Great airfares--gone forever?

[Fargoman2]

So...have been checking MSP to MCO for several weeks and I am increasingly convinced that the truly great deals/steals from the Midwest are gone forever. Yes, I understand that airlines are scheduling fewer flights and thus are better able to fill their seats.

I know that we are still a long way out from August, but my fear is there will be no real deals and, in fact, fares may go up as we get closer. Right now, about the best I can do is between $250 and $277. I'd like to think we could still do something for around $210, which would be a nice savings for a family of five.

Any MSP trend experts out there with any counsel for me?

Thanks!

 

[JB2K]

So...have been checking MSP to MCO for several weeks and I am increasingly convinced that the truly great deals/steals from the Midwest are gone forever. Yes, I understand that airlines are scheduling fewer flights and thus are better able to fill their seats.

I know that we are still a long way out from August, but my fear is there will be no real deals and, in fact, fares may go up as we get closer. Right now, about the best I can do is between $250 and $277. I'd like to think we could still do something for around $210, which would be a nice savings for a family of five.

Any MSP trend experts out there with any counsel for me?

Thanks!

As MSP goes, it would stand to reason that since Northwest Airlines was recently folded into Delta, it basically eliminated a competitor.

Have you checked Southwest? I understand they are flying to MSP, these days...

 

[eliza61]

Unfortunately predicting airfares is almost as easy as predicting the stock market. which is to say next to impossible.

My personal feeling is that we may not see as many good deals around. My thinking comes from.

1) Airlines lost a ton of cash from those 5 days of being grounded. If you use a carrier that serviced Europe they may be trying to make up for those losses. JB2K gave you the best suggestion, if you can catch a SW flight you may catch a deal.

2) I know it doesn't feel like the recession is over but folks are slowly loosening the purse strings. General public has been shopping and planning vacations so not as much need to entice us to fly like last summer.

3) crude oil is going up which means fuel is going up. always does in the summer when demand is higher

These are my totally unscientific meanderings.

 

[2littleprincesses]

Fargoman--We are in the same situation as you--coming from MN. We have a trip booked, but if FD is offered, we are switching to a Wednesday to Wednesday to help with airfare. We don't have airfare booked because the flights have been the prices you quoted. Luckily, we could do a Wed-Wed because I don't work in the summer. If there is no FD, I don't know what we will do--it will be $$$ I think it is cheaper to do a Tuesday or Wednesday flights. Good luck!!!

 

[mic&min]

I agree that the prices are higher now.

The last couple flights we flew out of MSP have ranged from $270 to $320. I can't believe that I feel like $300 is an ok price.

Even Sun Country has been pretty high. I have been checking flights for Feb 2011 and they are $340.

I sure hope they go down soon.

Mary

 

[Disney_Ohana]

For me, we're flying from Honolulu. If I book 9 months out we don't save money. It used to be the case where we book earlier the better. Not so much any more. We save money the past 2 trips by booking last minute.

For Feb 2011 airfare is roughly $889 per person. If I wait until Christmas time it'll probably come down to $600, if I'm lucky $580 Saves me over $1000

 

[mom of 3G's]

Fargoman -- Have you ever thought about flying Allegiant? We have flown Allegiant from Fargo to Sanford twice and we loved it. They do offer some deals and I find them to be about 3 months prior to when you want to fly. Last Dec. we got tickets for $69.99 one way (plus a few extra fees tacked on, but we did carry on so didn't have a baggage fee). How much cheaper is it to fly from MSP compared to Fargo with Delta?

 

[Maddie2]

We are in SD and have flown Allegiant as well. If you watch it closely, you can still get deals, but you have to factor in either renting a car or hiring a car service to get you to/from Sanford. That being said, that direct flight without any layovers IS pretty nice!

Other than Allegiant, rates out of FSD are terrible. We often drive an extra 3 hours to fly out of Omaha - with 4 people, it has been worth it.

 

[skatingmom]

I agree that fares have been higher than normal. We plan to go in October and typically fly out of Grand Forks. Delta is about $600-$700 pp right now. Sure hoping they go down some anyway!

