How Are You Getting There?

[My 2 princesses]

So, we have determined that a number of Canucks are heading to WDW in September. How are you getting there? For those flying out, have you booked your tickets yet?

Can you tell I need a kick in the pants as I have not booked my flight tickets as yet and I am now scared to enter the Transportation forum. I however take consolation by saying that even if the American Airlines raise their rates, it would still be cheaper to fly out of the US than Pearson.

So, who are you flying with?? Anyone booked with Spirt and now wondering what's going to happen? Should we take insurance? Seems like the thing to do given the circumstances.

 

[CdnDisneyNut]

Flying out of Buffalo with Jetblue

The prices have gone up $70 since booking.

 

[mkmommy]

I booked with Spirit, if they go under before we go, no big deal as we were not going to go until I got the Spirit sale, $302 DTW to MCO return for 3 was too good to pass. I have insurance with my credit card and also room only reservation so not too much of loss if we cancel last minute. If we get stuck down there I have a one way rental booked as a back up plan.so I think we would be ok.

 

[esdras]

We booked in late April (22nd or so) using NWA out of Detroit.

Got two tickets at $159 rt and two at $189 rt - direct non-stop.

Flight times are (approximately) 1:35 pm arrive 4:15 pm DTW to MCO and 3:35 pm arrive 6:10 pm MCO to DTW.

The flight dates are August 25th and September 2nd.

Total cost (all taxes, fees, etc.) booked on NWA's Canadian site (so in Canadian dollars) was about $702.

That worked out to $175 (CDN) per person rt. And considering we booked at the end of April, there are no other fees for seat selection, or luggage (only one checked bag per person was already in place with NWA).

I know some have managed to get cheaper flights on AirTran and Spirit - but with the additional fees on those airlines, I don't think we could save more than $150. Additionally, a lot of the REALLY cheap fares on Spirit and AirTran weren't direct non-stop, or had flight times that didn't work for us.

Basically, when we booked this trip, I was prepared to pay up to $800 (CDN) for airfare, but was hoping to get something around the $600 range. I was happy to get something right in the middle.

ETA - okay, not to freak the OP out, but I just priced out the exact same flight on NWA's website. Now, it should be pointed out that it's likely that most of the "sale" seats on that flight have already been booked, but I was a little surprised just how much the cost jumped - $1150 (CDN). It's gone up by about $110 per person!

That's just nasty.

 

[pxlbarrel]

I booked mid-May to fly out of Buffalo with Southwest. I wanted to fly out of Toronto but the prices are just so prohibitive. Flying out of Buffalo is very enticing.

If anybody is flying out on September 5th from Buffalo on Southwest on the early non-stop flight 7:45 am... you'll see us. My friend is the nervous flyer so you may not want to sit near us.

 

[kelsco99]

We booked for September 20th -29th the day Southwest opened up their booking window.

Total cost for 5 - $997.00 - I'm happy with this but I will watch for DINGS in the coming weeks/months...
It's been slowly on the rise since then and I just checked and it's up to $1295

 

[My 2 princesses]

We booked for September 20th -29th the day Southwest opened up their booking window.

Total cost for 5 - $997.00 - I'm happy with this but I will watch for DINGS in the coming weeks/months...
It's been slowly on the rise since then and I just checked and it's up to $1295

I priced out ours y/day and it was 777 for 3 of us. Now if we were to get a good rate on a DING before we leave, are we too book the tickets through DING and then call in to SWA and ask them to release the funds?? This is what I understood while talking to their CS, but want to make sure that's what I need to do. Plus, I am reading on here that they are very reliable, is that so??

Also, what about using different airlines each way? Any advantage to that (other than saving a few bucks).

Yes, I am starting to panic and may just book today or tomorrow.

 

[yensidtlaw]

We're flying out of Buffalo on Southwest on September 28th. Booked flights the day they were released using a Ding. They have gone up considerably since then.

 

[michelle1]

We are going on an adult only 4 day trip...Sept 10-14. I just booked within the last month and got $160 return out of Buffalo and non stop both ways. I had a Ding for my flight down to MCO if you want to call $84 a Ding!

 

[Diamondintheruff]

Also, what about using different airlines each way? Any advantage to that (other than saving a few bucks).

