I'm so excited...airfare is booked

[Rock'n Robin]

Today I took the plunge and bought the plane tickets for our April trip! It seems more real when I possess 5 non refundable plane tickets! Now I just have to save up for park tickets and food! We are probably doing the dining plan which now costs est. 200 a day for us (since DS just turned 10) so it will be a long process!
Robin M.

 

[snowwhitemom]

WOW!!!!!! I had no idea that alot of people book their airfare so early until the other day when another DIS'er and I had this discussion...... good for you. I think I may go ahead and buy my September trip and my October trip now. I never feel the rush cause we get such good rates from our airport. 84 each way for September and 69 each way for October, i just cant decide the time of day to book.....You have inspired me to go ahead and make a choice of time!!!!

 

[islandtimect]

Not to scare anyone, but just passing on my experience with booking far in advance. We've always had small time changes when booking air 6 or more months in advance - like the outbound flight leaving 45 minutes later than originally booked. But with the airlines having financial problems and really changing where they fly to/from, we've had major headaches. Our Feb trip from NY to St Thomas left 3 1/2 hours earlier than originally booked. And for our Nov trip to WDW, our nonstop from LGA changed twice. Now it's gone for good. Was back on the phone with AA for 1 1/2 hours trying to change to another flight. Had to change ADRs and park schedule plans, too.

So from now on, I'm preparing myself that the original flights I book probably won't leave when I had planned, or even exist, by the time my trip actually comes...

 

[JESW]

Which airline did you book through? I am waiting on Jet Blue to release April dates. I do know that the flights I booked for June & August this year through them all changed their times (all 4 flights). Two by 15 or 20 minutes and two of them the flight number was changed and the times changed by several hours. Just something to keep in mind if you are booking things your day/night of arrival.

Jill

 

[jbrowna]

Sometimes we've booked in advance, and actually hoped the airline would change things. That way, we can change our reservation without being charged. One time we were actually able to change to a day earlier than we had originally booked -- without paying a fee -- all because the airline had changed the outgoing flight by about an hour! (Lemonade, anyone?)

We will say that, by far, the most notorious airline for changes has been American. Rarely have we had a flight we've booked through them that has not been changed. Alaska comes in a close second. United and USAir are pretty much tied for next (although we don't have that much experience with USAir), and the very last would be Southwest. Of course, with Southwest you usually can't book too far in advance; right now they're only booking through the beginning of January, and most likely won't go further until around Labor Day or so.

 

[kgc07]

I just booked ours for next May last week. I'm not worried about the flights changing, if they do, Midwest will let me cancel or make other changes to the reservations free of charge since they are they are the ones that made the change.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Our flights are on Northwest. I know there is a slight possibility of a change, but they have offered these flights for 2 years--in fact this is our "usual flight" for our trips in 06 and last March. Since Detroit is a hub for Northwest, I think the probability of them making the nonstop into a 1 stop is smaller than if the flight did not originate in a hub.
I actually wouldn't mind leaving MCO earlier than 7PM, as we all have school the next day and won't be home until 11PM! But DH likes leaving late. The only way to leave earlier is if NW makes us! I do like getting there early though, and this flight gets there at 9:18 AM.
Robin M.

 

[Disneypirate85]

We have never had an issue with SouthWest changing anytimes on us. But have heard/read some nightmare stories bout Airtran, I did see yesterday where they have laid off 5% of there staff. Would be leary now about booking with them

 

[byoung]

Have a great majical vacation!

 

[DIZBOUND]

I have actually been looking for airfare for April for quite some time now. If you do not mind me asking, did you pay more than you normally do for those flights? The fares I am finding out of PHL, EWR, or ACY are quite high.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Well, it depends. Before last March I had never paid over $200 for airfare, the low being $135 right after 9/11 for an early December long weekend. Last March, going spring break (Thursday before Easter to Thursday after) I paid $1640 for the 5 of us! That was quite a shock. My original stay was Friday-Friday (leaving Good Friday) and I was getting $400 air. I switched to Monday-Monday, and was seeing $300 airfare, but today it was down to $264.
So cheap compared to last spring break? Yes. Cheap compared to "the good old days?" No.
Robin M.

