March break airfare 2012

[son3disfan]

We just booked a Disney cruise for March Break 2012, and want to know what airfare might be like during that time.

This is our 5th Disney cruise, but we have not cruised out of Florida over March break. Usually Feb, or April or may. We just did the MR March break cruise out of LA and payed $129 each way per person for our flights there , which I thought was great.

We usually pay between $69-$99 each way per person to Florida, depending on who we book with.I am hoping it is not going to be outrageous.

How bad is it going to be? Any one care to share what they spent this year ? And how early they booked?
We can do Buffalo or Detroit....Or even Rochester.
Thanks!

 

[dis_guy]

There's really only one way to know and that is to wait a few weeks until the fares for next March begin appearing on the airline's websites. Southwest will be quite a bit later.

Not surprisingly, my feeling is that fares will continue to climb. My personal experience flying from Edmonton had fares (4 adult tickets) at $400 pp in 2008, $600 pp in 2009, and $700 pp in 2010. Those were all peak times and include fees/taxes. Right now for Feb 2012 it's looking like around $800 pp total.

You're very lucky to have the option of flying out of US airports.

Edited to add: Just checked and fares are down to around $650 pp all-in from YEG, right into February. I read somewhere that Airtran lowered fares and all the rest are following...

 

[mtmbyck]

Flights will continue to climb I am sure. Much depends on how you like to travel. If you like direct and want weekend travel you can almost double your price. Tues - Thurs flights will save you money. This year US flights were comparable with Cdn charter flights. You'll want to begin the hunt in June. Detroit is a hub for northwest I believe. Buffalo has a lot of JetBlue which is an awesome airline. You won't often see Airtran in your searches and may need to go to their website. I have never seen March Break flights drop in price as date gets closer. In fact! They increase in price until they are no longer available. The last 2 years we've been stuck with about $400pp flights out of Buffalo. Detroit was slightly less but added 3 hours commute - no thanks. Prior to that, I was paying $250 direct but haven't seen these rates on a direct during March Break for a few years.

Good luck!

 

[dis_guy]

I was just looking at the trip counters in each of our signatures. Looks like we're all going to WDW for spring break 2012. Too funny!

To further answer the OP's question, I'd be happy to share but we'll be using my Aeroplan points for this trip. We'll be booking in early May when flights for our days come up. We'll likely do our usual connection in Denver. to all!

 

[greenclan67]

Looks like we will likely be going at same time! We have booked our flights the last 2 years at the end of August. We fly mostly on Airtran or Jetblue! I did catch a good price in January for a non stop to Orlando in January this year on Jetblue, for $89. Good luck!

 

[dis_guy]

Looks like we will likely be going at same time! We have booked our flights the last 2 years at the end of August. We fly mostly on Airtran or Jetblue! I did catch a good price in January for a non stop to Orlando in January this year on Jetblue, for $89. Good luck!

It looks like it will be about the same time, for you two, anyway. I'm a couple of weeks later. I sure am envious of the choices you have to fly south and let's face it it's not nearly as far as we have to fly, so yeah, we do expect to pay more.

As far as our flights down go we have AC but you're connecting through YYZ or YUL and clearing customs there. Not pretty. We also have AirUS connecting through Phoenix, Continental connecting through Houston, and United connecting through either Denver or Chicago. All of these clear customs in Edmonton so it's pretty convenient. Oh, and AirAlaska connects through Seattle. Can't see flying west and then even further south-east.

Our favourite so far is with United leaving at 6.30 AM, connecting in Denver (love that airport) and arriving at MCO around 4.00 PM. Coming back we leave at 3.30 PM and are back in Edmonton around 9.30 PM.