How I saved hundreds on airfare. LONG! Sorry!

[TammyAlphabet]

I am a new member and have been contemplating my first trip in August. Because both my son and daughter are a little scared of flying, I always book nonstop flights and as a personal choice, I like AA vs. Southwest, because of the assigned seating on AA. I don't want to worry about whether my seven year old nervous flier will be sitting next to me or not without a big fuss. Anyhow, I fly out of St. Louis and finding cheap flights this last couple of months has proven to be more of a problem than last year and I was getting prepared to think we were going to have to drive. UGH!!!!!!

I have finalized reservations at the BCV in a studio for August for six nights arriving on a Sunday. On expedia, I was checking the prices for flights leaving on Saturday, the day before my check-in at BCV, including one night of hotel. I was astounded in the difference between this package with one night of hotel vs. just flights alone. Flights alone were over 300 nonstop each and the package with one night of hotel (AKL) was $869 for four people and we get to stay a night at the AKL!!!! It would have been over 1200 for four people just to fly so I saved over 300 dollars.

I thought about posting this on the transportation board and maybe it will be moved there, but I thought it was appropriate for DVC because many members arrive the day before check-in to get to their rooms early. I just clicked on the tab for the vacation packages and put in the dates for arrival and departure and then checked the box marked "I only need hotel for part of my stay" Then I put the dates for check -in and check -out before my DVC stay and let it do a search.

Sometimes when you do this, disney resorts won't show up as possibilities because expedia used to require a three night stay at disney to book a package. However, if this happens, just fib a little and put any three nights of your stay for the hotel part and then do a search. After the search, choose to look at the choices for WDW resorts, then on the left hand side of the page, carefully change the modification box for the dates of check in and check out to the dates you REALLY want to stay in a disney resort before your check-in at the DVC, and voila, it will let you book a one-night stay at a disney resort prior to the DVC part of the stay AND get the package price for the air.

I hope this helps someone else, especially if flying out of St. Louis. I don't know if this will work in any other market. But, I am excited about the AKL and BCV.....

 

[MOM POPPINS]

Hi Can you tell me how you selected one night for your lodging. When I try it I have to pick the dates for flights and that means my lodging would be during the time of our selected dates of our flights? Any help

 

[TammyAlphabet]

I think it will only work on expedia, after you enter the dates for the flights there is a little check box that you can check that will say something like I only need a hotel for part of my stay. When you check that, it will pop up a box that will allow you to enter different dates for the check in and check out for the hotel days needed, which can be different than the dates of the flights. If you only enter one night of hotel on the first round, it may not give you the choice of staying at a wdw resort. If you enter 3 nights at first and then modify after selecting the WDW resort option on the second page, you can then modify the dates of the check in and check out of the hotel to only one or two nights and still get the flight discount and also the WDW resort hotel of your choice.

We entered departing 8/13/2005 and returning 8/20/2005. I checked the little box for the differing hotel stay, and entered 8/13/2005-8/16/2005. Now, this was a fib. I have the BCV booked for 8/14/2005-8/20/2005. but I needed to do this because I want expedia to give me the option of a wdw resort when I send the search through expedia. Now, when the search is completed, I chose the link in the first box displayed for choices of WDW resorts. After it gives me the choices, i then looked to the left to the summary box of my selections so far with respect to dates and modify the dates for the hotel to 8/13/2005-8/14/2005, one night of hotel on the day before I am checking in the BCV on the 8/14/2005. Then I was able to get the AKL for one night along with my flights. I hope this helps, if not, send me a pm with your phone number and I will give you a call and walk you through it. Good luck!!!

 

[GCM13]

I haven't checked this out, so maybe it would be more, but check out the package online directly through Disney. It may be less complicated. I just booked a package for my brother and you can book less nights at a resort than the length of your stay. What I mean is the trip is 6 nights, but only 5 nights at a resort (hope that made sense). This isn't what he ended up booking, but it let me do it up until I actually confirmed the reservation. It also turned out that it was cheaper to book airfare with the package than to buy it separately. He's flying out of Detroit during Easter week.