Flying Information Needed

[etwinchester]

For those of you who fly and rent a car, do you deal directlty with the airport to book flights or do you use an online service?

I've heard of Orbitz, Expedia, etc, but was looking to get a direct flight from Philadelphia, PA to Orlando, FL with car rental figured in. Some sights I noticed prices for just airfair, airfair and hotel, or airfair hotel and car. I'm looking for airfair and car.

What service do you use for this that you like and had no problems with? Also, can you specify the type of car?

 

[all4fun]

We usually use Orbitz, Expedia, etc to research airfares and then buy directly from the airline. The past several times we have flown Delta and have bought our tickets directly online from them after researching airfares on the other sites. Haven't really found using the other sites to actually make the purchase that advantagous for us and we usually get bonus Skymiles from Delta for ordering with them.

HTH!

 

[CamAnd]

Hi,
Agree with previous post. I usually look at Orbitz or travelocity to compare airfares and rental cars. I then go to the airlines website to book directly with them. Then you don't have to pay a booking fee per ticket as on other travel websites. I also noticed that the direct airline websites offer more choices and better travel times as compared to Orbitz, Priceline etc.... We booked through US Air website for this trip and signed up for frequent flyer miles; sometimes airlines give you miles by booking online. Oh yeah, I booked a flight from Philly to Orlando with USAir for $176 total nonstop flight. Since Southwest Airlines came to PHL, other airline rates have dropped esp to FL. I noticed on their site that the USAir rates are low right now(probably compares to Southwest Airline rates) for Orlando and other Fl destinations.

As for car rentals, I researched rates on Orbitz etc... but booked directly on the car rental sites. You can keep checking back closer to your trip to see if the rates drop, especially last minute specials. I booked a Minivan for a week through Dollar for $229/wk base rate several months ago. I checked the rates on several car rental companies this week and got a lower rate at National for $180.99/wk Minivan. Got savings doing it this way. We leave tomorrow for the trip.

Good luck planning

 

[dzneelvr]

Since my DH and I work, we start with the dates of arrival and departure. go to the airport websites and see which carriers service Orlando International and Sanford. Then get online and pick the flights we want from the airline's website.
Next go to the airport link for ground transport and get that taken care of as well. No sense in looking at carriers in either capacity that aren't flying or driving from that particular airport.

this trip we are using TMA into Sanford and taking a stretch Happy limo to/from the ASMo. Very satisfied with both processes.

I think it depends on how flexible you can be with your dates. We don't do the crazy shop-around as we can't adjust at the drop of a hat. Because we go in the busy summer season, we get our plane-ground transport-resort tied at 5 months ahead. AAHHH--feels so good!
WDW ON JUNE 24-JULY 4

 

[Barb D]

Southwest now flies between Philadelphia and Orlando, and as far as I know they usually have the best rates. It's currently $79 each way! I think I've heard that SW doesn't participate with Expedia, etc. so you need to go directly to their website: http://www.iflyswa.com .

We book rental cars separately. You can usually find good discount codes at http://www.mousesavers.com/rentalcar.html .