 

[decaff38]

I was going to mention Aligent too. Great prices usually. We flew on Air Tran and got great prices a few years ago. Suncountry sometimes are good , but many less deals than before. Check Travelocity , orbitz, and Hotwire and Priceline. I have some times called a travel agent and gotten good prices. Best of luck to you!!

 

[Fargoman2]

Thanks for the great replies everyone.

Yes, I do monitor Allegiant. We took it out of Sioux Falls before they started offering it here. But right now, they want 159 each way for our dates + you have the whole Sanford hassle.

Have been checking Southwest--nothing great there, either...ok but not great...

I'm going to keep playing the market and hoping I guess...

Let me know if you find any deals and I'll do the same.

Thanks!

 

[jjj444]

About 2 months away from out trip we found airfare from Detroit for $112 a person. I really think we got lucky and where on the the website at the right time because I told my friends about it and she looked the next day and they were gone. I think you have to keep searching daily and be flexible with your times. We are taking an evening flight so we added a day on to the beginning of our trip. Good luck.

 

[mom of 3G's]

Yes, I do monitor Allegiant. We took it out of Sioux Falls before they started offering it here. But right now, they want 159 each way for our dates + you have the whole Sanford hassle.

Thanks!

What are your dates? Allegiant must be going to use the same schedule as last year when they temporarily suspended flights to Sanford halfways throught August and all of Sept. They started up again in October with a different schedule. I also think that $159 one way is too expensive -- in my eyes they have to be $120 or less for me to fly with them. Ideally $80

 

[fortheluvofpooh]

we got our airfare for Sept, for the 5 of us for $812.00 flying airtran. hth.

 

[LynnTH]

I think $250 Per Person is a great deal from MSP. I can't seem to get anything under $300 anymore from here. We just got back from a cruise last month (flew into MCO) I booked the airfare last fall. I should have booked when it was $300 but ended up paying $400 per person and after I booked airfare skyrocketed to over $500 per person.

I miss the $200 days. But, I think those are long gone.

 

[elgerber]

I have always thought anything under $300 out of MSP is a deal. I have rarely ever gotten great deals for the times I fly. That said, I booked late August on Delta months ago, for $188 per person. That was a steal in my book out of MSP. Delta comes and goes with their rates. Sun Country only seems to go up once their fares come out. I have had decent luck with Air Tran before.

 

[MN Disneyfan]

We booked MSP To MCO for September for Saturday to Saturday flights, which tend to be more expensive, for $239/person on Sun Country. We booked the flights through Disney when we booked our package. Disney told us they sometimes get deals with flights. For the dates we are going I've never seen it less then $319/person for Delta and Sun Country so I feel we really got a good deal booking through Disney.

 

[AmongMadPeople]

Though I fly out of Indianapolis, I can completely commiserate. We just bought October fares for double what we could in the past. I'd been watching the fares for a few weeks, and they just kept going up and up. Only two airlines fly direct out of IND, and they were both raising their nonstop prices in concert.

Every time prices went up, I thought, just wait, and they'll come back down. Instead, they kept going up. I just hope we didn't buy at their peak.

 

[AlexTina]

It seems as though the fares are on a very rapid rise right now. We fly to MCO from New Mexico, in the past I never paid more than $150 pp roundtrip and they always had 2 nonstop flights a day to orlando which is extremely important with 3 kids. It cuts about 3 hours off of travel time. Now they only offer 1 nonstop flight. This time I settled for $300 pp roundtrip, I bought our tickets about 3 weeks ago for our June trip, since then the price has gone up to $550 pp roundtrip that's big bucks for a family of 5. I am so glad I decided to pull the trigger when I did.

Tina

 

[crisi]

I have always thought anything under $300 out of MSP is a deal. I have rarely ever gotten great deals for the times I fly. That said, I booked late August on Delta months ago, for $188 per person. That was a steal in my book out of MSP. Delta comes and goes with their rates. Sun Country only seems to go up once their fares come out. I have had decent luck with Air Tran before.

Agree, we've been flying MSP to MCO for years and budget $300 pp. Sometimes its a little more than that.