How to Save on Flights?

[theworldneedscolor]

We aren't going on our trip for another year and a half, but I'm starting to look at the costs, and the flights are killer. We are a family of four from Oregon, and it is going to cost us anywhere from 1200-1500 just to fly out there

How do you guys save on flights? Any tips for us?

 

[emilyindisney]

I just recently read a trip report where the DISer said he found cheaper flights by flying into Tampa instead of Orlando, and then driving to WDW. I don't know that its a sure fire way to save, seeing as flights vary, but it might be worth checking out Tampa and Daytona with a car rental.

 

[mountdew1]

Check flights out of other nearby airports if possible. Try to shift your plans by a few days. Stuff like that can make a huge difference.

 

[wdwlovin'family]

I just recently read a trip report where the DISer said he found cheaper flights by flying into Tampa instead of Orlando, and then driving to WDW. I don't know that its a sure fire way to save, seeing as flights vary, but it might be worth checking out Tampa and Daytona with a car rental.

Before you do this, check out the car rental cost. Last year, we did find some very inexpensive tickets ($700 for a family of four from WI to Tampa) but the car rental cost almost offset the savings. It was over $400 for a rental and that was a small car. This was over Christmas week though, so maybe it's cheaper other times of they year.

 

[Lintasare]

We aren't going on our trip for another year and a half, but I'm starting to look at the costs, and the flights are killer. We are a family of four from Oregon, and it is going to cost us anywhere from 1200-1500 just to fly out there

How do you guys save on flights? Any tips for us?

1200 - 1500 if that is per person I agree that is killer. But if that is total round trip for 4 people that is actually pretty dang good. That comes to between 300 - 400 per person round trip.

I fly out of Albuquerque and if we can get round trip under 400 we consider that a deal.

 

[scbelleatheart]

Try smartertavel dot com. Plug in your closest airports. Don't even choose a destination. Weekly email on where you can fly to cheap. Especially if your a so far out date wise.
I use it to rack up some miles to put me into a higher tier, also known as a milage run.
if all you plan is one vacation a year, this is probably no help.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Who knows what will happen 1 1/2 years from now? Airline schedules won't be released for this time period for a long, long time and no one can predict airline prices that far in the future. Actually $1,200 for RT tickets for a family of 4 from Oregon to Florida isn't unreasonable.

 

[ScrampShopper]

I think those prices are pretty average. It is costing $1258 for 3 tickets for my Disney dates from Houston. These prices have been the same for many months so I'm not expecting for a better deal to come along before my trip in less than 2 months.

 

[shoney]

check sites like www.kayak.com

Think about flying on Wednesdays...I find them to be cheaper.

Book one way tix on different airlines.

 

[taaren]

Fly midweek, and think about using a mileage credit card, if you can manage CC's okay. There are some good cards that have free companion fares ... we have the Alaska Platinum card, which gives us a $99 companion fare, though many of the Legacy carriers have them that work anywhere in the Continental U.S. (we got Alaska because its the only one that works to Hawaii).
Also we have and use the Southwest credit card that gives the 50K miles for signing up (and now spending the initial $2K), which was enough for us to get 3 of us from the West coast to MCO, then one of us back ... but we keep the card and tend to do travel purchases on it so we also keep building the miles.

 

[theworldneedscolor]

Thanks for the advice, everyone! We had thought about a Southwest CC, but we want to pay off all our current debt before considering that. We will just have to keep our eyes out for good fares.

I guess in comparison to other's it isn't too expensive, but we hardly ever fly, so it is shocking to us!

 

[wagnergirls]

we are also looking for deals on flights. so far, the cheapest i've seen is with delta, directly from their website. even though air fare will be about 900-1000 for 4 of us, at least the delta flights also non-stop.