 

[ccigliano]

I just had this happen to me last week. First it was Jet Blue out of Stewart ariport in December where they are supposedly cancelling one of the two non-stop flights to Orlando and by the way they still haven't decided which one that is. And Air Tran out of La Guardia just cancelled their non-stop flight in September when I booked free dining and put us on a flight through Atlanta to Orlando with a plane change. I will only book non-stop flights from NY to Orlando as it is just crazy to spend almost 6 hours to get there in addition to the 2 hour ahead rule. I tried to get airfare for a decent price on another airline but everything was over $300 for decent times and I only paid $179 for these tickets. So I'm now booked on the only non-stop flight Air Tran has out of NY from Westchester where there is supposedly no space to park your car, so we will probably need to book car service. This is the first time I have had such drastic changes and I often book my airfare 6-8 months in advance. I just think it is a sign of the outragous oil/gas prices taking its toll on our fragile economy.

 

[thepops]

I have airtran for my October flights as well. Got a killer deal back in Feb (129 r/t from DC to orlando), but they've sent me 3 change notices last week alone. It's really annoying, especially when the flight you got moved from because it got cancelled on Wednesday is back on Friday!

 

[kristenrice]

I bought our tickets in March for our October trip. We're flying AirTran out of Detroit. I got them for $220 (includes r/t seat assignments and insurance). They changed our departure from a non-stop to a one-stop because the time was only about 15 minutes different. The afternoon non-stop (our original flight) was departing at 4:30pm. It got changed to a 1:55pm instead. AirTran put us on a one-stop flight departing around 4:15pm. When I called and told them that the non-stop was more important than the flight time, they changed us to the 1:55pm flight at no charge. I see that they have 2 non-stop flights daily from DTW to MCO so I hope I can get on one of them. The morning one leaves at 8am so we're already planning on spending the night before departure in Detroit, just in case. I am glad we bought when we did as the price hasn't gone down at all, only up. The trip down was $84 when I bought it. Now, it's up to $144!

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

I just booked my April 2009 trip too. My kids are going to be dancing at DTD (So excited, but was hoping they would be dancing at the MK instead as in previous years).

Last night it was $100 more than this morning so I booked today. Wednesday to Wednesday-- for $916 for 4. YAHOO!!!

I'm using Frequent Flyers for our Feb trip--

I know that they will probably change the flight 100 times but at least I am locked into the price.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Well I jinxed NWA, it seems, they just announced layoffs and a bag fee...but if I read it right since I bought yesterday it won't apply to us.
Robin M.

 

[BankBunny]

I also bought recently for our April/May 2009 trip. I paid $498.00(so far they are now up to $558.00) roundtrip between EWR to MCO on Continental. I was so afraid of what the prices would be if I waited until the trip was closer. As it is I paid $289.60(as of now they're up to $498.00) for almost identical flights last October for our upcoming September trip. So far the only change has been our departing flight from MCO has been pushed back by 1/2 an hour-no big deal.

 

[Inkmahm]

I just booked ours for next May last week. I'm not worried about the flights changing, if they do, Midwest will let me cancel or make other changes to the reservations free of charge since they are they are the ones that made the change.

I had flights on Midwest booked for October, December and March 2009. ALL of them were canceled. I rescheduled Oct and Dec (although I should have taken the refund for Dec) and took the refund for March, rebooking on Air Tran.

No airline is safe at the moment, everyone needs to keep checking their reservations for changes.

 

[#1DisneylandFan]

I have had our flight reservations on AA for November since January. Last week I received a change in schedule notice that our flights each direction were canceled. I'm very nervous about all of this...

 

[kgc07]

I had flights on Midwest booked for October, December and March 2009. ALL of them were canceled. I rescheduled Oct and Dec (although I should have taken the refund for Dec) and took the refund for March, rebooking on Air Tran.

No airline is safe at the moment, everyone needs to keep checking their reservations for changes.

I know no airline is safe. I had a flight for August canceld on Midwest (scheduled for another time the same day). I booked it again with the new times and leter found out it wouldn't work, I called back and they let me cancel for a refund. At least I know they have good customer service if they were to cancel the flights.