Question for those of you that have traveled to Florida during Christmas

[DCLMP]

I'm going on a cruise starting the week before Christmas and ending on the 27th. I've never traveled to Orlando during the holiday season. When is the best time to buy airfare? I'm finding prices ridiculous.

 

[Cheburashka]

I'm going on a cruise starting the week before Christmas and ending on the 27th. I've never traveled to Orlando during the holiday season. When is the best time to buy airfare? I'm finding prices ridiculous.

I buy airfare as soon as I know for sure we're going to travel. Most airlines' prices (at least to Orlando) just keep going up, in my experience. Southwest is the only airline where I've seen dips in prices after I've purchased. The others (the legacy airlines & JetBlue) seem to just keep getting more expensive as time goes on. I wouldn't wait to book, hoping for a price decrease, especially in this year of travel insanity. You're more likely to get burned than rewarded.

Play around with the dates a little when you search for flights. Look at different airlines, not just your favorite ones. Holiday airfares are higher (especially the return flight on the Sunday after a major holiday), but they don't have to be out of this world nuts if you're a bit flexible with your dates & check all of the major airlines.

 

[Intr3pid]

Traditionally, two to three months out is a good buying time - but you can't take this year or 2020 as normal years. There is a possibility of a spike in cases in the fall, and the airfares could nose dive. Or it might be all smooth sailing from here, and with international travel still limited, Orlando could get super busy. Best way to deal with it is to buy an airfare that you can - if needed - get out of or cancel/change/rebook.

 

[AquaDame]

We also tend to buy our airfare as soon as our dates are set. Holiday time is always more expensive unfortunately and this year I imagine it is even worse due to pent up demand. Flying on the 27th is probably the expensive leg; I wouldn't expect the price to drop at all during that week.

 

[DCLMP]

Traditionally, two to three months out is a good buying time - but you can't take this year or 2020 as normal years. There is a possibility of a spike in cases in the fall, and the airfares could nose dive. Or it might be all smooth sailing from here, and with international travel still limited, Orlando could get super busy. Best way to deal with it is to buy an airfare that you can - if needed - get out of or cancel/change/rebook.

When I look at the seating charts it appears they haven't sold any seats so I'm thinking there will eventually be a sale. It does seem very early. I would never look this early except now there are no cancel and change fees. Miami is actually pretty reasonable. I considered cruising out of there, but then I thought maybe I should plan on Orlando in case I change my mind on the cruise and decide to go to WDW. There are still a lot of unknowns with cruising and a lot can change in 6 months.

 

[DCLMP]

We also tend to buy our airfare as soon as our dates are set. Holiday time is always more expensive unfortunately and this year I imagine it is even worse due to pent up demand. Flying on the 27th is probably the expensive leg; I wouldn't expect the price to drop at all during that week.

Actually, that week has low prices at least coming back to my state. It's flying into MCO that's high and of course, New years weekend going out is bad. I was originally going to do a cruise that ended on Jan 2. I scratched that off the list after checking airfare.

 

[OpieDoodle]

The earlier you buy tickets the better around holiday times. It may also be a good idea to shop around for flights on different days. Like sometimes the evening before you planned to fly may be a couple hundred cheaper.

 

[Cheburashka]

When I look at the seating charts it appears they haven't sold any seats so I'm thinking there will eventually be a sale.

Seating charts are not a good indication of how full the flight is. Most passengers purchase the lowest-cost "basic" tickets, which do not allow you to reserve a seat in advance. The seating chart only tells you which seats are available for passengers to reserve. They do not indicate how many passengers are booked for the flight.

 

[AquaDame]

Actually, that week has low prices at least coming back to my state. It's flying into MCO that's high and of course, New years weekend going out is bad. I was originally going to do a cruise that ended on Jan 2. I scratched that off the list after checking airfare.

That does seem very strange... this is certainly a weird year! Jan 2nd makes a lot of sense; its a Sunday, right after a ton of people have the week between xmas and NY off. When we travel over NY we tend to add on a day or two to save hundreds on airfare.

 

[JWG]

I tend to watch Google Flights (even if I know what airline I want to fly), their trend data and analysis seems to be directionally accurate.
I hear that buying airfare in that 90-120 window is the sweet spot for cost (thought not sure how that holds for popular routes). Too early and you pay early adopter rates, too late and you pay escalated limited availability rates.

We did see that for FL this year. We traveled down in March, 2020 and started watching airfare in late October because I had a free companion ticket I wanted to use. Nothing was available - only full fare rates. Nothing opened up until end of December (still high rates). So, once we could get something with our free companion ticket we did. Surprisingly, in mid-January rates plummeted and we could have paid the same without the companion ticket as we did with it. It was strange, but 2020-21 isn't really a good marker of reality.

 

[RedHead0186]

If Southwest is an option for you, if you book now, you can always check pricing and if the is cheaper at a later date you can get that money back (in travel credits, not a refund). That doesn't work for everyone, but it works well for me so I usually book pretty much as soon as I know I'm traveling, then I just keep checking prices and if it it's cheaper later I just 'change' the flight (not really since it's the same flight), but take the travel credit. The only downside is that if you do get a travel credit, it expires one year from the date of the original booking, not the date of travel. For example, if you booked now for December 2020 travel, then in a month or two found it was cheaper and asked for travel credits, you would have to use them by June of 2021 (not December 2021). I can't remember now if you have to fly by the expiration date or just book by the expiration date, you'd want to look into that.

