Never flown before, questions?

[miraclemommy]

Hi,
We have never flown before. We just got a ding for 444.40 total with taxes and fees for 4 people from Indianapolis, IN to Orlando. Is this a good deal? Also can you get discounted flights with children? My children are 8 and 2.5. Should I jump on this or try to wait it out for something better. We will be leaving Dec 17 for 8 days, 2 adults and the 2 children. Do you think we will be able to get it lower?

Sorry for all the questions, but totally clueless when it comes to flying.

thanks for the help,
Jennifer

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Is that the roundtrip price? Does it include all taxes and fees? Are your dates available and can you live with the available times? If so, jump on that price. $111 pp RT is an excellent fare. You're not going to find too many better than that.

 

[aunt2brant]

I personally would jump on it. I have flown about 3 times in the past 2 years and only a few times before then so I am sure that there are people out there that have more experience, but I will tell you that my mom and I are flying Wed. on SW and we were lucky to get $39 each way..with taxes that came to about $95 each. IMHO, not sure when you are going, but with gas prices the way they are, you can take advantage of that cheaper than you can buy gas (or close to) and you won't have to worry about entertaining you 2.5 yo nearly as long as riding in the car. Congrats, you found a good deal.

 

[powellrj]

thats a great price from IND to MCO. I usually figure anything under $600 is great. I am really not sure you will find anything much cheaper if that includes all your taxes.

 

[pamluvsdisney]

These SW Ding flights would not be dicounted for children. Some airlines I think do discount for children a little bit. BUT, this looks like a great fare from Indy to Orlando if it is round trip. I hope you booked it. THat is great!

We fly on Sunday from Bham AL. My family of 5 was $411 roundtrip. I had a different fare booked with them 1 week earlier than when I got the DING. I was able to cancel and re-book using DING. Made sure seats were available before I cancelled. THen booked it. I had a credit with SW for $266 and my sister was able to use it and pay me back. Otherwise the credit is good with SW for 1 year.

Hope this helps.
Pam

 

[kwalliha]

What the h*ll is a ding?

 

[justplaingoofy]

Anything under $200 I think, is a good price

 

[JodiandTony]

We also live in Indy, and that's an excellent price. (FWIW, I work in aviation too). We are also paying about $100 round trip (with AirTran) per person. FYI-our tickets one year ago were $250 each.

I don't understand how fuel prices can double, but airline ticket prices decrease by half. No wonder the airlines are filing bankruptcy. That budget wouldn't work in our house!

 

[lovesdumbo]

Sounds like a great price. I've only gotten discounted fare on under 2.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

What the **** is a ding?

kwalliha,

DING! is Southwest Airline's downloadable program that connects you and your computer to exclusive discount fares that may only be available for a very limited period of time. They are usually lower than their lowest published fares. You get an audible alert that new fares are available and then by clicking thru the icon on your Taskbar, you can connect to the website with the new fares. You must be online to connect to DING!, so it helps if you are not on a dial up service.

You can learn more about it here: What is DING! ?

 

[imsayin]

I have been flying w/kids for 11 years, and I have never gotten a discount for the kids. I know some airlines (like Alaska Airlines) will run promos where kids fly free, but that doesn't help me!