I am SOOO angry about airfare!!!

[stephcm]

Is anyone else as livid as I am at how the airlines really stick it to us for school vacation flights?????? I am trying to get a flight out of Boston to either Ft. Lauderdale or Orlando on April 17th of next year - the Thursday before Good Friday, and the start of our spring vacation. I am a teacher and my boys are both in high school so we can't leave before Thursday afternoon.
Fares became availabe at midnight last night for this flight. Delta is charging $350 ONE WAY for flights after noon on this date to Orlando - before noon they are $109!!!!!!!!I find this so frustrating and so unfair. I checked for flights from Ft. Lauderdale, and one seat is available at $122, but for 2 or more seats it is $250! Delta Customer Care tried to tell me that all the "cheap" fares have already been sold, but guess what? I checked the seating charts and there are NO seats sold on the Ft. Lauderdale flights after 3 pm which tells me there were NO seats released at the $122 fare.
I guess my only hope is Southwest when fares become available. Has anyone from my area flown on Southwest for Easter week or April vacation? How much were fares? They seem to be the only "fair" airline left at this point...
Sorry to vent. Thanks for listening.

 

[idontknow]

I posted last week or so about if Delta is wanting to go out of business because of their high fares. I was trying to jinx myself, if you know what I mean. (it didn't work) We are flying this Sept and there have been some descent flights on SW and another airline, but Delta wants $90 more!!! We have vouchers and I really want to use them, but with Delta being so high, it would be cheaper to go with another airline. If all else fails, we will drive. We've done it before...........

 

[ducklite]

First, give it a little time and just keep checking back. Seldom are the very best rate a year out, it's usually more like seven to nine months out.

Second, regretfully it's suply and demand. The only reason they discount airfares is taht they have empty seats.

If you have a product everyone wants, of course you can charge more for it. If you have a product no one wants, you'll give it away below cost to recoup whatever you can.

Airlines are not charities. They have a bottom line and shareholders. Regretfully most are operating at huge losses right now. Your $350 seat probably just about covers the cost of flying you BOS to MCO. The guy who gets the seat for $175 is paying much below cost for it. It used to be taht the business traveler made up the difference, in effect helping to subsidize leisure travel. With the huge cut backs in business travel, the airlines are raising the bar on all seats, as they have to at least try to make the nut on the seats they sell.

Try being creative. Look at the fares into TPA and PBI from BOS. Check out fares from BDL or Green rather than BOS. Change your travel times to an earlier or later flight. THe more flexible you can be, the more you'll save.

Anne

 

[denisenh]

I think that I understood you post....I checked travelocity BOS to MCO and they seem to have RT flights for $172 or so on various airlines. I had to enter April 17th as a depart and return date because thats as far as the schedule went but still it came back at $172. RT on AA. You have plenty of time to get your plans squared away.

 

[pathubia]

We flew from Boston to MCO this past April 4 - 7 round trip for $150, non stop on American, I think we booked in in mid January. I usuallly like to book far in advance, but we didnt plan the April trip till we got home from our Jan trip.

Patty

 

[DebbieB]

I checked flights for our December trip when they first came out in January and they were over $300 roundtrip (USAirways). They are now $183. For our trip 2 weeks ago, the flights I wanted were around $750 per ticket for the longest time, then one night in February they dropped to $183 and I bought them. I think they put them out at a high price to see if they will sell and then drop them when it gets closer to the date and they still have empty seats. I'm surprised they have one way fares that low, usually one ways are half of the full fare (not discounted fares).

 

[dbkelly]

I am doing the same as you! I would not wait if you want to go on Delta. Delta will just get worse by the hour during school vacation/Easter. Although, we are leaving on the 18th. I got a one way fare of $109.50 for the 9:00 am flight at midnight last night. I originally called Delta to just book the frequent flyer tickets and I was going to wait to book the cash tickets. However, the agent told me that I was taking a big chance waiting for the return flight. I told her that I have been seeing $189 R.T. from Delta for the week before. She said that I would be better off paying for 2 one way tickets of $109.50 then trying to get the $189 rate. She thought I was crazy to risk it all for $30 per ticket. Needless to say, I am holding the one way tickets until midnight tonight. I am trying to decide if I should book the tickets or take my chance and try to save $90 in total. I checked the one way tickets and the price is up to $368.50 this morning! I am just wondering if the price is so high, because everyone is booking the one way ticket. I wonder if they have a separate inventory for the round trip tickets which means at midnight on May 28th, the $189 fare will be available. Does anyone know the answer to my question?