Maybe Southwest isn't a good option for you, but I'd still recommend purchasing sooner than later. I'm a planner so I like to have things locked in (heck, I just booked one-way rentals today MCO --> Port Canaveral and back for our May 2022 cruise. So maybe I'm a bit on the extreme side, lol.

 

[kathi]

We are sailing the Fantasy 12/19 on a B2B. I just booked my flights last week and seats were booking up (from Philly). I'd do it now. I don't feel like the 60 to 90 day rule works for holiday travel.

 

[DCLMP]

If Southwest is an option for you, if you book now, you can always check pricing and if the is cheaper at a later date you can get that money back (in travel credits, not a refund). That doesn't work for everyone, but it works well for me so I usually book pretty much as soon as I know I'm traveling, then I just keep checking prices and if it it's cheaper later I just 'change' the flight (not really since it's the same flight), but take the travel credit. The only downside is that if you do get a travel credit, it expires one year from the date of the original booking, not the date of travel. For example, if you booked now for December 2020 travel, then in a month or two found it was cheaper and asked for travel credits, you would have to use them by June of 2021 (not December 2021). I can't remember now if you have to fly by the expiration date or just book by the expiration date, you'd want to look into that.

Maybe Southwest isn't a good option for you, but I'd still recommend purchasing sooner than later. I'm a planner so I like to have things locked in (heck, I just booked one-way rentals today MCO --> Port Canaveral and back for our May 2022 cruise. So maybe I'm a bit on the extreme side, lol.

I wouldn't even book at these prices. 400 plus per person one way. I will change to Miami before I do that. I do have miles on AA and Delta, but I'm trying to save them for Europe next year. I'm looking at sailing on MSC out of PC in a yacht club deluxe suite or the new Seashore out of Miami in a one bedroom suite not yacht club. Both of these options are significantly less than an inside on the Fantasy. I've always wanted to do a Christmas cruise, but couldn't afford DCL prices. We cruised on Royal right before the pandemic. I think that plus the pandemic has released the hook Disney had in me.

 

[RedHead0186]

I wouldn't even book at these prices. 400 plus per person one way. I will change to Miami before I do that. I do have miles on AA and Delta, but I'm trying to save them for Europe next year. I'm looking at sailing on MSC out of PC in a yacht club deluxe suite or the new Seashore out of Miami in a one bedroom suite not yacht club. Both of these options are significantly less than an inside on the Fantasy. I've always wanted to do a Christmas cruise, but couldn't afford DCL prices. We cruised on Royal right before the pandemic. I think that plus the pandemic has released the hook Disney had in me.

Admittedly, I did not specifically look at what SW pricing would be during that time, I was speaking more from just a general strategy/approach. I agree, $400+ per person one way is a lot, even considering SW's prices are not as low as they used to be.

 

[kathi]

We love SW, but American was significantly cheaper for 12/18 from PHL to MCO.

 

[aliceinvunderland]

Be sure to check dates a day or two before and after the cruise as well. It was much cheaper for us to return from MCO on Monday, Dec. 27th than to come back on the 26th. For a family of seven, even adding in a hotel and rental car for that extra night was less expensive than returning the day we disembark.

 

[soniam]

It’s like the price of DCL. Opening day is almost always the cheapest, barring worldwide pandemic or other catastrophe. SW releases a few of their cheapest rate, Wanna Getaway, when the schedule first comes out. They can go pretty fast. Holidays just magnify the situation. Who knows how Covid or staffing shortages will affect prices?

 

[DCLMP]

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It’s like the price of DCL. Opening day is almost always the cheapest, barring worldwide pandemic or other catastrophe. SW releases a few of their cheapest rate, Wanna Getaway, when the schedule first comes out. They can go pretty fast. Holidays just magnify the situation. Who knows how Covid or staffing shortages will affect prices?

I don’t know about that. Prices dropped today. If you check daily you’ll see prices go up and down and different routes on sale periodically. If your booking with miles awards change constantly.
I don’t fly Southwest though. It seems to be the go to airline on this forum.

 

[soniam]

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I don’t know about that. Prices dropped today. If you check daily you’ll see prices go up and down and different routes on sale periodically. If your booking with miles awards change constantly.
I don’t fly Southwest though. It seems to be the go to airline on this forum.

It has some of the best routes and prices for us in Austin. It depends from where you are departing. It will be interesting to see if American’s large number of cancelled flights will affect anything, because supply may get more limited and demand seems high,

 

[DCLMP]

It has some of the best routes and prices for us in Austin. It depends from where you are departing. It will be interesting to see if American’s large number of cancelled flights will affect anything, because supply may get more limited and demand seems high,

I think this it what we can expect traveling right now. From cruises, car rentals, flights and hotels supply is limited. It makes sense from their end to keep supply limited and prices high. It stinks for us though.
Maybe your having better luck, but I haven’t found and deals. Even WDW’s Summer discounts were pathetic.