May have to scrap our trip due to insane airfare prices!

[CrankyDad]

You flying out of Stewart Airport? Cause yeah JetBlue to MCO is a rough option out of there. You only get the one flight out that lands in Orlando after 8pm and costs you a full day of vacation.

We got tired of that this year and went out of Westchester. Mistake! Flight was 7 hours delayed on way down. Then on way back, 45 min because they could not line up the ramp to depart. Then the $200+ parking..

We could go to NYC airports but just a hassle. Not a ton of options up north in the Hudson Valley

Oh yeah we ran $1600 before points for 4

 

[Tinknalli]

We have a drive ahead of us regardless. Closest airport is 20 minute drive, but tiny and the only options are tiny commuter flights connecting to Jet Blue in Boston and prices are $900 pp and up. We always search airports within a 3ish hour drive to save money. Saved us $700 or more pp . Flexibility is key!

 

[n2mm]

The summer sales haven’t even started yet. I just booked my April and June trips out of bwi and paying $63 each way....luggage fees covered by my MasterCard. I never buy too early.

 

[gillep]

You flying out of Stewart Airport? Cause yeah JetBlue to MCO is a rough option out of there. You only get the one flight out that lands in Orlando after 8pm and costs you a full day of vacation.

We got tired of that this year and went out of Westchester. Mistake! Flight was 7 hours delayed on way down. Then on way back, 45 min because they could not line up the ramp to depart. Then the $200+ parking..

We could go to NYC airports but just a hassle. Not a ton of options up north in the Hudson Valley

Oh yeah we ran $1600 before points for 4

Have you flown out of Albany? From my husband's dad's house Albany was only 20 minutes farther than Newark (which we usually fly out of) and they had quite a few really well priced flights to MCO, including at least one nonstop per day. I don't know about return flights because we flew directly back home to CA from MCO, but we both agreed that we would do Albany over Newark in the future, as the extra time it took to get there was more than made up in the non existent lines for everything else.

 

[Ngwira]

I booked newark to mco then mco to bwi. amtrak will get us back to philly. rates were too high otherwise and no direct flights.

 

[skyblue17]

It was almost absurdly (to me) cheap to fly from JFK to Orlando last October. It was only $90 to get back to JFK from MCO! I def agree that you should consider flying out of a different airport. Not sure if you are using Westchester, but if so, it's not a far drive and you would probably still save on the flights if you have to hire a car/pay to park/spend the night near the airport. I just plugged in a random week in late August and got a RT direct flight of $350 on JetBlue, which still might be steeper than you are used to but will get you there for far less than $2000, even adding in an additional cost for the airport switch.

 

[SwanVT2]

Jet Blue has really gone up over the years. We have booked United and now American the last 3 years. We used to fly jet blue non stop burlington vt to mix for a decent price. No more direct flights and jet blue is out of our price range. Good luck!

 

[kaytieeldr]

Delta Main Cabin. leave JFK 3-ish, arrive MCO 6-ish; return 7-10 PM, $1295 for four people 8/21-8/28.

 

[Jimsig]

Also check into flying one airline down and another back. You might find it cheaper.

 

[monorailsilver]

We got Jet Blue RT in August on release day for $250 ish, maybe a wee bit more but under $300 and we added the extra space seats.

Our dates were fairly flexible so I looked at multiple days to find the cheapest. I did check HPN but it was much more.

 

[davper]

Drive. You are only 15 hours away at the speed limit. 6 tanks of gas in up front cost. 2200 miles of wear and tear on back end costs.

I would take a long nap and drive the first shift starting at 7pm on Friday while wife sleeps. After the 2nd fill up, the wife takes over for the rest of the way while I sleep. Arrive at the resort no later than 11am Saturday.

 

[bumbershoot]

I never buy too early.

Same. Unless flying southeest or alaska where you can get a fee-free credit if the price drops, but even then I don’t often do it. I just bought cross country airfare for my late February trip about two weeks ago. Prices were better than they had been before.

Buying tickets now, or considering cancelling now, for a trip in August boggles my mind.

 

[LizzyS]

I bought our airfare for our trip in a couple of weeks last August and was actually super happy with the price- $860 for the two of us and that's with Early Bird Check-In both ways with Southwest from Las Vegas to Orlando, non-stop going out and with a layover in Denver on the way back.

I think there's too many factors in airfare prices/people's situations to get too judgey, imo.

 

[TamaraQT]

Before I would completely SCRAP the family vacation, I would look at other options even if that included having to drive. I dont know what airfares are in your area, but I started flying on Frontier and have been able to make it work. Like many before me have suggested, I would look at VARIOUS options. And who says its a rule to have to book a Round-trip ticket. I haven't booked round trip tickets in YEARS!!! For the last 6 or 7 years, I have been booking ONE-WAY flights.

