OUTRAGEOUS airfare!!!!

[tracydeech]

TPA is a great way to save money and its an easy drive. Once you have done it you will be hooked. The airport is so much more layed back. There is no hustle bustle there. You can drop off your rental car and be at your gate in 20 minutes!

So drive time is 20 min. ? Where do you drop car? How do you get to resort?

 

[tracydeech]

Crunched my numbers and that would save us $475! Hmmmm * thinking*

 

[DebbieB]

See. Now that price is very reasonable! Maybe our airports will come to their senses soon! Congrats on great airfare

It's really supply and demand. If there's competition at an airport, fares go down. No competition, they go up. For example, here in Pittsburgh the only non-stops to MCO are Southwest and AirTran. Now that they merged, no reason to keep fares down. Sometimes if there's competition, airlines decide it's not worth it to keep fares low so they walk away. For example, SW ended non-stops from Washington Dulles, Cleveland, Detroit to MCO.

 

[tracydeech]

Well I did it !!! Airfare officially booked!!! Deleted all my airfare flight apps off my phone so I'm not haunted with lower rates!!! Haha

 

[kenly777]

Well I did it !!! Airfare officially booked!!! Deleted all my airfare flight apps off my phone so I'm not haunted with lower rates!!! Haha

What did you finally go with?

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Do you have any Spirit / AirTran? We used Spirit last December 19-jan2 and scored round trip tickets for the hole family of 5 for $1000...sign up for bing alerts...that's what I did and I got an alert they dropped 31% and grabbed those quicker than quick!! We are going again this year and watching for spirit to open up our dates and well grab those

I am staying home before I would fly Spirit. When something goes wrong you discover why they were cheaper they don't do Customer Service



And it is more like an hour to from Disney then 20 minutes.

 

[RedsDrew]

I've been reading this thread and I thoroughly believe airline pricing contains no common sense logic imho. I purchased two one-way tickets for my flight next month because it was less expensive by more than $100.00 to do that with two different airlines than purchasing roundtrip thru either of the two airlines I booked with. That's flying out of Columbus, Ohio.

Then, two weeks ago I checked just to see what the flight prices did. My flights increased over 50% and from Dayton a roundtrip tickets on my exact dates would have only been $130.00 all in! That's less than what I paid a single one-way ticket.

Good luck to everyone on finding decent and consistent airfare prices.

 

[tracydeech]

What did you finally go with?

I went with the $307 RT. I figured that was all that I was willing to pay.

 

[kenly777]

I went with the $307 RT. I figured that was all that I was willing to pay.

Although it stings, that's not a terrible price. Enjoy your trip!

 

[NHDisneyFan]

So drive time is 20 min. ? Where do you drop car? How do you get to resort?

Not a 20 min drive to Tampa. They are saying dropping your car off and getting through security to your gate is only 20 minutes at Tampa airport. At MCO that process can be much longer.

 

[dramaticmissy]

$612.42 for 3 RT tickets from South Bend, IN non-stop to Sanford, $165.00 RT chauffeured car to POR with grocery stop, I think we did great

 

[tracydeech]

$612.42 for 3 RT tickets from South Bend, IN non-stop to Sanford, $165.00 RT chauffeured car to POR with grocery stop, I think we did great

You did good! We would have done sandford too but we wanted to use ME

When are you going?

 

[ellie&mattys mom]

Yesterday it was $135.00 one way on a Monday & today it is $164.00

Still hoping it will go down
this is from Chicago to MCO in July

how much longer should I wait?
thanks!

 

[HippieChickadee]

When we find non-stop round trips for 300 we are thrilled and book right away!

 

[tracydeech]

Yesterday it was $135.00 one way on a Monday & today it is $164.00

Still hoping it will go down
this is from Chicago to MCO in July

how much longer should I wait?
thanks!

When I waited mine kept goin up. I felt comfortable with $307 RT so I took it. I would not feel comfortable with $400 or more RT and those are the numbers I am seeing.

 

[dramaticmissy]

You did good! We would have done sandford too but we wanted to use ME

When are you going?

May 8th-13th so close

 

[tracydeech]

May 8th-13th so close

Wow that is close!! You are going to have an awesome time!!!

 

[Greysword]

So drive time is 20 min. ? Where do you drop car? How do you get to resort?

Drive time from WDW to TPA is about 1.5-2 hours (and can be more depending on traffic/time of day). Then you do the airport dance (drop off car, walk to terminal, check-in, go through security, etc).

I've been reading this thread and I thoroughly believe airline pricing contains no common sense logic imho.

<snip>

Good luck to everyone on finding decent and consistent airfare prices.

Airfare pricing is very logical, but it is not very predictable, unless you can see the actual sales to available seats, aircraft rotation data, seasonal patterns, maintenance requirements, weather predictions, airport traffic window assignments, gate availability projections, and other variables.

Airlines use a pretty complicated set of algorithms to make predictions, then begin tweeking the pricing model based on customer purchase activity, business contract demand, and a few other customer focused metrics. Seat prices rise and fall based on when we buy, what routes we are willing to take, and the time of year.

Like all business, the airlines want to sell a seat as high a price as possible, so they release their mid-level and a few low level seats way in advance (for legacy carriers), then introduce discounted pricing as the time gets closer to the flight, based on sold inventory.

Ever wonder why WN (Southwest) and B6 (JetBlue) release their schedules in groups six to nine months out? Since they rely on leisure travelers more than business, they don't need to have as much forward thinking and flight stability as demanded by business travel. Since leisure travelers rarely plan vacations more than nine-months out and purchase tickets any earlier, these carriers can afford to wait until some of the metrics settle into predictable patterns. The low-cost airlines release a set of low fares about the same time as the legacy carriers, and once the low fares are taken, they are gone unless the flight continues to sell poorly.

In the end, just because airline pricing is not very predictable to the leisure customer base, doesn't mean it isn't logical and set to gain the highest price possible for each seat. In fact, it is a very elegant dance of many variables that generate the volatility we witness.

 

[Mickfarland4]

Just a little tip: After banging my head against a brick wall all day yesterday trying to find an affordable option for us, I glanced at the map and happened to see Tampa Bay Airport.

We found non-stop flights both ways and saved ourselves around $800 even with renting a car both ways to and from the airport. (full size car around $25 each way)

Might be worth a look to see if it can save you some money. I know you can't use ME there, but we never use it anyway.

I know this may not apply next spring when we go but, I just checked this too and it would save $55 per ticket!! For four of us that adds up! Thanks for the tip!!

 

[TDC Nala]

Checked Jet Blue which just opened today for my flights over Veterans Day weekend and the RT price for my usual flights DCA-MCO is $433. No way that's happening. United had $339. That is for one person. If those don't come down, that trip is being cancelled. No way I'm paying twice what I usually pay to fly to Orlando and back.