flights

[Laneyg]

Hi!
We're going to Disney May 19-27. We have not bought plane tickets yet in hopes that prices would go down. They just keep going up! We are not frequent travelers - should we get tickets now or hold out hope?
Thanks!

 

[Darcy03231]

As gas prices continue to rise, so will airfare. I would buy at a price point you're comfortable with and don't look back.

 

[Marionnette]

Hi!
We're going to Disney May 19-27. We have not bought plane tickets yet in hopes that prices would go down. They just keep going up! We are not frequent travelers - should we get tickets now or hold out hope?
Thanks!

I wouldn't wait too much longer. Once you are within 40 days of your departure date, the prices seem to rise and never fall again. I use Bing's airfare search and it actually tells you the probability of the fare coming down. It helps me to decide if I'm on the fence about whether to buy or not.

 

[ashmarie06]

I went ahead and booked for our August trip already. Just because of all the talk about rising gas prices. We flew last november for 200 round trip each, and booked within 30 days of the trip. I found tickets for 218 a person round trip for August and snagged them.

 

[TinkerTY]

We are also going in May and have been looking at flights. They definitely seem to be getting more expensive as the time is passing.

We typically drive but it'll cost us almost as much to fly this year.

2 years ago, it cost us less than $500 to drive to and from WDW.

 

[dawnshindoll]

I am flying during that same time in May and I have been searching everyday as well.

May 15-22

I noticed two weeks ago they were cheaper - now I find they are 100+ per person! YIKES!

I am gonna wait until tomorrow to make my decision. But, I just hate paying 1600 or more for my families flight - that's almost as much as the hotel, tickets, and food!

 

[dawnshindoll]

I just checked Bing and the price predictor tip says to WAIT......and here's the link for my dates :

http://www.bing.com/travel/flight/f...&ri2=0&cid=IA_FlightBookingOrigin&FORM=ATRFBO

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

If I had a trip scheduled for May, I would have already purchased my tickets, despite Bing's prediction.

 

[dgr1973]

As others have stated once you find a price you can live with then book it! We are going at the end of June and I booked the flights in December fearing the prices would rise after the new year and boy did they ever! I wasnt thrilled with paying 1300.00 r/t for my family of 4 but now that same flight would cost me 2300.00!!! I am glad I didnt wait.

 

[Samar]

I'd definitely buy. My mom said she heard that Tuesdays are the best day to purchase but I do know that when I saw tickets dive for one day while booking our August trips, I pounced on them. We're flying Jet Blue and we each get 1 free checked in bag (whereas with the other airlines we were looking at, we'd have to pay for each bag). I also like that they show a row of the dates on top of the page so you can play around with costs and times. Usually we leave on a Saturday and come back the following Sunday but this year, the tickets for that time frame were much more than leaving on a Tuesday and coming back on a Wednesday

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

We went to Disney last year (May 18- 27) and we got our SWA tickets on March 17 and three weeks later they dropped our fare. Since we booked with SWA I was able to get a refund in the form of a travel funds to use by March 17, 2012 and saved us $200. We then used the funds to go back to Disney in Feb 2012 and only paid $27 out of pocket for those tickets!

This web page is a good one to check and see if and when the best time to buy is. Now remember it is not a guarentee but rather a good indicator tool

http://www.bing.com/travel/

For example I just plugged in your dates leaving from my home airport of CLE and the predictor said to wait they are 72% confident that the fares will drop. But it really is up to you and what price you are willing to pay to fly. Hope this helps!

Oh wanted to mention one other thing... Flights into Orlando are much much higher than flying into Tampa. So if your plans are to get a rental car and not take the ME I would seriously concider flying into Tampa. The drive to WDW is SO SO easy! The drive time from Tampa to WDW is 1hour and 15 minutes. And the drive from MCO to WDW is 35 minutes so really it only takes you and extra 35-40 minutes to drive from Tampa to WDW (1 hour 15 minutes tampa route minus the 35 minutes orlando route=35/40 minutes extra). There are no tolls to pay from Tampa to WDW. The Tampa airport is a much calmer airport. Security lines are very short compared to MCO. And SWA flys into there as well!

On another note flying on Tue or Wed is a lot cheaper. So if you can alter your vacation schedule you can reduce your flight costs. Plus you are flying home during a Memorial day weekend so flights will be higher.

 

[angierae]

We kept watching our March/April flights go up and up and up and finally just broke down and bought them - we ended up paying a ridiculous amount per ticket. I know it was spring break, but STILL.

Honestly, I don't see flights getting any cheaper over the next month. I know that since we bought ours, there hasn't been anything cheaper, it's just going up and up and up.

 

[ccgirl]

Hi!
We're going to Disney May 19-27. We have not bought plane tickets yet in hopes that prices would go down. They just keep going up! We are not frequent travelers - should we get tickets now or hold out hope?
Thanks!

I'm not a big fan of the wait and see. But, I only fly the airlines that you can request a travel credit should the price go down. (SW,AT,JB)

If I had a trip scheduled for May, I would have already purchased my tickets, despite Bing's prediction.

I'm the same way.

I booked JB the day the fares were released for my dates (May 10 - May 20). I paid $265 a ticket. That same ticket is now $350.

 

[buy24me]

I am also going in May. When I was looking about a month or so ago, the prices were all around $260 or so. I live in IL. Then I found a great deal on a United flight and it was leaving on either 5/26 or 5/27 but I can return either 6/1, 6/2, or 6/3 and it was only $173 pp!! i just didn't like that the return flight was at 7am and it was for all return dates as I mentioned above. So I thought I wait a day to see if another flight would come down on price and of course I should have known better. The next day, it went up to almost $100 more per person!! I was so mad at myself but then I found a American flight that was actually a better return flight on 5/31 since it was in the evening for the same price of $173pp!! My DH said to book it before that price goes up too. I decide to put it on a 24 hour hold since it guarantees the price too. A few hours later, the price increased to $286!!! That was $113 more pp!! It was then that I decided to put my flights off hold and book them!! I guess $173 is the best price I am going to find these days with the rising gas prices!!

 

[la_la]

I signed up on kayak.com and set up an alert. I was able to get a good price and good flight times too for our May/June trip. Those were only available for a short time and had I not had an alert set up, I probably wouldn't have gotten them. Some say the 6 to 8 week window is a good buying opportunity, but I am so glad to have my tickets bought. That was a big weight off of my shoulders. I would decide what you think a good price is and if you get within a hundred bucks of that, buy!! Good Luck!

 

[buy24me]

I am also going in May. When I was looking about a month or so ago, the prices were all around $260 or so. I live in IL. Then I found a great deal on a United flight and it was leaving on either 5/26 or 5/27 but I can return either 6/1, 6/2, or 6/3 and it was only $173 pp!! i just didn't like that the return flight was at 7am and it was for all return dates as I mentioned above. So I thought I wait a day to see if another flight would come down on price and of course I should have known better. The next day, it went up to almost $100 more per person!! I was so mad at myself but then I found a American flight that was actually a better return flight on 5/31 since it was in the evening for the same price of $173pp!! My DH said to book it before that price goes up too. I decide to put it on a 24 hour hold since it guarantees the price too. A few hours later, the price increased to $286!!! That was $113 more pp!! It was then that I decided to put my flights off hold and book them!! I guess $173 is the best price I am going to find these days with the rising gas prices!!

My exact flight is now exactly $300!! i know they are predicting gas prices to go up and if that is the case, it is better to book earlier than later. But their predictions aren't always right either...Have you considered getting the 50,000 miles for signing up for the rapid rewards CC through SW? That might help somewhat so that you would at least get 2 or more free flights that way...