D.B. Kelly

 

[seashoreCM]

>>> one seat is available at $122, but for 2 or more seats it is $250!

It is quite common when you book two seats at the same time, you pay a higher fare for both if there is one seat available at the lower price tier.

Solution: Buy the tickets one at a time and get at least one of them cheaper.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[ncligs]

DebbieB is right, we started looking for Presidents Week (Feb 2003) at 11 months out. We wanted direct non-stop out of Pittsburgh-Orlando. We were leaving on Friday(Feb 14) and returning on Thursday (20th). Checking Orbitz,Travelocity,Airline sites,etc..the best we could do for direct was $350 non-stop, but I kept checking every day on the net , then late April US AIR, dropped there rate to $245 for direct non-stop to Orlando . We got the early flight out at 9:30 am and on the return leaving Orlando late afternoon . So for a "Holiday weekend" that price ($245) for direct, good times,etc, was to good to pass up!!!!
Now all we have to do is hope US AIR stays in business , so we can use the tickets!!!!!!!!

 

[Poly Pal]

Wow, the Delta non-stops booked up fast out of BOS! As of last Friday (2 days ago) you could still get to MCO on Delta on the afternoon of April 17, 2003 for $97 per person ONE WAY if you flew through Atlanta or Cincinnati. (I'd choose CVG because it is a nice manageable connection.)

Unfortunately, those low fares are gone this morning for April 17th, although I did see one Delta schedule through ATL for under $200 ONE WAY.

If it is any consolation, for our trip next April this will be the most expensive airfare I've booked to Florida in 15 years of traveling to WDW. So much for the airlines having trouble filling their planes and offering great deals! (Actually it is a very tough week to get any bargains since the whole world wats to go to Florida for Spring Vacation!)

Hope you can still snag a deal! Have a great time!

 

[stephcm]

I have still not booked my flights for next April. The one way fare for Boston to Orlando is still $270 - $350 and I refuse to pay that. It looks like a lot of people feel the same way as I do, because, according to the seating charts, there are still PLENTY of seats available on non-stop flights out of Boston to MCO.
I am also waiting on flights to Ft. Lauderdale. They are still $270 one way, and there are only 2 seats sold on that flight.
As long as I keep checking and there are plenty of seats, I am not booking. I may even end up with Southwest out of Providence or Manchester.
I still don't even have a flight home from Orlando in February! Those, too are $270, one way.
The thing that kills me about that is that I was on the phone at midnight the night the flight down to MCO became available and I got a fare of $109. I did the SAME thing for the flight home, and the fare was $269.50! Tell me they don't do that on purpose - get you down there and then screw you for the flight home that they know you have to take!!! Well, I'll show them! I won't COME home!!!
I'll just stay until the end of April vacation!!!!! (yeah, right!)
Thanks again for listening...

 

[DebbieB]

Have you tried Tampa? Fort Lauderdale is over 200 miles from Orlando, about a 4 hour drive. Tampa is about 75 miles.

I don't know about Delta, but my experience with USAIR is that you are much better off booking roundtrips than trying to matchup one-ways.

 

[Poly Pal]

I don't know StephCM. I've NEVER had fares come down for President's Week or April Vacation Week. Also, just because you can see seats on the seating chart just means they have not been assigned, not that they are available to be purchased (I learned that the hard way!)

After I booked BDL to MCO on Delta for next April 16th, I checked Sabre On-Line (at work). It advised that seats at the discounted fare that my Company has a contract for were already "limited availability" for the same flight and the flight looked wide open.

Good luck to you. I'll be one of those staying up until midnight later this week to book the return. Have you considered a connection since your kids are older? The fares are still lower than the non-stops.

 

[stephcm]

I just can't bring myself to paying those fares to go to Florida. We are fortunate enough that we go 2 times a year (we are DVC members and I am a CM) but I can't see paying over $500 for one ticket when the most I have ever paid is $250. I will keep checking, and if they don't come down, I will hope for the best with Southwest. I really believe that if people start refusing to book at these fares, they will have to come down.
Like I have probably said 100,000,000 times, I wouldn't be so upset if I hadn't been on the phone at midnight to get the "cheaper" fares.
Just because it is Easter week and school vacation, they sock it to everyone. Well, I, for one, will not pay those prices. Worse case, I will get a connecting flight, or just not go.

