How far in advance can I make car rental reservations and buy airline tickets?

[mickeymousepuppy]

We have just placed a deposit on storytime kingdom - a bueatiful 6 BR house in Winsor Hills for 10/16/10 - 10/23/10. I've been waiting three years to be able to make this happen! I have tried to look into airline tickets and car rentals but have been told that the dates are too far out. Does anyone know when I can start looking for quotes and advise on the best car rental to go with? Thanx to anyone that can help!

 

[OhMari]

Hi welcome to the DIS Boards.
I am going to move you over to the Transportation board.
Some airlines can be booked about a year out, or 9-10 months.
Rental, probably 8 months out.
Start a pre-trip, and let us know some of your plans.
OhMari

 

[rwdavis2]

You;ll like Windsor Hills. We rented a townhouse there last year. Quite convenient to the parks and saves money.

I believe for the Major airlines they start booking about 330 days out from the target date. SW and Jet Blue have a smaller window.

We always rent cars from Dollar. Try the web site to see if they are booking that far out. Book it now and you can always cancel (no charge) and rebook if the prices go down. The prices are good and it's located inside the airport. Join their Dollar Express Club (it's free). By doing this they already have a lot of info they normally get at the counter: driver's license #, credit card, rental preferences. You then get a separate line at the counter which normally has no one in it and you get called next even if there were 20 other people in the regular line ahead of you.

BD

 

[seashoreCM]

Booking airfare at IPO does not assure the lowest price except perhaps for the really popular dates like Sunday after Thanksgiving.

The majority of airlines will not let you cancel and rebook typical econom with no penalty for the purpose of taking advantage of a lower fare.

If you see a lower rate with a different car rental company, I suggest booking that and then cancelling the first reservation. If you see a lower rate with the same rental company I suggest cancelling the first reservation and then booking a new one.

.

 

[JoeCathyAngelina]

We always go to WDW during New England School vacation week/Spring Break, this year 4/17-4/25/10. I always start looking to book at the 330 day window with the major carriers. If I'm not happy with the majors when they anounce their fares, I wait for the others, Airtran, Southwest, Jet Blue and other charter carriers to show their fares.
This year back in May when the fares became avilable we got lucky with Delta, non-stop, round trip from Boston $717 total for the 3 of us and a Cadillac waiting for us at the Airport, $293 for the week.
I don't know where you're flying from but your dates are off, off season, a slow time of the year in Florida and at Disney. You should have no problem booking discount fares and renting a car from the Airline at a discount rate.
You can start checking the fares on Kayak, Expedia and the other services as early as on November 15th to see what the fares will be when your fares become avilable.
Good Luck All,
Joe

 

[mickeymousepuppy]

Thank you for moving me and for the feedback. It took me a while to find this post again. This is quite the site! I thought I was the only person planning this far in advance, but clearly not! I am addicted to this forum! My husband thinks I'm crazy, but at least now I know I'm not alone!