Really down about Christmas airfare

[ADisneyQueen]

Airfare for Christmas is $325 and I am just down about it. It just seems like so much considering I paid $170 2 years ago. I wonder if there is still time for it to go down at least a little? I wish I had started looking a month ago like I did in 2009. Farecast says to wait to buy.
I'm not sure if we will go. I don't know if I could spend $1300 on airfare and we will not drive from PA. Maybe we should wait for June but we all hate the heat and there is no other time for us to go.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I don't know if it will go down or not, but if I had firm plans for Christmas travel, I would buy airline tickets now if I could live with the price or would wait only for another month or so. There's a good chance you won't get any big price cuts at one of the busiest times of the year and if you buy now, you don't have to worry about sold out flights.

 

[Jestocost]

Unfortunately, I would not hold out much hope for airfares at a peak travel time like Christmas to come down between now and then. Our tickets for Thanksgiving were $450 RT and have only gone up in price since we bought them on the first day we could.

 

[Redarrow5150]

The economy was in worse shape two years ago. I would wait and just hound the airline websites and continue to shop around a little bit longer.

 

[Brian Noble]

I'm going to say the same thing I said the last time you posted this:

$325 over the holidays is fair. Use a tool like bing's travel to get a sense of expected fluctuations, but I would not mind that at all. Right now, P-Week flights from DTW are $425ish. Fares from 2 years ago are meaningless in the current market, I'm afraid.

I know this is not what you are hoping to hear, but IMO it is what it is.

 

[ancestry]

I think $325 is more than fair for holiday/peak travel time airfare. I would buy now if I were you.

I normally pay around $250 at a slow travel season/non-peak days. $75 more for peak travel time certainly seems more than reasonable to me.

 

[deedeetoo]

I think $325 over the holidays is a good price. We went at Christmas a couple years ago. We booked the day Jet Blue released fares and paid $375 which is the most I've ever paid to get to MCO, but it just kept going up and up after we booked. My Mom decided to join us a few months later and ended up paying about $600.

 

[mdsd8700]

I understand your frustration OP! I too am not liking how much airfare seems to have risen in the last couple of years. Just seems like it has gone up so much, but I am also going to agree with other posters. With the prices of late, $325 at Christmas actually is a fair price in today's market....and I didn't think I would hear myself say that since I have also complained in the past about the higher costs.

We paid $300 RT per person in June and our November trip Thanksgiving Weekend is $325 per person RT. Last year our Thanksgiving trip was $350 per person (Chicago, Midway to Orlando).

I think that you should get airfare as soon as you can if you can live with the price. As another poster said, our $325 airfare in November hasn't been lower, it has only gone up.

Good Luck!

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Two years ago the airlines were generally loosing money. They finally woke up and realized the truth is they could not keep doing that forever just so we could have cheap flights. The result is a lot less capacity in the system. Meaning that someone will buy for $325. The price may only go up. It might go down but.... It probably won't go back to "2 years ago".

 

[ADisneyQueen]

Well, I wonder how reliable the bingfarecast is because it says to wait to buy tickets?
Another reason I can't stand to pay so much for airfare is that my DH usually has frequent flyer miles and vouchers. We've only paid for airfare for half of our trips and of course they were cheaper than this year's tickets.
Still debating on whether or not we should go. Our families expect us to be here for Christmas, too and I'm not sure if we really want to be at WDW on Christmas day or not.

 

[Brian Noble]

Depends on their "confidence", but usually if bing says wait, I wait. The main reason *not* to wait is if I want specific times, or am only willing to fly nonstop. In those cases, paying a little more is usually worth it.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

It was 80% confidence. That seems high but I have never used the site.

 

[mdsd8700]

The main reason *not* to wait is if I want specific times, or am only willing to fly nonstop. In those cases, paying a little more is usually worth it.

The fare we got for $325 was non-stop, which is the only way we like to go. Travel within our dates is possible at odd times or with layovers/connections for less than we paid. For us nonstop is the only way we will go, so I don't generally look at the prices of those other flights. It is a good option though for those who don't mind.

 

[dtstampz]

Wow--I would love to pay $325 for a flight, but living in the Pacific NW, that's not going to happen. Dh and I are looking at flights for the week after Thanksgiving, and the most direct flight is at $709.40 with Delta. Yikes! Guess I'll keep saving $$ and bite the bullet.

 

[Brian Noble]

Looks like my better half and the kids and some family friends are going to pay $330 during P-Week---to TPA. It was $460 to/from MCO. If you don't mind the extra drive, it might be worth looking into. They are cruising DCL, and flying down the day before embarkation, with an evening return flight, so the lost time isn't a big deal. Better than connecting, and a halfway decent price.