Help! Thinking of Flying Family for !st Time This Fall!

[katybugsmom]

Happy New Year everyone! Our family is planning on going back to WDW the week before Thanksgving this coming year! This will be our 3rd visit in 3 years! The last two visits have been in June and I'm tired of going when it's hot and crowded!!!!! We are thinking of flying due to my continued back issues and lack of time-both my husband and I work for a local school district and can't afford to take much time off. Our DD10(soon to be 11) will be in middle school and we know she will miss a lot if we take too much time. Our DS will be in 5K. We live in SC and it's been 20 years since I've flown and my husband and children have never had the experience of flying. I want to get the best deal possible, but I'm not sure where to start! Any advice you can give me would be a tremendous help-tips on getting the best fare, packing, arrival pros and cons, etc!!!! Thanks so much for your help in advance! Best wishes to you all during the new year!!!!!

 

[backyardponder]

Where would you be leaving from? I'm sure folks from SC can help you out if they know your starting point.

In looking at airfare, I'd first try a search engine like www.orbitz.com.

Good Luck!

 

[SmileWoman]

www.kayak.com is another good site for research.

Also check to see if discount airlines fly out of your area....I use Southwest all the time, my cousin has used Allegiant, I have friends that have used Airtran.

 

[Missytara]

I fly Airtran all the time, because it offers the only non-stop flights from BWI, other than SWA. I would rather use Airtran, since I can pick my seat, and I can use RAC.

I noticed when I started looking at airfare, I checked it several times a week. It appeared as though starting late on Thursdays until Monday mornings, the fares were at their highest. I believe that is because families are all home and planning their trips. By Tuesday mornings, the fare would drop down through Thursday mornings, then it would start going back up again.

It seemed a bit cheaper very early in the morning, would go up a bit around noontime, when people would normally take a break and book flights, go down a bit in the afternoon and go back up again around the end of the day.

So I booked mine at about 6:00 am on Wednesday morning and got the lowest airfare. I called my two friends, who were traveling with me and by the time they got on around dinnertime, the fare was about $30.00 more, but still much lower than it was on the website over the weekend.

Good luck!