I fly out of Philadelphia. I always book my returning flight FIRST because we always leave Orlando on a Saturday. Saturdays can be more expensive so I book the Saturday flight back home first as soon as the price drops to something reasonable. Then I start looking for my flights down to Orlando out of Philadelphia. I use airwatchdog app, frontier airlines, and southwest apps to alert me of the lowest fare from PHL to MCO. One year I went to Orlando via United Airlines and returned on Southwest airlines. Who says you have to use the same airline?? There are no rules to that!!! I think you are having a difficult time because you are trying to book perfect matching round trip flights. Book one-way flights and open up more options!!! Cancelling a family vacation should be your last resort. If flights don't work, then drive and make that part of the vacation too !!! Good luck in whatever you decide !!!

 

[Dis703]

I understand completely!! I'm in Philadelphia and for the past couple of years, air routes have drastically reduced and airfare has skyrocketed! Yet, for a while half the posters on public transit were to visit FL and now every other commercial is to visit FL!

Some co-workers who live north of the city found very reasonable fares (and parking rates) through Newark. Its inconvenient but maybe look there?

Also, I found somewhat reasonable fares through AA, which is what I booked.

That's interesting because I've found the opposite and drive the extra time it takes to Philly when Newark is about half the distance because we get crazy cheap flights out of Philly from Frontier. We just flew round trip in November for $60.

 

[Wubar]

Before I would completely SCRAP the family vacation, I would look at other options even if that included having to drive. I dont know what airfares are in your area, but I started flying on Frontier and have been able to make it work. Like many before me have suggested, I would look at VARIOUS options. And who says its a rule to have to book a Round-trip ticket. I haven't booked round trip tickets in YEARS!!! For the last 6 or 7 years, I have been booking ONE-WAY flights.

I fly out of Philadelphia. I always book my returning flight FIRST because we always leave Orlando on a Saturday. Saturdays can be more expensive so I book the Saturday flight back home first as soon as the price drops to something reasonable. Then I start looking for my flights down to Orlando out of Philadelphia. I use airwatchdog app, frontier airlines, and southwest apps to alert me of the lowest fare from PHL to MCO. One year I went to Orlando via United Airlines and returned on Southwest airlines. Who says you have to use the same airline?? There are no rules to that!!! I think you are having a difficult time because you are trying to book perfect matching round trip flights. Book one-way flights and open up more options!!! Cancelling a family vacation should be your last resort. If flights don't work, then drive and make that part of the vacation too !!! Good luck in whatever you decide !!!

Just did exactly that for our June trip, flying Frontier on the way down, and Southwest on the way back. It cost $40 a year to join Frontier's "Den club", but then we saved $10 per person on the flights, so it almost already paid for itself. I always look at two one ways vs RT when doing research, and always check different airlines. Not only can you look for the best fares, you get better time options as well. It was a little over $100 pp for flights down to MCO, but every afternoon/evening flight back was $366!?!?! Which is why we went with Southwest for the return flight. So we fly down early and fly back pretty late, giving us more time at the resorts or parks!

I also always check pricing differences if flying +/- 1 day from original dates, and nearby airports as well (from Philly I will check into Allentown, Atlantic City, BWI, Newark).

 

[kandb]

You flying out of Stewart Airport? Cause yeah JetBlue to MCO is a rough option out of there. You only get the one flight out that lands in Orlando after 8pm and costs you a full day of vacation.

We got tired of that this year and went out of Westchester. Mistake! Flight was 7 hours delayed on way down. Then on way back, 45 min because they could not line up the ramp to depart. Then the $200+ parking..

We could go to NYC airports but just a hassle. Not a ton of options up north in the Hudson Valley

Oh yeah we ran $1600 before points for 4

If you ever fly out of Westchester again, there is a college very close to airport where you park your car and they shuttle you over to the airport and then pick you up. I think we paid around $9/day. Good, quick service.

 

[kandb]

The summer sales haven’t even started yet. I just booked my April and June trips out of bwi and paying $63 each way....luggage fees covered by my MasterCard. I never buy too early.

What airline?

 

[kandb]

We plan on going to Florida/WDW from 8/11 to 8/25 from NY area. Going down we are going to go to the West Palm Beach area for 5 days, 2 days in Orlando and then a week in Disney. We always fly JetBlue. The flights are expensive now but that's because I think it's too early to book. If you look at "view seats", you can see that the planes are mostly empty, so I think the prices will come down. Anyone know how to put an alert on my email with JetBlue to let me know when the price drops?

 

[kaytieeldr]

We plan on going to Florida/WDW from 8/11 to 8/25 from NY area. Going down we are going to go to the West Palm Beach area for 5 days, 2 days in Orlando and then a week in Disney. We always fly JetBlue. The flights are expensive now but that's because I think it's too early to book. If you look at "view seats", you can see that the planes are mostly empty, so I think the prices will come down. Anyone know how to put an alert on my email with JetBlue to let me know when the price drops?

Airfarewatchdog, maybe hipmunk.