Flying from the West Coast and have a few questions....

[Melora]

We are temporarily in Arizona (but we are from California so we used to booking for even further west) and I'm trying to book a flight from Phoenix to Orlando.
The cheapest I can find is about $400 R/T from Southwest. As of right now it doesn't seem to matter what time of year I book (I'm looking in May but flexible).
Can any of you who have booked from ALLLLL the way out here tell me what is the cheapest you have paid for a ticket recently (including what airline and time of year) and maybe any suggestions for getting something cheaper?
I hate that the airfare is the most expensive part of our vacation.
Years ago I could get flights for under $300 and I dont expect I will see that again.

 

[JaxsonsMom]

We are temporarily in Arizona (but we are from California so we used to booking for even further west) and I'm trying to book a flight from Phoenix to Orlando.
The cheapest I can find is about $400 R/T from Southwest. As of right now it doesn't seem to matter what time of year I book (I'm looking in May but flexible).
Can any of you who have booked from ALLLLL the way out here tell me what is the cheapest you have paid for a ticket recently (including what airline and time of year) and maybe any suggestions for getting something cheaper?
I hate that the airfare is the most expensive part of our vacation.
Years ago I could get flights for under $300 and I dont expect I will see that again.

We are traveling this coming Saturday out of San Diego and I got tickets for just under $300 from Southwest. It wasn't easy but you just have to keep checking. It's all a matter of watching the sales and buying them at the right time. Southwest now has one non-stop flight from San Diego and so that does eliminate some fees. Hope you find a great flight!

 

[Melora]

Was the price higher and it dropped? Or did you get an offer or was there a sale on the website?
Right now the cheapest flight is $209 one way across the board. Its offered from this month all the way out to August.
Trying to figure out where to keep looking!

 

[bumbershoot]

Are you going out of Phoenix? I've found that airport to have such high prices. I get better rates from Seattle than from sky harbor when I've looked.

Checking now for august is, IMO, too early. I wouldn't book that far ahead unless I saw the perfect flight at the perfect price. And still only with southwest or alaska where I can get a fee-free credit if the price goes down.

 

[JaxsonsMom]

I just had to keep looking. I actually bought our tickets 10/1/14 -They were slowly going down and then one day they dropped and the next day they were back up. You have to just be persistent I suppose and check everyday. I am not sure if PHX is just higher to fly out of or what - but looking at a couple weekends in May flying out of SAN and there are lots under $200. I hope you can find something.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I live in California, Central Coast, and fly to either NJ or Florida once a year. For the past two years I have not been able to get airfare under $500. But I want to make clear we fly out of a small, local airport to either LAX or Phoenix and then onto NJ or Florida. It's not worth it for us to drive to SFO or San Jose. By the time you factor in staying in hotel and parking car, it adds up to be more. Three years ago, we were flying for around in the mid $400's but I think that's long gone now. We're planning on flying first week of June and prices start at $504 and shoot up from there. I've never flown Southwest before (not in our little local airport) but from what I've read they seem to be a favorite for most with good prices.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

You can plan on paying around $400 RT for a flight between the coasts, unless you get lucky and find a fare sale.

 

[Melora]

Thank you all for the info.
I will keep my eye out.
I'm not sure I can get all the cash together by May so we may have to book later anyway. The funny thing is that one of my daughters lives in Seattle and I was checking for her and the airfare to Orlando was MUCH cheaper flying from all the way up there. Not fair! LOL

 

[robert rump]

We're in SD and traveling July. We go every year in summer, but this year it's ridiculously high. We generally pay $300-$375 max. This year they're going for $490-500. I've checked all airlines and have been checking for about a month. I'm going to keep checking, hopefully it won't get worse.