Flying Hartford to Orlando - big money!!

[JENNYMAY]

Anyone have any ideas of finding a reasonable flight to Orlando from Harftord? We are going at the end of June and right now I am seeing flights around $320! Should we wait, will they drop at all? Anyone know when Southwest will show their fares? I am getting nervous that we are going to spend a lot of money on flights, there are six of us in my family!

Thanks everyone!

 

[3daughters]

Have you thought about White Plains instead? I don't know where you are coming from, but weve done Hartford a pain in the neck to fly in and out of and prefer White Plains, also Air Tran has a direct flight. They run specials from $69 up. Very easy to get too from CT. Just take Merritt to King Street Exit, maybe exit 27 not sure don't remember for sure, know it says King Street. Traffic isn't bad unless you are going rush hour. Easier than getting into Hartford unless you live right there.

 

[ducklite]

When are you flying?

I grabbed a US Air flight MCO to BDL last year on June 30th for about $90--it was a o/w flight.

If you are trying to fly over Easter the flights are going to be higher than if you are trying to fly mid-May. Also play with the departure and arrival times. I landed at BDL at 11:30 pm or so--earlier landings would have cost me a lot more.

Anne

 

[anna1111]

I would make the same suggestion, we have flown out of BDL the last 3 years using Southwest. However last year we were not able to find as good a deal on SW as we had in the past. I think it was $240 last year for June. This morning we booked Airtran out of Westchester after thinking about it for a week or so. Never flown Airtran before but the price is right and westchester is closer to us than Hartford. Only thing is parking at Westchester is steep from what I can tell, we plan on having someone drive us.
The cost with tax was $177.30 R/T - non stop.

 

[JENNYMAY]

Our trip date is June 27-July 3rd. We are only 12 minutes from Bradley airport in Hartford, so really want to try and fly out from there.

Thank you for all your advice!

 

[ducklite]

Our trip date is June 27-July 3rd. We are only 12 minutes from Bradley airport in Hartford, so really want to try and fly out from there.

Thank you for all your advice!

Any chance you can fly on July 4th instead? My guess is that the 3rd is a busy travel day and that's what's getting you the high $$$.

My experience with air travel on July 4th is that it's fairly quiet--hence lower rates.

Anne

 

[Rpsemont]

We usually fly out of BDL also. While I can't speak for rates on 7/3 because of the holiday, generally SWA has Internet one way rates of $109 (or less) for Tues, Wed Travel days, so if I was you, I would wait for SWA before I'd pay $320 (but difinitely keep checking other airlines) The other option might be to consider flying into/out of Tampa. This past November, the cheapest MCO-BDL for our travel date was $109, but there was a DING and we flew TPA-BDL for $39 (plus taxes and fees)

Of couse, you'll probably have to wait until late feb to see the SWA flights.

 

[Princess Erin]

Just flew out of BDL. 12-19 returning 12-31 both evening flights. 350 rt/pp

 

[jmpurdy]

We fly out of BDL also and I bit the bullet and booked our flight (this Sunday--YEA!) at 308 PP. It KILLED me to do this! But I also signed up for DING playing the odds that it would pay off. And it DID. I got three DINGS and brought our flight down to the current 59.00 PP price! Well worth the little effort to cancel and rebook at the lower DING price. Easy and with the same flight #'s, etc. That was the most important to me was to get the nonstop flights that I wanted as we are flying with our 8 month old grandson. Enough said! Hope this helps! book the flight you want and sign up for DING. Then be faithful about checking them every day and when a DING shows up, act on it. You won't be sorry. I am now the proud owner of a 860.00 credit with Southwest! With a son who lives in Oregon, he can come home anytime he wants!!!

 

[JENNYMAY]

Wow that is awesome!! When did you book your flights for?? I think I have a while to wait as we are going at the end of June and they haven't released those dates yet, that I know of?!

Thank you for you help!

