delta.com, priceline.com, and orbitz.com. Southwest doesn't have fares out for our dates yet. Does anyone have any other sites I should check?

Also, am I looking for flights too early and maybe they will go down as time passes? Should I wait for Southwest to release fares? I hear they have pretty good deals. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[mackeyapp]

Hi
I too am flight watching from Canada for Dec. 28-Jan 11. The past two years we were able to get much better rates when we watched and waited. We flew the past two years with Delta (same time of year) but their prices are still through the roof. We are optimistic they will improve over the next couple of months. Good Luck!

 

[tracys2cents]

Sign up for fareWatcher on Travelocity and they will email you whenever the fares go down. Easier than constantly checking.

If you can leave late on Dec 25 you might find some decent fares. Dec 26 is probably going to be a "holiday blackout" date in many cities.

 

[tracys2cents]

AirTran and Delta seem to be battling in the Dayton to MCO market.........$320 on your dates and could go lower when a sale pops up.

Air Tran has a really cheap $89 one-way fare from orlando back nonstop to INDIANAPOLIS on January 7th....not sure if this is too far for you but one way car rental from Indy to Cincy is pretty cheap.

Since you have Cincy, Dayton, Indy etc and lots of competition in the area, I would not panic yet. They should come down. Especially if you can switch to late Dec 25 or early Dec 27 for your travel.

Check one-way fares for your dates, not just round trip. And if four are travelling, check the price for two. Sometimes they have two seats available cheap but not four. Don't book four high-fares if you could have gotten the first two cheaper.

 

[tracys2cents]

Looking further...here is what I would do if you are comfortable with Indianapolis travel (remember this could be snowy/blustery drive?)

Book the Jan 7 return nonstop on AirTran now for $89 per person while it's on sale.

The highest fare that southwest ever has to Orlando is $201 per person one way. This would be worst-case scenario. As soon as Southwest opens up that date you could book it one way. Chances are you will get in early and will find $150 one-way fare special or even as low as $100 if you're lucky. Keep checking AirTran for a one-way outbound drop as well.

Worst case scenario would be about $299 per person doing it this way and I think you will do much better actually, most likely will end up being more like $240-$250 per person and could be even less. A big plus is locking in that $89 one way fare for Jan 7th. Need to factor in the gas to Indy and the parking fee at Indy as well however.

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

Looking further...here is what I would do if you are comfortable with Indianapolis travel (remember this could be snowy/blustery drive?)

Book the Jan 7 return nonstop on AirTran now for $89 per person while it's on sale.

The highest fare that southwest ever has to Orlando is $201 per person one way. This would be worst-case scenario. As soon as Southwest opens up that date you could book it one way. Chances are you will get in early and will find $150 one-way fare special or even as low as $100 if you're lucky. Keep checking AirTran for a one-way outbound drop as well.

Worst case scenario would be about $299 per person doing it this way and I think you will do much better actually, most likely will end up being more like $240-$250 per person and could be even less. A big plus is locking in that $89 one way fare for Jan 7th. Need to factor in the gas to Indy and the parking fee at Indy as well however.

Wow! You are creative and great at figuring this kind of stuff out! I never would have thought of that. That is a wonderful idea, we are considering it.

I am also signing up for farewatcher, thanks for that tip!

 

[loveswdw]

Did you check Louisville? Cincy is only about 1.5 hours from Louisville. It may not be much cheaper but it is another option to check.

I've been waiting for cheap seats for us forever it seems (for early Dec. SDF-MCO). Even Southwest hasn't gone any lower than $135 OW. Where, oh where, are the cheap tickets?!

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

Did you check Louisville? Cincy is only about 1.5 hours from Louisville. It may not be much cheaper but it is another option to check.

I've been waiting for cheap seats for us forever it seems (for early Dec. SDF-MCO). Even Southwest hasn't gone any lower than $135 OW. Where, oh where, are the cheap tickets?!

I didn't think of that, I didn't know it was that close. Thanks!

Does anyone know when Southwest generally releases fares for the end of December/beginning of Jan.?

 

[loveswdw]

I didn't think of that, I didn't know it was that close.

Yep, we've flown out of Cincy before. We live in La Grange (a little over an hour south of Cincy and 20 minutes north of Louisville). Only have flown Cincy when the flight times were better but Lville has always been cheaper than Cincy whenever I've checked.

 

[PlutosFriend]

I am trying to book flights for a trip planned for December 26-January 7. I realize this is peak travel time, but the flights are absolutely ridiculous. We live in Cincinnati, Ohio so I am checking for flights from Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, and Indianapolis, all of which are 2 hours or less away. For our October trip we got our flights for $180/person. I knew Christmas time would be more, but the lowest fare I can find is about $500!

I have checked nwa.com, airtran.com, delta.com, priceline.com, and orbitz.com. Southwest doesn't have fares out for our dates yet. Does anyone have any other sites I should check?

Also, am I looking for flights too early and maybe they will go down as time passes? Should I wait for Southwest to release fares? I hear they have pretty good deals. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I was starting to get discouraged as well. I always do a girls trip in Orlando every October. Well I checked to see when I bought the airfare last year for mid October flights and it wasn't til the end of August..I believe the 26th. I ended up getting $69 each way from St. Louis. So hopefully there is still hope for all of those like me, who are waiting for good airfares to come about