flights between detroit & orlando, July2012

[Ode]

Hoping someone can help me out. Flight right now between Detroit/Orlando are $205 (all in)on both Delta & Airtran in July 2012. Airtran has a better schedule for our party of 6. These are RT & NS flights.

QUESTION......do I buy or do I wait? Hopefully some of you more experienced flyers can shed a bit of light.....

thanks, All.

ode

 

[mousemom11]

Hoping someone can help me out. Flight right now between Detroit/Orlando are $205 (all in)on both Delta & Airtran in July 2012. Airtran has a better schedule for our party of 6.

QUESTION......do I buy or do I wait? Hopefully some of you more experienced flyers can shed a bit of light.....

thanks, All.

ode

Is that one way or round trip?

 

[Ode]

sorry folks. Trip is RT

 

[ready123go]

I am assuming these are N/S. Either one could run specials, but that is always a gamble. I am a fan of booking now, especially since you need six tickets.

PROS & CONS-

DELTA tends to go up, and only up, after their initial listing, so if you pick Delta, book now!


AIR TRAN does have a habit of canceling unpopular flights, then sometimes adding them back.

For example, they canceled our N/S flight into DTW last Feb. and put us on a return flight that really stunk. Early out of MCO (9AM-ish), with a really long layover in ATL, getting into DTW around 6PM. I first went to Air Tran's website and found the flight I wanted from the available flights, then I called Disney (I booked it through Disney, so I had to call Disney) and they put me through to Air Tran. Air Tran re-booked us on my preferred flight, no charge.

One caveat: the flight I wanted was the least expensive option at the time I switched it, this made them happy to switch. That flight did go up within a short time, so, if you need to do this, strike while the iron is hot.

I ended up with a flight that departed MCO 4:30-ish, arriving DTW 8:00 pm-ish, with a small lay-over in ATL. Much better. More Disney!

 

[jmasgat]

Having made the trek from DTW to MCO regularly for the last 15+ years, I have come to have some "price bogies" for my trips. I look for non-stop flights with a low ideal of $150 and an upper end of $225-$250.

Your price of $205 is pretty good. You could play a waiting game, but it may be stressful. Think of it this way: what would you consider a great price? Let's say $175. So for the possibility of saving $180 (6 tickets x $30 savings over the $205 price) is it worth the wait? I say book no, especially if you can get the flight times that you are looking for.

Now I will say that I booked my trip for January 2012 last month--happened to catch Delta doing a price match for a SW sale and got RT for $150! But that is rare. And I was in the DL web site everyday for quite a while checking prices.

As for who to book, I can't say. I haven't flown AirTran. The only thing that would push me that way is if they adopted their corporate parent's (Southwest bought them) policy of no-fee ticket changes. That way if the fare went down you could bank the price difference. But they don't have that, to the best of my knowledge.

Sorry for the long winded reply!

Maura

 

[Sandi]

I would book at $205 for RT NS DTW to MCO. There probably will be a change in the schedule since July is a ways out, but $205 is a good price in today's market.

 

[Ode]

OK Guys...........you all provide some very good insight, so I think gonna go ahead and book my flights. I really appreciate your comments.

ode

 

[summermac]

I would have also said to book, esp if the flight times are decent. I'm currently annoyed that Air Tran is charging $6 pp to select seats. That is so annoying!

Also on ATA's site, did you look at nearby airports for a better deal? Until today the BEST I was finding from Pittsburgh or Columbus (we live smack in middle) was $249 w/ crappy flight times. And SWA was charging $275ish as well. Anyway, I happened to see the option of Charleston WV and chose it - DIRECT FLIGHTS, GREAT TIMES and $181 pp (after fees, well except that annoying select seat fee that is) - yeah baby!