Playing the dreaded airfare game with Delta....

[lakohls]

In early 2011 we watched the pricing for nov upstate ny (so Albany, Hartford, Burlington, Stewart airports) to know what to expect when airfares were actually released. We booked JetBlue out of Hartford day of release. If I recall it was about $200/each, and since so low I ended up using Amex point (102,000). Within about 3 dys those flight went up considerably and were double by the month of departure. We did have 2 flight changes on both departure & return segments, but nothing too outrageous. Kids were actually happy with the fri eve time changed to early afternoon o they ended up missing an extra day of school! But no doubt in my mind that this trip we definitely got the best deal by watching ahead & booking early.

 

[jen42002]

Aug 26- sept 1. I know...traveling on expensive days and not flexible....and of course I want the early morning departure and late afternoon return. If it goes to $250 I will book....$300 is just so high...I've paid under $200 rt the past 5 years....those days are gone

Unfortunately airfares have gone way up over the past few years. We paid about $190 RT from MKE in October 2009. In August 2011, the best fare available was $270 RT. With a family of 6 it definitely adds up but driving was definitely not an option as our kiddos are a bit crazy in the car. I used Kayak for price alerts and it worked well.

 

[JetsetJAK]

I'm going down to Disney with some friends on Wed, Sept. 26th through Wed, Oct. 3rd. Airfare just became available through Sept. 28th, and we found a good deal that we jumped on right away. Southwest, leaves Pittsburgh at 6:05am, nonstop, arrives in Orlando at 8:15am, $106 a person (including all the various taxes and whatnot). We figured that flight was a best case scenario type thing, since we're happy with the price, and we'll be arriving so early that we'll really be getting the most bang for our buck out of that first day. My sister is a travel agent, and she told us airfare was probably not gonna get much better than that, so we grabbed it right away.

Now of course, this is only the flight TO Orlando, we still don't have any returning flights since airfare is only out through Sept, 28th, and we return Oct. 3rd. But still, it feels good to know that at least half of our flights are booked!

 

[pmaurer74]

I was playing this game around the holidays. Usually there would be airfare deals on holidays so I bought them on New Years Day 2 months before our trip. This is with Airtran I paid a little more than I wanted but one flight looked fairly full online and I wanted those flight times. I am glad I booked when I did.... 2 days later they shot up and we would have paid $375 more for the same flights. Sign up for their deal alerts on your cell phone too. Southwest would send me dings all the time on fare alerts only good for a few hours but they usually were about 4-6 weeks out.

 

[m&m's mom]

I finally "pulled the trigger" last night on our June WDW/DCL trip. I have been spending about an hour a night playing with every airfare combination-and just nothing was working.
Finally yesterday SW added a bunch of direct flights (cannot fly non-stop from DAL-MCO). The times and pricing I could live with, so I went ahead and bought them. Normally I always wait till about 3 months out, but with the difficulty of scheduling and the talk of gas prices etc- I was just ready for it to be over with.

 

[LaurieN]

I've been watching the air fare for Nov and I'm not too happy with what I've seen Prices are so much higher than they were at this time last year, about $100 pre person each way I know it's really early to book for Nov, but last year I booked my air fare in Feb for our Thanksgiving trip and got a great price: it came to $968 after taxes and fees for the 4 of us, same flights this year, $1,377. I'm going to hold out a few months and hope the prices go down but I do know that it's a busy time of year and I can't wait too long or I will be shut out completely.

Laurie

 

[disneydiva1313]

Bought my tickets early December...for mid-March. Not using Delta...anyway, my exact flight has now doubled in price...yikes!

 

[Colleen27]

I'd wait. We usually fly Delta, sometimes Airtrain, only Spirit if they have a ridiculously low fare (I once got $110pp r/t - that was worth the fees), and generally see the best fares at 6 to 10 weeks in advance from all three airlines.

For our trip last week Delta was showing over $300pp in early Nov, but got down to $199pp r/t when I booked it in mid Dec. I have a mental number that is a good price and once it drops to that point I book. If it doesn't get there by the 6 week mark I'll suck it up and book a more expensive fare, but I wouldn't book 7+ months in advance at a higher price than I'm comfortable with.

ETA: Even though you want Delta, you need to check on whether the discount carriers are booking for your dates yet. That's something I've noticed being consistent over the years - look at Delta fares before Airtran and Southwest open up the dates you're looking for and they'll be much higher than after the competition has opened for booking.

 

[Annadesu]

We got our tickets 5 months ago, for this May... We saw them pretty cheap at 1am. We looked at the prices yesterday, for fun, and we noticed we saved several hundred bucks on them.

