I guess airlines really do watch Disney's discounts

[Coconuts]

I have been searching for airfare for a possible trip in Nov or Dec, if and when FD comes out. I have been looking for airfare on the dates that the FD pins have listed and amazingly on those dates that fall within the discount, the rates are through the roof! There's no way that this can be a coincedence; the airlines must get info on Disneys promotions and jack up the airfare on those dates.

And is it just me or has airfare skyrocketed in the past few weeks?

 

[CarolMN]

Unless your dates coincide with school vacations, it's probably too early to see sales on November and December flights. I really do not think the airlines track Disney promotions.

IMO, if flights have gone up recently, then either they have already filled the lower priced seats or they are just part of the "normal" pricing and won't come down until closer to the dates when the airlines see empty seats.

 

[Missytara]

I can say I have gotten either free dining or a room discount for my week (the week after Thanksgiving) for the last three years and I have always gotten very reasonable airfare. I do travel on Saturday, which is not a busy travel day for Thanksgiving and the following Saturday is also not a busy travel day.

I switched from Sunday to Sunday several years ago, and found my airfare went down when not traveling on a heavier travel day.

 

[cglaura]

I have been searching for airfare for a possible trip in Nov or Dec, if and when FD comes out. I have been looking for airfare on the dates that the FD pins have listed and amazingly on those dates that fall within the discount, the rates are through the roof! There's no way that this can be a coincedence; the airlines must get info on Disneys promotions and jack up the airfare on those dates.

And is it just me or has airfare skyrocketed in the past few weeks?

It could also be, that many have already booked the flights. The less seats to fill, no need for any steep discounts. Most places give discounts to fill empty seats or rooms.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I really doubt airlines track the dates of Disney promotions to adjust pricing!

 

[Coconuts]

I can say I have gotten either free dining or a room discount for my week (the week after Thanksgiving) for the last three years and I have always gotten very reasonable airfare. I do travel on Saturday, which is not a busy travel day for Thanksgiving and the following Saturday is also not a busy travel day.

I switched from Sunday to Sunday several years ago, and found my airfare went down when not traveling on a heavier travel day.

I did price those Saturdays around Thanksgiving, which are the days you can check in for FD as per the pins, and they are much more than a few days earlier or later.

Maybe the prices will go down within a few months of that time.

 

[wiigirl]

I really doubt airlines track the dates of Disney promotions to adjust pricing!

You never know.

 

[msjprincess]

I really doubt airlines track the dates of Disney promotions to adjust pricing!

I agree


I received a FD PIN for November 2 years ago. I paid a total of $760 for 5 of us RT from ISP-MCO.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

The airlines have become quite skillful at predicting the right number of "cheapest fare bucket" seats for each flight and how cheap those cheap seats need to be. Historical data (same period the prior year) and YTD trends are probably the main factors.

I would not be surprised if the models can be adjusted for school vacation dates and major convention dates. Free dining is essentially just an off-season room discount to drive on-site room occupancy. And, unlike a convention, it doesn't begin and end on the same date for every passenger. I assume that off-season Orlando tourist numbers are accounted for in historical data, with no need to track specific Disney promotions each year.

The airlines have cut back on excess capacity, especially to leisure markets. That means fewer cheap seats, and no cheap seats at all on flights that are likely to sell out at higher fares. On this forum, you'll sometimes read posts lamenting fewer flight times or the elimination of nonstops. That goes hand in hand with the higher fares.

 

[Allison]

I really doubt airlines track the dates of Disney promotions to adjust pricing!

This

 

[dpmfloyd]

i'd have to disagree, our flights are exactly the same amount of money it has cost us to fly to wdw for the last 2 years. i got a pin and i'm currently budgetting a trip.

sorry for your bad luck :\

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

i'd have to disagree, our flights are exactly the same amount of money it has cost us to fly to wdw for the last 2 years. i got a pin and i'm currently budgetting a trip.

sorry for your bad luck :\

You've done a good job planning ahead and your timing was good to find tickets to Orlando at the same price for the last two years. Congratulations. Well done.

But I don't understand what you're disagreeing with. Are you saying that low fares are just as easily available to everyone now as when there was more flight capacity and airlines more aggressively competed on pricing to leisure markets?

 

[dpmfloyd]

Are you saying that low fares are just as easily available to everyone now as when there was more flight capacity and airlines more aggressively competed on pricing to leisure markets?

Hello! Good question, I was disagreeing with the OP. OP felt, in their experience, airlines were basing/increasing prices off of disney discounts. Nothing more.

I fly from Boston's Logan Airport nonstop to MCO, I've never paid more than $260 for a single round-trip ticket.

 

[helenk]

I booked my flights with SW for my trip the beginning of Dec as soon as SW open up their flights for December. The prices were very good, however, I booked a flight home that I was not thrilled about, but the price was in my budget.
Since then I have watched those fares go up and then down again every couple of days. The price came down on the flight I actually wanted and quickly went on line and made the change. The next day the prices were back up.
Bottom line, you need to check periodically, the prices do come down. If you are flexible with your dates and flight times you can generally get better prices.

 

[bookgirl]

Yes I do believe the airline industry tracks high volume periods to certain areas.

Look at flights in the area where a team makes a bowl game, prices go up immediately after they are announced or it is whittled down to a few teams. I've been stalking 3 trips to three different areas (two of which I have been to many times). Prices are outside the norm right now. Both of those flights have big events in the area and flights have been high since they opened up dates. Look at any large events and the flights are crazy. Airlines with flights into Orlando would totally be rising base prices during times that are expected to be high demand. It's the basis of supply and demand after all.

One flight is to the bowling national champions and it's utterly high for that place and time. Yes I think they know that there was going to be a peak during that time so prices started out high and never were part of sales.

One flight is to a huge national conference and it stayed high for a long time and was excluded from sales but the 2-3 days before or after the conference dates were in the sale. (I actually did manage to get a slightly lower price but it's actual a direct flight for me and it never went down like it normally would in the SW ebb and flow of prices expecially with a less than 2 hour flight with only one leg) I doubt that there are that many people going from here but there are tons flying into that airport from all over.

One is to Orlando during Oct. Here I actually did get a sale price, it was up shortly and I happened on to it early. I grabbed the flight and planned the trip because there was a sale, not a huge one but a decent one. It is only slightly higher than last Oct. No free dining dates had been announce when I bought.

And totally off topic I had one more flight I needed for fall and I went to check on the first day it was open and saw that each leg was around $75. For SW that is not bad. I bought them right then. Within 2 hours they were $100 higher on each side of the trip. SW almost never starts out at the lowest price on day one but in this case they have NEVER in the months since seen it get anywhere close to the price I got. I don't know if it was a fluke or what but I grab it when I can cause you just never know.