Gone are the cheap airfare days of Airtran and SW.....

[Vickis3js]

I know one was the Springhill suites at exit 94 and the other one I can't remember. I think it might have been a Hampton. The Springhill suites was nice and clean and was in walking distance of a few restaurants. I plan on booking that one again.

 

[stitchlovestink]

I can remember getting a 39 dollar on Airtran once....for Jan. OMG like you said ......they are almost paying us to go to the happiest place on earth. LOL

I managed to snag $34 SW tickets each way back in July 07.
We leave June 8th and I still haven't bought my airfare. I was hoping to catch something in the $75 range or less.

 

[disfan07]

I wouldn't say that cheap airfare is completely gone.

We were able to get airfare for july 4th-july 10th from LAX to MCO for $315 RT.

My friend is coming out to LA from virginia in 3 weeks and just booked flights last night and got $289 RT.

For cross country I think those are still pretty reasonable even though this time last year I could get cross country for about $200 RT.

I think we all just came to expect too much in the way of cheap fares. It's like with disney....they started have the specials (room discounts, free dining, etc) when they needed to fill rooms and now everyone expects it to happen every year.
As I said to my mom when we started planning our july trip....the cheap (really cheap) fares were nice while it lasted, but now it's back to reality.

 

[cart-mom]

Trying to salvage a vacation for our family of 6. DH won't drive anymore - pinched nerve and I can't do the 95 drive. Since they haven't released FD yet we didn't book airfare b/c we won't get a refund and if no FD - NO WDW this year. Now airfare is crazy high. I don't expect to get the same $59 flight we got last year but c'mon - $367??? Where's the justice?

After reading this thread I looked into flying out of Allentown which is about an hour away. They have a flight out for $62 but leaves at 5:40pm(direct) and coming home would be $79 with a short layover, so around $1000 for all 6 (plus the cost of seats). Savings is huge but I don't know if I can convince DH that this is a good thing or not b/c FD is still up in the air. Can anyone help me?

 

[loveysbydesign]

Trying to salvage a vacation for our family of 6. DH won't drive anymore - pinched nerve and I can't do the 95 drive. Since they haven't released FD yet we didn't book airfare b/c we won't get a refund and if no FD - NO WDW this year. Now airfare is crazy high. I don't expect to get the same $59 flight we got last year but c'mon - $367??? Where's the justice?

After reading this thread I looked into flying out of Allentown which is about an hour away. They have a flight out for $62 but leaves at 5:40pm(direct) and coming home would be $79 with a short layover, so around $1000 for all 6 (plus the cost of seats). Savings is huge but I don't know if I can convince DH that this is a good thing or not b/c FD is still up in the air. Can anyone help me?

I'd drive an hour and have in the past. I live 15 minutes from LVIA in Allentown but in the past we've driven to Philly and Newark for great fares on SW and JetBlue. The great thing about LVIA is that it's a ghost town compared to the other airports! We get to fly out of LVIA this Nov...I can't wait!

You can check price on AT out of LVIA as we got $59 down and $97 back(the Mon. before T'giving so it's more) and right now Allegiant is at $19.99 and up for their flights out of LVIA.
Also wanted to add that isn't there supposed to be an announcement on Monday about special offered for the fall that may include FD???

 

[keishashadow]

op - ive never seen the $49 fares & thrilled when our pp rate is under $250or im able to convert CC usage/flight credits into a one way on AT. Im old enough to remember always paying over $300 pp back in days pre 9-11, guess it's all relative; but certainly more options for lower fares now

SWA at least gives glimmer of hope for lower rates/ding

i equate driving from PIT to FLA as pure heck, worth it to me to make portion of the difference in cost up somewhere else in the trip

 

[Anjelica]

St. Louis here - our choices of non-stop flights to Orlando has dropped quite considerably with the exception of SW. However, I have found around low-mid peak travel dates SW is still VERY WELL priced in our area. We leave Saturday for a week trip and I got, with taxes, etc. - roundtrip for each of us to the tune of 16x.xx. For us - anything less than $250.00 round trip is a GREAT price.

I just bought our one way tickets for our October trip (return fligh on the 31st isn't available yet) but with taxes I got them for around 91.xx - still a VERY good deal.

 

[Manda]

Im old enough to remember always paying over $300 pp back in days pre 9-11, guess it's all relative; but certainly more options for lower fares now

Yep. Our first trip (as adults) was October 2000. I managed to pay right at $200 RT PP and that was absolutely fantastic at the time! I think I've only paid more than that once since then and that was by choice - I could have had a cheaper flight, but timing was more important than price.

We had $59 fares in December 05 and January 08 (from MDW). I think I paid $129 one-way for our flight back in August 08. Other than that, I've managed to always get less than $100 each way to MCO. Usually in the $70s. I don't think that's bad. Summer is tougher - I consider it a win to get anything less than $100 (since I'm not really able to be flexible with travel dates anymore). We've got this June for $169RT and August for $199RT though and (taxes, etc., inclusive), and I'm good with that. Basically, I'm paying now the same or less than I paid 10 years ago... that doesn't seem too shabby.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

Back in December, I booked Jet Blue out of Boston for our July trip for $89 each way.

Around two weeks ago, I booked SW out of Manchester for our May trip for $59 each way.

There are deals, just not as many as in the past.

 

[alwaysmom]

I got SW June 29 - July 7 Buffalo to Orlando $69 each way, direct flight.

 

[skiingfast]

I remember seeing fares for $35. When it was 1985. I also remember that gas was at one time around a dollar. Airfare is related to oil cost and so is gasoline. Let see a couple years ago I could find it for $2 and now it is $3 So airfare should be up 50% as well.

 

[My 2 princesses]

I got SW June 29 - July 7 Buffalo to Orlando $69 each way, direct flight.

wow, great price. I just checked your dates and they are nwo 89. I am hoping for a deal early July.

 

[5boyz]

I got SW June 29 - July 7 Buffalo to Orlando $69 each way, direct flight.

Woo Hoo I am watching every day (20 times a day lol) for my flights from Buffalo to go down. They are at $109 ea way for July 23-Aug 6. Keeping my fingers crossed that they will go down to at least $89. ea way...... Considering driving...

 

[emmabelle]

Maybe three summers ago, I got $49 each way, Manchester, NH to MCO for July. That was so awesome! Now, I'm glad that I at least snagged $109 each way for July. It was only available for like 2 days, and luckily I got it, since it's been holding steady at $154! ughhh.....

 

[Missytara]

Yippee!

I got online super early this morning and snagged my airfare on Airtran for the Saturday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 27th) for the following Saturday (Dec. 5th). Same flights I get every year. It pays to be patient.

From BWI to MCO, non-stop both ways; early morning flight going down at $99.00 and early evening flight coming back at $59.00 - I snapped it up!

I'm going to Disney World!

Well, not yet..... but in seven months!