I feel like I made an airfare mistake

[zulaya]

I bought my June trip plane tickets on that Delta sale for $137.50 per person (unheard of out of MSP). I floundered about purchasing for the November trip too, but wasn't wanting to buy another set of plane tickets at that time.

Now I am kicking myself - of course the sale is over - and I think I missed out on my only opportunity to get a great fare for November. I know it is only mid March - but November's trip has to happen - DD's birthday trip.

So what's the consensus? Did I blow it? Or do I have a chance at another fare sale before we leave? I don't want to get too close to departure time though. Trip is November 15-19.

 

[klynn]

Are you open to trying Priceline? When we're flexible Priceline has worked for us several times.

 

[apagano]

Do you know for an absolute fact that the cheap fare was available for those November dates? Most of the time sale fares are only good for travel 2-3 months ahead. It's possible you didn't miss out on a great fare after all. Besides, lots can happen in the next 6 months, especially with a war going on, so there's lots of time for fares to come back down.

 

[jacksonsmom]

Hi Zulaya---

I know how you feel, I went back & forth thinking if I should get tickets for our December trip on the Delta special. When I finally decided to "go for it' on the Delta website the $137.50 was already gone!
Luckily Travelocity still had the deal so I quickly grabbed it.

You are right that $137.50 isn't heard of much in this area BUT I think with the war going on you will see more & more airfare 'wars' so I would be checking the prices all the time. I know sometimes you can get a good deal on SunCountry too.

I am crossing my fingers for you that another awesome deal comes up for November.
Glad you got in on the deal for June though! I don't know about you but I was FLOORED when I saw $137.50 RT from MSP-MCO! WOW!!!!!!
I know it isn't a straight flight but for that price, I don't care

 

[zulaya]

jackson'smom - I know what you mean - I have been checking Orbitz multiple times per day for the June weekend trip - they have that new flexible function where you have 3 new search options - weekend is one of them and it checks Thurs, Fri Sat departing and Sun, Mon Tues, returning and gives you prices for each day. When that $137 came up I honestly thought I typed in the airport codes wrong. When I found out it was for real I had trouble calling DH to tell him I was booking and where did he want to sit

apagano - the $137 was available for Novmeber - I checked. I just didn't feel comfortable buying two trips worth of tickets at once - - I had never done that before! - then I felt so guilty about not saving the money

Thanks to elgerber! I got flights this AM for $153.50 - which is still awesome! I have now purchased tickets for 2 trips that still is collectively cheaper than buying one trip for my family on NWA. I am totally willing to make a stop for that type of savings!

 

[elgerber]

Zulaya,

I am SOOOOOOOOO glad you got my message! Those of us flying on MSP know to pounce if we see a decent fare, because they are few and far between.

Erika

 

[jacksonsmom]

I am so happy for you Zulaya!!! $153.50 is still an awesome deal!
If Delta didn't do the $137.50 deal for June, I would have grabbed them at $153.50 for sure!

It's about time deals came out of MSP.

Glad you got a good deal on your plane tickets.
Have a GREAT time

 

[zulaya]

Thanks elgerber again for letting me know about those deals so early in the AM. I was going to check Orbitz right after I read my e-mail and your e-mail was a welcome sight!

jackson'smom - I know what you mean about these MSP fares. I can't tell you how many times I have wished we lived by some of those east coast airports where there is more competition and (what seems like) more frequent sales.

I really like flying NWA, but I can't justify paying their high prices just for a non-stop when Delta is so much more reasonable. I really hope that Delta would try a couple non-stops to MCO - they probably would be surprised at how full those flights would be out of MSP and prices would probably not be so inflated.

I know we have Sun Country...but the two times I flew them, they changed times around, changed from a non-stop to a one stop after I purchased, I just don't feel they have their act together quite yet.

 

[Gillian]

congrats on those great fares! I live on the east coast, and have 2 major airports nearby so we can usually get non-stops for under $200. I wouldn't have been worried about November yet, as we can often get good deals a few months before. But your market is so different! I'm glad it all worked out for you. It must be a relief!

 

[jacksonsmom]

That would be nice if more airlines offered non-stop flights. NWA is nice but I just can't jusifty paying $272 (or more) a ticket just for a non stop flight. Just isn't worth it in my opinion.


Sorry you had bad luck with Sun Country, I flew on them once a couple years back to LAX and didn't have any problems. They departed on time & arrived in LAX on time.
We did run into a minor problem on the way home though, our flight was delayed coming out of LAX because of a snow storm back in Minnesota
Then when we did leave, we had to circle around the airport for about 30 minutes waiting for a runaway to get clear. But
that wasn't the airlines fault, just good old Mother Nature

I never flew on Delta before so I hope we have a good experience with them

 

[zulaya]

This is my first time flying Delta as well. I have family that have flown before and didn't have problems, but more telling for me is that CarolMN from this board flew Delta last December to MCO from MSP on a good fare and she said it was no problem. I believe she took flights through Cinci instead of Atlanta like I am, but I trust her experience.