 

[jmpurdy]

We booked relatively 'late' for a Disney vacation as it was semi-last minute for us. I am the obsessive Disney planner! So, as soon as SW opens up the dates, book the flight and sign up for DING now. You will start to receive the dings and you can familiarize yourself with how it works. I can explain how to cancel and re-book later if you like. Someone else on the DIS had written up a very simple way to do this. Don't worry, I was scared the first time I did it, but now it's sooooo easy. When the DING comes up, hit the botton just to see how it shows up (you aren't committing to anything!). It just shows up as an extra button/tab to hit to purchase. Very cool! You will have to cancel the booked flight and it automatically goes into the 'credit bank'. You also get a cancelation #. KEEP that # handy. Then you apply the cancelation # to the new rebook and it transfers over the $$$ from the bank to the new booking. Then you get another screen that will tell you how much you have for a credit with SW. I forgot one of my dings and forgot that I had 2 separate banked amounts because I got two DINGS and therefore two credits. It isn't all kept in one bank and that's the only confusing part. So, just print each time you do a DING to keep track of your banked $$. So, no money gets credited to your credit card account and therefore no charges by SW to change flights, etc.! Sorry it's so long, but I am very excited about this for me and anyone else who wnats to save alot of $$.

 

[NJDad18]

High airfares during the end of June is not just a problem in Hartford. We're going from 6/22 - 6/30 and I'm trying to get flights from PHL - MCO. I'll even fly out of EWR or ACY, but the cheapest flight that I'm finding is $275. I'm just waiting patiently for the Southwest rates to come out and then I'll book with them.

 

[Jenny]

i have flown several times from BDL to MCO on Southwest in the past 2 years....I have booked through DING each time, usually about 6-8 weeks in advance of my dates. I have paid anywhere from $44-$99 pp at different times of the year. Good luck!

 

[Jenny]

forgot to mention, that Providence-MCO DING prices have been running about $10-$20 cheaper than BDL.

 

[mysparky]

We're not going until August, but there will be 7 of us so I'm a bit anxious as well to see what Southwest will publish for fares. I'm seeing the same $320 from BDL to MCO, but am hopeful that we'll do better once SW publishes their fares. If not, we'll have to consider flying out of Newburgh (JetBlue) or Westchester (Air Tran).

It's always a guess as to when the Southwest, but based upon some historical data that I've seen, June dates have been released around the 3rd week in January. However, it's quite possible that those dates will only take you until mid-June and then you'll have to wait until mid-Feb to get your dates.

Ahhhh....the wait....

 

[Pumbaa_]

We fly BDL to MCO a couple times a year. Usually can get a ding fare, but may have to wait last minute.

I just rebooked our Jan 27-Feb 2 trip last week. $59 down $64 back. Back WAS $138 each.

What I do is watch and find a rate I can live with. Then I watch dings daily and if I find a better rate, rebook.

Since song went out, we pretty much fly SWA exclusively. I would prefer seat assignemnts, but can't beat the price!

 

[momofbgtwins]

Pumbaa - You've made me feel better. I have been waiting for a Ding BDL-MCO for 3/4 and 3/11 - nothing so far ... and I convinced my sister and her crew (6 tickets) to book with SW because we would definately get a Ding fare! She's starting to stress because she's paying for all the tickets. I quess there's still time for a good Ding?????

 

[kda]

I've been checking SWA and Delta out of Bradley at least once a day for almost a year. It's very discouraging that there aren't the sales that there used to be. It was pretty easy to always find something under $160 RT (and sometimes $100 RT) without waiting and worrying.

While it's still possible to get Dings, I just want to caution everyone that if you're flying at a busy time and must travel on Sat/Sun, there may not be the availability of a Ding. Sometimes the cheapest rates on sat/Sun seem to get booked within hours of SWA opening up new dates and there aren't Dings for some of those flights.

And don't leave Delta out. I had some good luck getting one way RT for ~$75 this past fall, but these fares were only available for a few hours.

 

[JENNYMAY]

Thanks everyone for your advice!
The only problem with Ding for me is that we don't fly anywhere or usually go anywhere!! The only time we have flown really is to Disney.....and this may be our last trip for a while. It would be a bummer to have a credit with SWA if we won't be using for years.
How crazy is it to wait it out for really good rates, can that happen without buying right away and having to wait for Ding???
I will need to purchase 6 tickets!
Does the SWA credit ever expire??

Thanks again! Love all the help!!!

 

[mom2jamie]

You do not have to use them yourself. You can "sell" them to someone else. You are the one that has to make the reservation though because of the credit card used to originally book them, just have the person give the money directly to you.

Also keep in mind that if the rate does go down and nothing changes with the flight (time,date,fare class,etc) absolutely nothing can change. They can issue a credit back to your credit card.

I booked February flights at an extremely high rate ($287 pp r/t). Watched diligently and they went down to $135 r/t. Some I was able to get credited back to my cc some is in future travel funds. It pays to watch.