Flights Schedules

[GOOFY4DONALD]

How long in advance do the airlines have most of their flight times posted? We have always been able to depart MCO in the afternoon but not the only returning flights are around 7am... Not terribly appealing when using magical express Tia

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

How long in advance do the airlines have most of their flight times posted? We have always been able to depart MCO in the afternoon but not the only returning flights are around 7am... Not terribly appealing when using magical express Tia

The legacy carriers -- United Airlines, American Airlines, US Airways (which now owns American and will roll itself into American), and Delta Air Lines -- have flights available for 330 days from the current date.

Southwest Airlines has flights available through August 8, 2014.

For smaller airlines, check their websites.

It's not a case of posting "most of their flight times." On the legacy carriers, it's the entire schedule, but the schedule can change. An airline might change equipment, change a flight number, adjust the time (which could mean a few minutes or a few hours). An airline might add a new route, eliminate a route, or adjust frequency (such as changing from 3 flight per day on a route to 2 or 4). Legacy carriers are always looking for opportunities to maximize profitability through schedule changes.

But a legacy carrier that plans to operate 4 flights per day on a given route in December 2014 won't post 2 planned flights now and the other 2 planned flights in July.

Southwest is much better about keeping its schedule firm once it's released. It can do so because flights are only posted around 6 months in advance.

Also, carriers don't cancel a single flight on a single day because bookings are light. If a flight is consistently unprofitable and does not feed passengers to profitable routes, an airline is likely to drop the flight entirely from its schedule. But flights can and do operate with empty seats (although, these days, far more flights are completely full).

 

[DebbieB]

Which airline are you looking at? Going to Montana?

 

[sam_gordon]

How long in advance do the airlines have most of their flight times posted? We have always been able to depart MCO in the afternoon but not the only returning flights are around 7am... Not terribly appealing when using magical express Tia

If you're seeing some flights for the day, then the flights are released. They (probably) won't add more later.

BUT, have you limited yourself? Look in the search features (you may have to do an 'advanced' search. Are you only willing to take non-stops? Did you somehow set 'morning' as a departure time?

If you post the day you want to fly and the destination, we can come up with some options for you. In addition to the airlines site (along with travel sites), I recommend using http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

Thanks for the replies. We are planning sat dec 6 out of great falls montana and returning sun dec 14. If there are still rooms available at our resort we can change to thurs dec 4 at the earliest (we are planning 8 nights).

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

Also we usually fly delta but we are not opposed to other airlines

 

[DebbieB]

On December 14, Delta has a flight leaving Orlando at 4:00pm, arriving Great Falls 9:23pm, connecting in Minneapolis (flights 1245/4625). It is more expensive than the morning flight so that's maybe why you are not seeing it. Do search by schedule instead of price.

 

[sam_gordon]

From what I can tell, Delta has flights leaving at:
12:00pm
12:05pm
1pm
1:30pm
2pm
2:30pm
4pm

All of the above arrive ~9:30pm. Other airlines have options also. I agree the afternoon/evening flights are more expensive.

 

[MtMinnie2]

We too are planning on flying out of Montana for our WDW trip around the same dates. Leaving Montana on the 9th and returning on the 20th. We will be leaving from Billings. We will fly either United or Delta. We probably will not purchase our tickets until 3 to 4 months out or if the price drops sooner. We are starting to visit the cheap tickets sites in hope of seeing a bargain. LOL
We also have family flying out of Missoula.

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

From what I can tell, Delta has flights leaving at: 12:00pm 12:05pm 1pm 1:30pm 2pm 2:30pm 4pm All of the above arrive ~9:30pm. Other airlines have options also. I agree the afternoon/evening flights are more expensive.

thanks for all replies. I did see those when I looked a little deeper. I did play around withe days of the week... If we change the day of the week we can have the best of both worlds better times and good prices.

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

We too are planning on flying out of Montana for our WDW trip around the same dates. Leaving Montana on the 9th and returning on the 20th. We will be leaving from Billings. We will fly either United or Delta. We probably will not purchase our tickets until 3 to 4 months out or if the price drops sooner. We are starting to visit the cheap tickets sites in hope of seeing a bargain. LOL We also have family flying out of Missoula.

hello 'neighbor' . We have looked around and if we buy soon we can get a cheaper price than we ever have!!

 

[Montana Minnies]

hello 'neighbor' . We have looked around and if we buy soon we can get a cheaper price than we ever have!!

MontanaMinnies2 sister here.
I'm from Billings so I have been keeping my eye out for airfares. I've always managed to book a fairly decent one when we have gone before, but I think getting anything for less than $400 is no longer.
I finally saw a couple of days ago where United had gone from $706 to $587 roundtrip on the dates Dec. 9-20 when we plan on going.
I have noticed for some reason that flying out of Helena seems to be cheaper than flying out of any other of Montana's major cities. Not sure why??
Anyway good luck and keep us posted. PM me if you want and let me know what price you finally get out of G.F.
Always nice to see another fellow Dis'er from Montana on the DIS BOARDS.

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

MontanaMinnies2 sister here. I'm from Billings so I have been keeping my eye out for airfares. I've always managed to book a fairly decent one when we have gone before, but I think getting anything for less than $400 is no longer. I finally saw a couple of days ago where United had gone from $706 to $587 roundtrip on the dates Dec. 9-20 when we plan on going. I have noticed for some reason that flying out of Helena seems to be cheaper than flying out of any other of Montana's major cities. Not sure why?? Anyway good luck and keep us posted. PM me if you want and let me know what price you finally get out of G.F. Always nice to see another fellow Dis'er from Montana on the DIS BOARDS.

hello... I have my eyes set on the $404 price out of great falls... With montana weather being anything but predictable I am more comfortable leaving out of my own city. I know it's not supposed to be a good idea to book airfare too early but last year I waited and tried to book at the 'perfect' time but we ended up paying 150pp more than earlier in the year. This time anything around 400 is a bargain to me.

 

[Montana Minnies]

hello... I have my eyes set on the $404 price out of great falls... With montana weather being anything but predictable I am more comfortable leaving out of my own city. I know it's not supposed to be a good idea to book airfare too early but last year I waited and tried to book at the 'perfect' time but we ended up paying 150pp more than earlier in the year. This time anything around 400 is a bargain to me.

Excellent! I know what you mean, I'm more comfortable leaving from where I live too. Once we had 8 people flying out of 5 different airports- Billings, Missoula, Great Falls, Washington DC & Philidelphia. That was fun.