Definately look into flying different airlines there and back. Saving a buck is the real advantage. Us Canadians are used to having outrageous one way ticket prices. So we have become conditioned to fly the same airline round trip.

 

[Reese]

Flying out of Buffalo. We usually fly Southwest but switched to Jetblue for this flight. I love flying out of Buffalo, the airport is not too big. We had to change our dates just a little to get $99 one way for both there and home.

 

[kelsco99]

I priced out ours y/day and it was 777 for 3 of us. Now if we were to get a good rate on a DING before we leave, are we too book the tickets through DING and then call in to SWA and ask them to release the funds?? This is what I understood while talking to their CS, but want to make sure that's what I need to do. Plus, I am reading on here that they are very reliable, is that so??

Also, what about using different airlines each way? Any advantage to that (other than saving a few bucks).

Yes, I am starting to panic and may just book today or tomorrow.

If you have your flights booked through Southwest and then a DING comes through, you have a couple options. Get set up to book the DING flights and when it comes down to payment, have another window open and cancel the original flights or call SW and have customer service cancel them. You can only book the DING online though so there is a small risk between cancelling and then booking but I've never lost a flight.

I would use different airlines either way if it meant I saved money. It wouldn't really make any difference for my flying experience. I do tend to stick with SW though as they are usually the cheapest, the easiest to deal with (full credit on cancellations) and I can rack of the rapid rewards for free flights. I've never been delayed or had my flight time changed w/ SW.

 

[squirrel]

Flying out of Seatle, using AirTran. I think it was about $275 Canadian round-trip per person. We booked one way, with the $25 off code for Mother's Day (per person, each way). That price includes the flight insurance-not seat selections.

 

[2meezers]

We are flying out of Buffalo with SW.....staying the night before at a hotel in Buffalo that offers Park & fly. They keep our car for the 2 weeks and shuttle us back and forth between teh airport.

Absolutely no comparision to flying out of Pearson.

 

[Hoogy]

We will be flying out of Buffalo (Sept 10 - 20). I booked Southwest when they opened their fares and it was just over $1000 for 5 round trip tickets. I had to book it in three bookings b/c the price for the time I wanted kept going up as the fares sold out. So I got one at the lowest, 3 at the next price (few dollars more) and the last ticket was a few dollars more again. Last time I checked the flights were now $119 (or more) each way so it has gone up a few hundred.

 

[F4disneyfan]

Not Sept but Oct for us and we are driving as is our usual mode of transport to the World and the only one that saves us money and the kids absolutley love mind you so does the wife and I enjoy it also. There truly is no better way to travel to the World then driving.

 

[fnkyyellow]

We are flying out of Buffalo with JetBlue on September 28th. I just checked and the ticket prices are the same. There were a few cheaper flights then the one's that I booked, but the times I booked were better for us.

 

[TraceyDisney2008]

I booked through west jet and am flying out of Pearson...cost was included in my package so I am sure I paid alot more than most....$2700.00 for three with 7 day hopper plus, 7 nights at pop, free dining and flight. I don't know if this was a great deal or not but it was cheaper than what I paid in 2005 and we didn't get free dining.

 

[mommylo]

We are flying Southwest for our July trip at $220/person. We also booked our December trip but with JetBlue @$400/person, still much much cheaper than flying out of Pearson which would easily cost us double that. Not doing Park n' Fly for July but doing that for December.

 

[esdras]

I booked through west jet and am flying out of Pearson...cost was included in my package so I am sure I paid alot more than most....$2700.00 for three with 7 day hopper plus, 7 nights at pop, free dining and flight. I don't know if this was a great deal or not but it was cheaper than what I paid in 2005 and we didn't get free dining.

I think you got a little bit hosed in terms of airfare - but that's in comparison to U.S. costs. In terms of Canadian flights out of Canada, I think you did reasonably well.

I can't tell from your post whether you are in a Std. or Pref. room at Pop, and when you say Hopper "plus" - I don't know if you meant PLUS Water Parks.

Anyway, your package without airfare would run somewhere between $1500 and $1750 (or so) - meaning that your flight costs are running somewhere between $333 and $400 per person return. Out of Pearson, that's actually not bad.