Flying from DCA (Washington, DC)

[baw]

hi all, air fare is pretty high right now.. . . the best non-stop i see from dca to mco is around $280 round trip. i read that in some cases it's cheaper to book a flight with a layover at your final destination and just "walk off" (not take the last leg of the flight). has anyone done this? is it really less expensive? any pointers for how i can search for flights like this (what should i use as my "final destination"? we're traveling on halloween (a friday). farecast says prices are dropping. . . .any advice is appreciated. thanks.

 

[Jestocost]

I'd say $280 isn't a bad fare in this day and age, but you always can play ticket-price chicken and see if it goes down. It could always go up, however.

The other practice you refer to is called hidden-city ticketing and is against airline rules. If you skip the second leg of your flight and get off in Orlando, the airline can and very well may cancel your return flight. Even if they don't do it then, they almost certainly will cancel your Orlando-DC leg when you don't check in at what should be your first city.

 

[GranddadTom]

When we fly, we go out of BWI. It's only 30 minutes up the road. They usually have a pretty good selection of flights which are reasonable - if you're not flying during the holidays.

 

[baw]

Thanks for the info! I hadn't heard of the practice of "walking off" so I wasn't sure if it was "unoffically" allowed or not. Good to know. I am checking Dulles rates, but we live a couple of miles from National, so it's not worth the extra hassle of getting all the way out to Dulles for a few dollars, and the rates are similar at the moment anyway. So $280 is about the going rate now, huh? We just visited Disney last Oct., and I feel like we paid a lot less for airfare, but perhaps I'm not remembering correctly. Anyone else getting decent rate to MCO on the east coast? I'd be curious to know what others are paying from nearby locations.

 

[amscherm]

i read that in some cases it's cheaper to book a flight with a layover at your final destination and just "walk off" (not take the last leg of the flight). has anyone done this? is it really less expensive?

How would you get your luggage? Unless it was all carry ons....

 

[PlutoPony]

Southwest out of Dulles is showing $118 for your date down and Jetblue is at $110. Honestly, you should be able to go out of IAD cheaper than National but don't know how much it's worth it for you to get out to the airport....

 

[amscherm]

Thanks for the info! I hadn't heard of the practice of "walking off" so I wasn't sure if it was "unoffically" allowed or not. Good to know. I am checking Dulles rates, but we live a couple of miles from National, so it's not worth the extra hassle of getting all the way out to Dulles for a few dollars, and the rates are similar at the moment anyway. So $280 is about the going rate now, huh? We just visited Disney last Oct., and I feel like we paid a lot less for airfare, but perhaps I'm not remembering correctly. Anyone else getting decent rate to MCO on the east coast? I'd be curious to know what others are paying from nearby locations.

I just got $179 from BWI going down over Christmas and $138 coming home from MCO right before New Years... all in and out of BWI....