 

[jacksonsmom]

Oh that is good to hear.

I know on the way down we are flying into Atlanta but on the way back we are stopping over in Cinn.

I think in our December trip both times we do a stop in Atlanta.

Glad to hear someone had good experience with Delta

 

[elgerber]

I've never flown Delta either, so this will be an experience. I am the opposite of you guys. I stop in Cinci on the way down, and Atlanta on the way home.

Erika

 

[zulaya]

I picked Atlanta because it seemed like most of the planes at the times I wanted were the smaller ComAir planes - I can't say that I have ever heard of anything bad about them, but I just couldn't make myself be comfortable flying on a smaller plane like that. I wish I did, I would much rather fly thru Cinci as I understand it's not as spread out as ATL.

 

[dvc guy]

To all my MSP friends, we have been flying Delta for years out of NY. They are a very good airline. You should have no problems.
Keep in mind that when you buy tickets 6 months out times will change, be proactive check the web site for changes. Atlanta is big, but all the terminals connect with an underground rail link.

 

[dtauer]

We've flown the last 5 years out of MSP on Delta and we haven't had any bad experiences yet. A lot of people make a big deal out of the stop and always fly NWA or Sun Country to avoid the stop. We kind of like the stop because travelling from MN to Orlando with kids the flight is broken up. Our kids are older now, but when we first started flying, it was nice to have the stop because by the time the kids start getting restless, we'd have the stop in Cincinnati or Atlanta, walk around for a half an hour or so and then they started boarding for the next flight. My kids loved getting off for a little while and have the excitement of getting back on the plane.

I would never hesitate to fly Comair. In fact, I look for the Comair flights because they don't have the massive amounts of people and boarding and de-boarding goes really fast and easy. Also, the flight attendants we've had on Comair flights have been fantastic. The CanadaAir jets they use are nice and quiet and very smooth for their size. My son also insists that his ears NEVER bother him on the small planes, only on the large jets. A flight attendant once told us that is possible because of the speed the smaller planes reach cruising altitude and the descent is slower as well. I don't know if there's any truth to this, but I know my son has fewer problems with his ears on the smaller planes, regardless of the reason.

 

[travelcoupons]

I've seen a good sale for Nov.-Dec. dates on Delta every year for the last 3-4 years. They usually only last a day or two. Most of the time i see the sale in the late summer or early fall. Keep checking.

 

[zulaya]

dtauer -

Thanks for your post on the Comair jets. Your experience really makes me feel better about the smaller planes. As I said before, I really have no basis for my uneasiness about smaller jets, and it most likely is because I have no experience with them that makes me uneasy.

You are quite right about the boarding...I hadn't thought about that aspect at all. I'll have to make sure and watch for those planes for the next flight as you truly have pointed out to me the advantages of those smaller jets.

If Delta keeps up with these sales, I will most likely be a regular customer of theirs for the foreseeable future as well! Especially since NWA just laid off 4900 workers. Things are looking rocky for them right now.

 

[jacksonsmom]

I am happy to hear good reports from people that flew on Delta.

I am a little nervous switching plans in such a big airport (Atlanta) but we have an hour between planes we SHOULD be OK!

 

[CarolMN]

Have been gone a few days (quick trip to Las Vegas for March Madness). zulaya - Glad you got good prices for your November trip, too. I certainly agree that $153 RT out of MSP is awesome!

Just wanted to add that we flew ComAir on a CRJ on our trip to MCO via Cincinnati last December. IMO, there is no need to avoid them - in fact, I really liked the seating arrangement. It's 2 seats, aisle and 2 seats. Since I hate the middle seat (unless people I know are on both sides of me) and the planes always seem to be packed these days, the 3x3 arrangements of the larger jets are a source of stress to me - LOL! We found the ComAir flight attendants personable and their regional jets seemed brand new to me.

If you fly into Cincinnati on one of the Com Air regional jets, you do have to take a shuttle from their terminal to the main terminal to pick up the Delta flight. However, it was quick and easy and the Cincinnati airport is easy to navigate.

As long as Delta offers such good prices, I am very happy to fly with them. The stop in Cincinnati only adds about an hour or so to the trip (over non-stop). Last year, we bought two tickets on Delta for less than the price of one on NWA. That's well worth an hour or so of our time!

That said, I have to say that I do worry a bit more about weather since we have an "extra stop". We had good luck with the weather last December. Also, based on a Mpls StarTribune article that detailed operating costs, Delta is not making any kind of a profit on this route (MSP-MCO). I hope that they do not have to reduce capacity on the MSP-MCO route before our next trip in December. It is certainly a possibility. According to the article, NWA is almost covering its costs at $292 RT. Because of that, I don't think these low fares will be around for much longer - the industry is in trouble and NWA is again reducing capacity and laying off employees. Hope they can somehow restructure/reduce their costs. No company can operate at a loss forever. Sure hope the IRAQ situation resolves quickly.