Flying the Sunday after Thanksgiving

[Nicsmom]

I'm planning a trip to WDW the week after Thanksgiving 2007. Would it be crazy ( expensive and/or crowded)flying on the Sunday after Thanksgiving? Would the Saturday be better? Thanks!

 

[CarolMN]

No way to know for sure until you check. From MSP, it's usually cheaper to fly Thanksgiving Day or the Friday after than it is to fly on the Sunday after. But it depends on when you book.

Put your dates into one of the online search engines and see what you get. Personally, I prefer www.itasoftware.com You can't actually buy on that site, so I think it is a good one to check.

You can search for the day before or day after to see if it makes a difference. Not sure if SWA or JetBlue are included in the airline searches that itasoftware does, so if either of those leaves from your preferred airport, you'll have to check them separately.

 

[bavaria]

Carol's correct - check the prices and see. I have flown on and before/after major holidays; US Thanksgiving is one of the biggest travel times of the year, but the day of the holiday and the day after are relatively quiet; Saturday starts to gear up and Sunday is just crazy, as is the day before the holiday.

One year it took me about 5 hours for a 2 hour drive the day before the holiday, but flying ON the holiday was a breeze - virtually empty airport.

 

[RachelEllen]

FYI, The Sunday after Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day of the year. (Even beats Christmas, as that travel is more spread out.)
Even if you find an ok price, the airport will be mad. If you have any alternative, I'd fly another day instead.

 

[Nicsmom]

Thank you all for your comments. I think it would be smarter to push the trip out a few days and travel on a the Monday or Tuesday. Thanks for the help!

 

[blessedby3]

We flew out the day after Thanksgiving last year and had no problems. We flew out of RDU and a straight flight to MCO on SW. I would do it again on the day after.

 

[CapeCod53]

I have flown Thanksgiving in the past & we are doing a family Thanksgiving trip to wdw this year. It used to be that actually flying on the holiday itself was a great deal, but that was not the case this year. Jet Blue had their regular schedule, but most of the airlines had cut back their flights, esp the non-stops. Flying down to Florida on Tuesday & Wednesday before Thanksgiving cost no more than flying Thanksgiving itself. We all booked the day Jet Blue or SW released their flights & got pretty good prices. BOS-MCO $139/ MCO-BOS $119 both non-stop. BUF-MCO $99 each way with a stop JFK. My brother is flying SW out of Albany, I believe his flights cost somewhat more than the BOS flights on JetBlue. One nephew has to be back at work on Monday after Thanksgiving & his flight on Sunday is several hundred dollars more than our return on Tuesday. Monday is still pretty expensive but not as bad as Sunday. Tuesday & later were back to the normal good mid-week prices.

 

[clkelley]

I would imagine that the Sunday after Thanksgiving is an extremely busy flying day, and yes everything will take a little longer and be a little crazier. However, there is a finite number of passengers and planes that will fly on any given day.

However, driving home on I-75 from WDW on the Sunday after Thanksgiving is the much worse option. We did that back in 2002 and never broke 40 MPH on the interstate, mostly going about 10-20.

 

[Nicsmom]

I have flown Thanksgiving in the past & we are doing a family Thanksgiving trip to wdw this year. It used to be that actually flying on the holiday itself was a great deal, but that was not the case this year. Jet Blue had their regular schedule, but most of the airlines had cut back their flights, esp the non-stops. Flying down to Florida on Tuesday & Wednesday before Thanksgiving cost no more than flying Thanksgiving itself. We all booked the day Jet Blue or SW released their flights & got pretty good prices. BOS-MCO $139/ MCO-BOS $119 both non-stop. BUF-MCO $99 each way with a stop JFK. My brother is flying SW out of Albany, I believe his flights cost somewhat more than the BOS flights on JetBlue. One nephew has to be back at work on Monday after Thanksgiving & his flight on Sunday is several hundred dollars more than our return on Tuesday. Monday is still pretty expensive but not as bad as Sunday. Tuesday & later were back to the normal good mid-week prices.

Thanks for all the details. This helps a lot. We usually fly out of TF Greene. Are dates are a bit flexible. So, we'll probably leave on Tues or Wed.

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Thanks for all of the info. There are 18 of us, flying out of MCO on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We are coming home from the Wonder. We never flown the Sunday after Thanksgving.

Do you think we should go to the airport at least 3 hours before our flight?

Any info would help.

Patricia