Playing the dreaded airfare game with Delta....

[SuzyQue]

Just an FYI for those of you who book 6 months out and then check it once or twice and are relieved because it's gone up, I can almost guarantee you it doesn't stay up. I get daily emails from Kayak for DTW-MCO and Delta has certain days of the week they will shoot it way up, and then Tuesdays/Wednesdays bring it back down again. Right now I can still find flights cheaper than the one I booked, and we leave in 2 weeks.

 

[la_la]

I detest this waiting game! I've found a decent fare that we are willing to pay, but I want to go a step further and get a more desirable return time. The only option for the cheaper flight is 7:30 a.m. That means being on ME by 4:30 and being at the airport at 5 a.m with a 1 year old and a 6 year old. YIKES! I'm so scared the price is going to increase though, and in fact it did yesterday. Thankfully today the fares are back down (there might be something to the book on a Tue/Wed myth for me anyways!), but my stomach is in knots wondering if I should go with the undesirable time and cheap price or take a chance and hope they open up the other flights with the cheaper price?? Where is that crystal ball when you need it? lol

 

[tyandbash]

Well, Delta fares were back down this afternoon. I was at work and couldn't book, then came home to actually book and the fare went up by $50 per ticket! Now I'm panicking.....but we are not going until August, so do you the fares may go back down? I hope so.

 

[tyandbash]

In the 10 minutes since I posted above the fare has increased by $10. What happened?

 

[Brian Noble]

off season trips, traveling mid-week to mid-week

These are the keys. If you have anything that is even remotely in demand, or you need to fly on specific days, it's a lot harder. My trips are always during times when the kids are out of school (or the University is on break) and $200 RT is simply unrealistic for those times.

 

[Colleen27]

These are the keys. If you have anything that is even remotely in demand, or you need to fly on specific days, it's a lot harder. My trips are always during times when the kids are out of school (or the University is on break) and $200 RT is simply unrealistic for those times.

Yeah, I'm lucky that way - I'm a SAHM, DH is self-employed, and my kids are still young enough to miss a little school for trips (we plan around minor breaks/long weekends rather than major holidays) so we have a lot of flexibility and plan most our trips with Tues/Wed/Thurs travel days.

 

[SuzyQue]

Also, don't totally depend on looking at only one airline for your R/T. Use Kayak.com, if there is a cheaper fare using 2 different airlines, they'll find it for you (called hacker fares).

 

[jodifla]

The fares from DTW to MCO are just like the stock market....up and down all the time.

We booked for about $200 just about 10 days ago for our trip in late April. But we are doing a Tuesday to Tuesday flight.

I've found the best fares typically at a couple months out.

 

[sharona]

I detest this waiting game! I've found a decent fare that we are willing to pay, but I want to go a step further and get a more desirable return time. The only option for the cheaper flight is 7:30 a.m. That means being on ME by 4:30 and being at the airport at 5 a.m with a 1 year old and a 6 year old. YIKES! I'm so scared the price is going to increase though, and in fact it did yesterday. Thankfully today the fares are back down (there might be something to the book on a Tue/Wed myth for me anyways!), but my stomach is in knots wondering if I should go with the undesirable time and cheap price or take a chance and hope they open up the other flights with the cheaper price?? Where is that crystal ball when you need it? lol

Depending on the airline, you can do a dummy booking on Orbitz and look at the choose your seat option to see how many seats are left on that "more desirable" flight. Not exactly scientific but if the flight is close to full, you probably won't see a big fare drop.

 

[la_la]

There are a bunch of more desirable flights than 7:30 a.m, so here's hoping they'll go down. The bad thing is there are about 4 flights leaving MCO heading to Atlanta, so all of those will have to fill first.

Depending on the airline, you can do a dummy booking on Orbitz and look at the choose your seat option to see how many seats are left on that "more desirable" flight. Not exactly scientific but if the flight is close to full, you probably won't see a big fare drop.

I just checked the flights I'm looking at today and they are through the stinking roof!! More than they've ever been. Ugh

 

[elaine amj]

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.

That's a fantastic price! I would totally go for that. I still keep dreaming of when I flew in jan 2011 and got $150 r/t pp from DTW to MCO - Now that was a bargain! That said, it was low season - so that must have helped a lot.

I'm watching for prices for my end of August trip and am resigned to paying about $300 pp.

Hopefully it will be better than the $355 pp I'm paying for our March trip! On the other hand, I checked prices yet again for our March trip and tickets are around $400+ and all at undesirable times. The flights we wanted are not even available at all so i guess it was good we bit the bullet and bought our tickets.

 

[Akess]

My family of four will be traveling to Disney World in November 2012. The last time we flew was also to Disney in 2003, so it has been quite some time since I searched for airline tickets. Our 2012 trip will be over Thanksgiving weekend, November 20-26, flying out of DTW to MCO. I have been reading alot of suggestions from people to not purchase too soon, but isn't it necessary to purchase early when traveling during a holiday like Thanksgiving? Like many others who have posted to this thread, I too have been checking airline ticket prices hoping for a significant drop. So far, I have only see prices rise from $231-$308, but I have even noticed prices as high as $385-415 some days. I am just worried that if I wait too long seats will be sold out or we will be priced out of our budget.

 

[JennSaint]

My family of four will be traveling to Disney World in November 2012. The last time we flew was also to Disney in 2003, so it has been quite some time since I searched for airline tickets. Our 2012 trip will be over Thanksgiving weekend, November 20-26, flying out of DTW to MCO. I have been reading alot of suggestions from people to not purchase too soon, but isn't it necessary to purchase early when traveling during a holiday like Thanksgiving? Like many others who have posted to this thread, I too have been checking airline ticket prices hoping for a significant drop. So far, I have only see prices rise from $231-$308, but I have even noticed prices as high as $385-415 some days. I am just worried that if I wait too long seats will be sold out or we will be priced out of our budget.

I think for your dates anything under $300 would be great. If you see that $231 again I wouldn't pass it over!! I really don't think you'd see anything less than $231 for those dates. How come you didn't book at $231??

 

[Brian Noble]

For major holidays, I would not mess around. If that $308 is for non-stop flights, I'd book them sooner rather than later.

 

[Akess]

I agree that I will likely not see anything below the $231. The first and only time I was able to see the rates that low was when I first started looking, but was not ready to buy. That was over a month ago. Now I am waiting on knowing for sure the name of the fourth person we are taking before I can order tickets (my daughter is bringing a friend and we are waiting on the parents approval).

 

[CapnJacksGirl]

The way things look from MSP to MCO for August (at this point), I'm jumping on anything under $400 so I can get two of our four tickets using credit card points. I've never had to worry about whether the price will go low enough to use our points before, but things have me worried right now. I know I still have another week before we're six months out, but it's just crazy! And watching fuel price speculations on the news doesn't make me feel any better.

 

[Akess]

I did not book at $231 because that was over a month ago when I was just starting to check on prices. At that time, I did not have the name of the friend my daughter is bringing to Disney World with us. Actually, we are still waiting on an approval from the parents. Until then, I cannot order tickets until I have a name for the fourth ticket. Hopefully, we will get an answer this weekend.