 

[stephcm]

See, Poly Pal, I HAVE had fares come down.
Last year I did the "right" thing and was on the phone at midnight the night the fare down became available. I got that fare for around $100. Then, a week later, I was on the phone again at midnight for the return flight. It was even a bit before 12, because the agent told me the fares werent' out yet and to stay on the line until the fare came up on her screen. Well, when it did, the cheapest fare was $249! She told me there had been no fares issued at a cheaper rate. I booked it, and sure enough, a few weeks later, it came down over $100.
I called the corporate office last week, and spoke for a long time to a woman who told me that the cheaper fares don't always come out first. She said that a lot of times they wait to see how many people are booking and how quickly the planes are filling up.
I really think that people nowadays are watching their money carefully, and that fewer people are willing to pay the exorbitant fares that are out there.

 

[ncligs]

stephcm,

We are DVC members also that go to Florida at least 2 times a yr.We are lucky to be within 1 hrs drive from 3 airports. We always go during Presidents week(wife is a teacher), and once in summer. At 11 months out when checking for fares, we check Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Akron airports. We always try to book direct , non-stop flights, With US AIR the prices ranged from $350 to $400 for non stop. For Cleveland airport, with Continental the fares were $600 each , we just checked the internet every day, waited until they came down , US AIr dropped to $245 for direct to Orlando. Continentals fares haven't dropped yet for Presidents week. So we did book 2 tx from Pittsburgh for $245 each (non-stop). We could have had fares for around $199 to $239 with a connection each way at Cleveland or Pittsburgh airport. But for us, we prefer non-stop
Our back up plan was to fly out of akron for $189 non-stop with AirTran. But you could only make ressies with them at 6 months out only. So we decided it wasn't worth waiting and checking everyday on the web for lower prices, and booked US AIR for $245 direct and non-stop with good times for President's week:

 

[Poly Pal]

Hi again StephCM! Now you're discouraging me!! I still plan to book 331 days out for the return trip. I'll be up until after midnight later this week. I'm looking at a return from Tampa, but Sarrasota, Ft. Myers, or Orlando will do in a pinch since we'll be spending the latter half of vacation down on the Gulf Coast.

I too am frustrated that there is no apparent rhyme or reason to the airfare game. So, I'll book to have the seats and flights we want and watch to see if the fares drop and get vouchers - I still don't expect that to happen for President's week or Easter Week.

Good luck to you and have a great time! Maybe we'll see you at the Polynesian next April!

 

[margaritabnl]

Hi Everyone!

I am an outside sales travel agent from Massachusetts and I feel your pain! February and April school vacation is THE ABSOLUTE WORST time to leave Boston for any warm destination, especially to Orlando. Not to mention the crowds at WDW and the ever present threat of snow in NE!

I noticed a few people mentioned Southwest Airlines. They are an awesome airline and we prefer them over Delta hands down. My kids HATE flying Delta and complain everytime.

I would like to point out that Southwest departs out of Manchester, NH as well as Prividence, RI. The MHT airport is MUCH EASIER to get to, cheaper to park at, and 7 out of 10 times, has cheaper flights. The only drawback to Southwest is that they show and book flights 6 months out. Check every Thursday on their website for sales.

If you have to go out of Boston, it's best to fly during off times of off days. Try to find a flight the leaves anywhere from 6-9pm, go any day on Monday to Friday for MCO (avoiding Sat. & Sun.), connect (nonstops are 1st to sell out) in a warm weather city (avoid PIT and PHL in the winter. You always want to connect in a warmer weather city) and use the same tips for your return.

If using Delta, look for connections in CVG and ATL. USAir connections look for CLT. Southwest has nonstops from MHT but also connects in BNA and BWI.

Another idea is to look for 1 way tickets to any of these connecting cities and piece your full flight together that way. Just be sure to leave at least 90 minutes max between flights. Oh, and just because you leave on Delta to MCO doesn't mean you can't leave MCO on USAir! Do this buying 1 way tickets.

This is kind of lengthy but I hope it helps! Good luck.

 

[threeboysmom]

If I were you, I'd ditch Delta and wait for the Southwest flights. We flew last year during NH school vacation out of Providence on Southwest. Manchester wanted around $260+ for round trip, whereas Providence was only around $112 round trip. Forget the other airlines - they couldn't come close to Southwest's price. It was definately worth it for my family of 5. I'll never fly any other airline again

 

[margaritabnl]

threeboysmom.....the price was higher out of MHT because Southwest knew when the NH school vacation was. Providence, RI has the same school vacation as Massachusetts, a week BEFORE NH so thats why the ticket was higher out of MHT.

The airlines know when states have their school vacations and price accordingly. They know 9 out of 10 people have no choice but to travel then. You were lucky you knew to check out Providence as an alternative airport for the cheaper flight.