Need advise Md's BWI- MCO Dec flights....

[4nana]

OK experienced travelers...we need your help please.

We are a group of 12 traveling from BWI to MCO
Dec 13 - 21. The tickets are currently running appx. $140-160 each. I would appreciate any advise as to whether you think we should buy them now or do you think they will get cheaper? There are some good sales on now...however, it is not for the winter months. Also, our return date is the week-end before Xmas which may drive them up. Any help appreciated.......Thanx

 

[Bigcat]

Not a bad price, but what is the airline and what are the flight times. Southwest usually has the best prices and flight times but it will be some months before they come out with their Dec. schedule. Personally, I hate making any connecting flights for what should be such a short trip.

 

[safetymom]

I would contact the group travel office of the airline you want to use. With that number they should be able to do something. If they can't I would book now because the price is only going to go up for that time period.

 

[dtuleya]

WOW! Where did you find the $140????? The best price I have found is on USAir is $154, but of course my dates are already sold out for 11/22-29 (Friday before to Friday after Thanksgiving). Sold out for only the 22nd I should say. I'm waiting for Airtran to come out with their rates. Hoping to get a good non-stop rate with them. I still can't believe only Airtran and USAir are the only two with direct flights from such a big airport!

I've been trying to research prices from last year, but since last year was such an unusual year, it's hard to get a feel for what is a good rate.

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

They won't come down much more. $140 is usually what I pay from any of the DC area airports. The best I've ever done was 2 Januarys ago - $99 RT out of IAD. For that price I found a reason to go, not that it's ever hard to justify a trip.

 

[dtuleya]

LOL! I'm thinking of getting an AP since it will be more cost effective for me (especially if I get an AP rate) and I'm afraid that if I do I'll be constantly looking for good fares to justify a trip. The addiction continues.....

 

[Bigcat]

Don't plan on USAir, they will probably be out of business by then. The dropped 2/3rd of their gates at BWI and things are going down hill from there. Also, I don't think they have had a non-stop BWI/MCO flight since MetroJet went under. The only non-stops I know about are AirTran and Southwest.

 

[kbeverina]

We went Dec. 13-23 last year and bought Southwest in October for about $145. They were non-stops. There were some better sales than that, but I didn't get to them in time and they were sold out.

We originally had USAir, but ended up being able to get a refund because they had switched our times so much. The last straw was when they had us flying out of National, but flying back in to Dulles!

In 2000, there was a group of 10 of us and we got United out of Dulles for under $140, so I would definitely check in to the group rates.

 

[SNOWBOARDER]

Wow! Those are pretty good rates.....anytime you can get round-trip, non-stop, out of BWI, I'd say book it!

 

[4nana]

Thanx everyone for your help and advise! I have signed up for several
airline email specials and will call about group pricing. Hopefully will land
some descent prices for our gang before Dec. and then I'll relax!! Now....
on to getting some info about yourride.
Can't wait!!

 

[SNOWBOARDER]

Oops! ....should've said, "anytime you can get non-stop, BWI to MCO for $140.00...Book it!!

 

[dtuleya]

SNOWBOARDER -

I decided to take the plunge since so many flights were already sold out on November 22. I got four tickets with USAir through Charlotte for $800 total through Expedia. The price before taxes, etc. was $159 (after taxes $199). How did I do? I don't have the time or the energy to be checking the boards constantly. If I waited until summer, I'd be a nervous wreck! LOL. Thanks for all your advice!

 

[kbeverina]

I think that's a pretty good rate for that time of year. I'm traveling 11/23-12/1 and haven't been able to find anything under $240--and that was only one fare. The rest are in the $300-$450 range. Unfortunately we can't change our Sunday departure date and that's what keeping our fare so high.

 

[dtuleya]

I don't know which sites you use to compare prices, but I only found this rate on Expedia.com. I couldn't even find it with the times I wanted on the USAir site. I subscribed to all the relative carriers that fly out of BWI and MDT (Harrisburg). I also was checking the following sites:

Orbitz.com
Expedia.com
Cheaptickets.com
Travelocity.com
Sidestep.com (you have to download this program)
Bestfares.com
Onetravel.com
Travelnow.com

I'm sure you know of most of these, but someone posted them for me awhile back and I found one or two new ones to be helpful. Good luck with your search kbeverina.

 

[kbeverina]

Thanks! The fare I found was for American and it was on Expedia, but there are several on your list that I haven't tried yet. I'm going to check them out right now!