 

[SuzyQue]

I agree with Colleen27 it's too soon to book. Delta has more flights than they know what to do with, and they bounce the times and the fares around constantly. We booked our 2/21-3/6 DTW-Tampa flight about 6-7 weeks out as I watched all the decent time frames disappearing. Since that time I've watched the price go up, go down, new time frames come, then they go, then they come back again. Last week I could have booked even better times for about $27 less per ticket than I paid. You definitely need to do the dance with Delta if you want to get that decent fare. And overall airfare is definitely higher this year than last, we paid $100 more per ticket this year.

 

[triplejen]

I don't know how Delta handles this, but on Jetblue (which I love and always fly) they will give you a travel credit for a price drop between your time of purchase and time of flight, if you notice it and call them about it.

I typically pull the trigger on fares when I can get round-trip flights for my family in the neighborhood of $300 per person. I know from previous flying that at some point the price will drop, even for just a day, to closer to $225 - $250 round trip, but it makes me too nervous to not book at all while waiting for those prices. (I have in some years even gotten the elusive but totally wonderful $186 - $198 round trip fares, but those have been harder to come by more recently.)

Since we go every year, I can use the credit for the previous year's price adjustment for the current year of booking, and then keep an eye out for a price drop that I can use for an an adjustment on next year's flights.

And since Jetblue books each way individually, I can call for one adjustment when the outgoing flight drops, and then a few weeks later call for an adjustment on my return flights if they drop separately.

 

[carol-lamb]

I find flights from DTW to Florida hand around the $270-$300 mark when you book way in advance. It seems to start climbing about 2-3 months out.

Like many of you, I'm hoping for an end of Aug trip too and I think I will book at the $300 price 3 months out. my nerves just can't take this pricewatching anymore!! Plus, I know for sure I'll get the flight times I want. I was quite horrified to find flight times disappear on me...at 6 weeks out!

I fly out of Detroit to Florida at least four times a year. I agree with you about the price of fares - around $250-300 - if you book about 4-5 months out is a decent price. They do start climbing around 2-3 months out. I booked in Nov. for my trip in March and paid $300 total with fees and tax. Just checked the other day at 1 month out and for our identical itinerary it is now $455. It wasn't that long ago (maybe 5 years) that I was able to get round trip tickets at $122 total, but sadly those days are long gone. My next trip would most likely be in August and I will get serious about booking air fare around the end of March. I would be comfortable with $300.

 

[danny1649]

Moved your post to our Transportation Board where the experts can help you.

 

[Colleen27]

I fly out of Detroit to Florida at least four times a year. I agree with you about the price of fares - around $250-300 - if you book about 4-5 months out is a decent price. They do start climbing around 2-3 months out. I booked in Nov. for my trip in March and paid $300 total with fees and tax. Just checked the other day at 1 month out and for our identical itinerary it is now $455. It wasn't that long ago (maybe 5 years) that I was able to get round trip tickets at $122 total, but sadly those days are long gone. My next trip would most likely be in August and I will get serious about booking air fare around the end of March. I would be comfortable with $300.

Wow! Maybe I've just been lucky but I'm still getting fares around $200pp r/t from DTW to MCO. An extra $100pp would have me seriously considering driving because there are 5 of us; $1500 in airfare alone would be hard to stomach after getting in under $1000 for so long!

 

[carol-lamb]

Wow! Maybe I've just been lucky but I'm still getting fares around $200pp r/t from DTW to MCO. An extra $100pp would have me seriously considering driving because there are 5 of us; $1500 in airfare alone would be hard to stomach after getting in under $1000 for so long!

Colleen - I saw one of your previous posts on this thread about the $200 air fare. I haven't seen anything that cheap in a while. Probably the cheapest I've seen in a while is $225. When I first started looking in Nov. for my March trip, the price was around $240 and I was ready to jump on it. I am going with my daughter and her roommate and the roommate wasn't ready to book yet. She kept thinking she could find a better price on Expedia or one of those sites (which I always think are the same price as the airline itself). The next day it was up a little - I don't remember exactly how much, but I know it never went down to the $240 again. I waited a few days and watched it go up to about $400 one day and then it started coming down. I just went and checked my receipt and I actually paid $265 pp (including tax and fees) - so not as bad as the $300 I originally thought I paid! By then it was the end of November and I thought that was a good price, especially for March and spring break time, etc. and I didn't think it would go lower than that. Once I book, I try not to go back and look at prices because I don't want to drive myself crazy, especially with the way Delta constantly plays around with their fares. I only checked last week because I knew at one month out, the price would be much higher than what we paid and not lower and I was curious as to what they were now charging for our flight.

