Gaaaah...August airfares

[simpilotswife]

It used to be that you could get good airfares about 60 days before you wanted to fly. Is that not the case anymore? Am I really gonna have to spend $500 per ticket to fly to WDW?

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

It used to be that you could get good airfares about 60 days before you wanted to fly. Is that not the case anymore? Am I really gonna have to spend $500 per ticket to fly to WDW?

No, it's not. Summer is one of the busiest travel times of the year; it's going to be hard to find any discounts now. If I had a confirmed trip for August, I would have purchased airfare months ago.

 

[amomma23]

Did you check out the Southwest sale? I think today is the last day. We booked for August way back in February/March, but were able to shave some $ of with the sale.

 

[simpilotswife]

I did look for airfare months ago but it was even worse. $300-$400 each way

 

[TaraPA]

I fly 4-5 times a year & this August's fares are by far the worst in years. Most of the budget airlines like SW, AirTran, Frontier & Allegiant have decent fares, but none fly from my airport. Once I add in travel time & cost to get to a bigger airport (or a shuttle from Sanford) it's no savings for me, just more of a hassle. I started watching for August fares back in January & they are still over $400 RT to MCO. They haven't moved at all.

I check twice a day & yesterday morning my return flight on USAir dropped to $102...had been $271...but there was only 1 seat at that price.

It's going to kill me to pay over $400 per person for a ticket when I'm used to paying $120-$200, but its the price we pay for Disney!

 

[Greysword]

Airlines have reduced capacity (flights) and generally fly with full (or almost full) airplanes these days. As such, demand is high and the low-cost airlines have higher prices, so the competitive incentive from the 200s is disappearing.

This close to August, you may see a small drop, so if the flight comes within a tolerable range, I would book it. Generally, I book airfare about 6 months out if possible (that is when the low-cost airlines release their schedules and the legacies release their discounted economy seats). However, award availability becomes more prevalent closer to the travel date, so if you have miles (or can get some via credit card bonuses) then availability may open up.

Good luck!

 

[kandb]

I guess it really depends on when you travel. We are traveling from NY to MCO on 9/1 and returning on 9/10 (Sun to Mon) with good travel times and we paid $95/each way on Jetblue ($190 roundtrip), also as usual, no baggage fees and free snacks and drinks and each passenger has their own tv. We love Jetblue.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

We purchased our August flights back in January, for about $325 pp return. Both non-stop flights on JetBlue from Syracuse.

Same flights if purchased today would be over $500 pp .

Last August we flew for about $875 for the three of us (from SYR, non-stop, same airline), so our costs this year were about $50 more per person.

 

[averill94]

Simpilotswife I am with you!!!! Need to leave from JFK or Islip and it is insane. It has never been this high. I also looked months ago and it wasn't much different.
Last year we flew out late the night before and it was considerably less (so much that it actually made sense). Gone are the days of $120-$130 RT!!!

This is the first time the words "drive" ever came out of our mouths! IDK if that is possible though... 20 hrs in the car vs. 2.5 on a plane...

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

The problem with waiting to book is not only rising prices, but limited seat selection. I have had to book some last minute flights recently due to a family emergency and I really had to look around for flights where I wasn't stuck in the dreaded middle seat!

 

[aubriee]

Simpilotswife I am with you!!!! Need to leave from JFK or Islip and it is insane. It has never been this high. I also looked months ago and it wasn't much different.
Last year we flew out late the night before and it was considerably less (so much that it actually made sense). Gone are the days of $120-$130 RT!!!

This is the first time the words "drive" ever came out of our mouths! IDK if that is possible though... 20 hrs in the car vs. 2.5 on a plane...

I haven't seen $120.00-$130.00 airfare out of my airport in many years. Up until Southwest bought Air Tran and pulled Air Tran out of DFW a few years ago though, the normal airfare (just about any time you checked it), was around $220.00 for either AA or Air Tran. Going to WDW several times a year, I always had a trip in planning mode, so kept a constant eye on airfare and grabbed it when it dropped below $200.00 (usually $158.00-$188.00 r/t). Those days seem to be long gone.

Last July I was able to snag a $198.00 airfare for our Oct trip, but for the most part have had to pay $270.00-$290.00 for the last 18 months or so, so about a $100.00 increase per round trip ticket. In fact, I just bought airfare this week for both my upcoming Sept and Dec trips. I got AA for $270.00 for the Sept trip and $245.00 for our Dec trip. I wasn't real pleased with the times for the $270.00 fare, but it would have been over $300.00 more for the times I wanted. No way am I paying that much for airfare to MCO.

 

[momto3gr8boys]

I guess it really depends on when you travel. We are traveling from NY to MCO on 9/1 and returning on 9/10 (Sun to Mon) with good travel times and we paid $95/each way on Jetblue ($190 roundtrip), also as usual, no baggage fees and free snacks and drinks and each passenger has their own tv. We love Jetblue.

Yes it does! That same flight two weeks earlier is currently $500-$600!

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

Got non-stop flights from Providence to Orlando, 8/25-8/31, for $971 for four of us. This is on Southwest, so no baggage fees. And the times of day we wanted, too. Not great, but not terrible.

 

[kashzan]

Jet blue out of Laguardia has rt non stop to MCO for 295.00 for August travel

 

[simpilotswife]

Sadly not for my dates

 

[CaptainEO71]

I agree, I got our airfare for August back in January & it hasn't gone down at all. I check it every noe & then out of curiosity. Its the highest we ever paid for August travel!

 

[shyjade]

I took a chance a few months ago and bought our tickets through SW for our October trip, knowing I could adjust if fares dropped. Even with the 72 hour sale, flights are higher than what I paid ($600 total for 2 round-trip flights). One of the flights is even sold out already! Glad I took the chance and didn't wait for the 2-3 months before like I used to do. Airfare is ridiculous lately!

 

[focusondisney]

My DH didn't know which month he could get vacation: Sept or Dec. I usually book the airfare as soon as it comes out too (JetBlue or SW). I always keep checking even after booking & get credits when the flight price takes a temporary dip. I even got a JB credit about 10 days before our May vacation.

On June 6th, DH found out he can take vacation in Sept. We always book the early morning direct flight down & late afternoon/ evening direct flight back. I have been keeping an eye on those flights & they are running about $460 round trip each. Late Wed night I checked & the flight to Orlando dropped $50. Booked it!!

Return flight is still at $260 each, so I'm waiting a bit. I have made a dummy reservation just to check availability & there are still a good amount of seats left. So I hope they'll eventually drop it a bit.

It's too bad my DH prefers to take Sat- Sat trips. If we went Thurs- Thurs, it would be about $220 RT.

 

[MrsDoubtfire]

I was able to score what I feel are great RT tickets for our August vacation - traveling from PVD to MCO on Southwest = $190 each ticket , total of $760 for the 4 of us. I did this by planning ahead and booking our flights in two legs ... I booked the flight down last November, and once the rates were released for the return leg, I booked that day. I have seen the rates go up significantly since I purchased our tickets.

This strategy worked A LOT better than my last years plan of waiting until May/June to purchase our tickets. Last year we paid $300 per ticket RT (ouch).

 

[TaraPA]

I'm happy happy happy to post that I just booked our return flight on 8/14, MCO to ABE for $103! It had been between $181-$271 since January.