 

[Brian Noble]

It's increasingly rare, but possible. Bing lists a $205 fare for my Feb/Mar trip on precisely one day out of the last 2+ months (and I remember seeing it---it was on Spirit, so by the time you're done paying all the random fees you're up to $250 or so...plus you're flying Spirit).

I watch DTW-MCO pretty closely. If I can get non-stop flights at preferable times (mid-morning departure, early afternoon return) for $325 or less all-in, I figure that's okay. You can sometimes catch them for less, but not by a whole lot once you add in all the extras.

 

[carol-lamb]

It's increasingly rare, but possible. Bing lists a $205 fare for my Feb/Mar trip on precisely one day out of the last 2+ months (and I remember seeing it---it was on Spirit, so by the time you're done paying all the random fees you're up to $250 or so...plus you're flying Spirit).

I watch DTW-MCO pretty closely. If I can get non-stop flights at preferable times (mid-morning departure, early afternoon return) for $325 or less all-in, I figure that's okay. You can sometimes catch them for less, but not by a whole lot once you add in all the extras.

Totally agree. I should also mention that the $265 (with fees) fare for my March trip is with an early evening departure and a really really early (6:30 a.m.) return flight. The only reason I booked those flights was because my daughter's roommate was paying for her own air fare and wanted to keep it under $300. All other round trip flights for our days were around $50 more per person. My husband said I was stupid for booking the cheaper fare and I should have just offered to pay the extra money for her ticket to be able to fly out of Orlando a little later in the day. I kind of instantly regretted booking the cheaper one, but the girls assured me that they will have no problem getting out the door at 3:30 a.m. to get on the Magical Express. They said they won't even go to bed that night. They are only 19 and I think it will probably be the most hardest on me! As I've had a couple of months to think about it, it would have been well worth the extra $150 to have a more desirable return flight. Lesson learned!

 

[goofgal31]

We are flying DTW to MCO early August. I was able to book Delta morning flight out and early evening return for 214pp/rt all fees included(booked in Dec). Just looked at prices for same flights and they are up to 275. So glad I decided to book when I did.

 

[carol-lamb]

We are flying DTW to MCO early August. I was able to book Delta morning flight out and early evening return for 214pp/rt all fees included(booked in Dec). Just looked at prices for same flights and they are up to 275. So glad I decided to book when I did.

lol! I was checking last night for mid August flights and yes, they were all $275 (DTW-MCO). We've been going around that time the past few years, but this year we are not sure what our summer vacation plans will be. My husband's been talking about Hawaii (Aulani). We've also thought about California with a visit to Disneyland as we have never been.

 

[Colleen27]

Colleen - I saw one of your previous posts on this thread about the $200 air fare. I haven't seen anything that cheap in a while. Probably the cheapest I've seen in a while is $225. When I first started looking in Nov. for my March trip, the price was around $240 and I was ready to jump on it. I am going with my daughter and her roommate and the roommate wasn't ready to book yet. She kept thinking she could find a better price on Expedia or one of those sites (which I always think are the same price as the airline itself). The next day it was up a little - I don't remember exactly how much, but I know it never went down to the $240 again. I waited a few days and watched it go up to about $400 one day and then it started coming down. I just went and checked my receipt and I actually paid $265 pp (including tax and fees) - so not as bad as the $300 I originally thought I paid! By then it was the end of November and I thought that was a good price, especially for March and spring break time, etc. and I didn't think it would go lower than that. Once I book, I try not to go back and look at prices because I don't want to drive myself crazy, especially with the way Delta constantly plays around with their fares. I only checked last week because I knew at one month out, the price would be much higher than what we paid and not lower and I was curious as to what they were now charging for our flight.

It's increasingly rare, but possible. Bing lists a $205 fare for my Feb/Mar trip on precisely one day out of the last 2+ months (and I remember seeing it---it was on Spirit, so by the time you're done paying all the random fees you're up to $250 or so...plus you're flying Spirit).

I watch DTW-MCO pretty closely. If I can get non-stop flights at preferable times (mid-morning departure, early afternoon return) for $325 or less all-in, I figure that's okay. You can sometimes catch them for less, but not by a whole lot once you add in all the extras.

I guess I have been lucky! I expect we'll pay a bit more in May because we're traveling around a holiday weekend but for our off season trips, traveling mid-week to mid-week, we're still hitting that $200 mark. We don't check bags and we don't fly Spirit unless they have an insanely good fare (I got $110pp r/t with them last March, that was worth the bag fees), but Delta and Airtran always seem to fall to somewhere in the ballpark of $200 sooner or later. We usually fly out late morning/early afternoon and home mid-late afternoon because we're 2 hours from the airport and want to allow drive time without pushing our normal schedules too much, but we'll occasionally pick up an early morning departure and do the park-sleep-fly thing at DTW.