Spring Break airfare - WWYD?

[Anal Annie]

OK, so we're going to WDW over spring break. DS's last day of school is Thurs. 3/29 so we are looking to go down on Thurs night for 6 nights and return home on Wed 4/4 (go down early and get in & get out before Easter). SW is releasing their schedule thru 4/9 on Monday so I was all prepared to (hopefully) book something out of BWI on Monday. But then TODAY, I got a fare alert from AirfareWatchdog.com with a good price on Jet Blue out of Dulles. Although we prefer BWI we can use either airport. (Both are about an hour drive but the traffic going to Dulles can be worse for us and the parking is easier at BWI.) ANYWAY, the Jet Blue deal is $209 pp WITH taxes!! Not too shabby 'eh?! I think when we went down for spring break LAST year we paid about $225 pp (went down on SW and came home on Air Tran). SW's schedule only goes thru 3/9 right now so I just looked at the same days of the week & the best deal was $201 pp plus taxes. So the Jet Blue price still beats what they offer for earlier in March.

Would you gamble & wait for Monday or just pull the trigger & book the Jet Blue fare now & be satisfied that it's at least reasonable?! I mean even waiting it's not likely to be much less than that is it?? Plus I would buy the advanced check-in thingy whatever that is called. But not likely to beat that $209 price for spring break time, right??

 

[cathicool]

We live on Long Island, near Islip, so we try and use SW as often as possible. Way more convenient than JFK or LGA, in terms of traffic and parking and time (security, etc). So I understand your dilemma.

Having said this, I think you should book the jetblue fares. SW has been pretty agressively priced recently and although we love flying from Islip (like you are saying BWI vs. Dulles), I'm not willing to spend alot more money to do it. We are a family of 5, so $20 more per person is $100 total for example.

If you were really into it, you *could* reserve the jetblue flights today, then watch it closely tomorrow. I think they have a 24 hr refund policy. If the flight remains the same tomorrow, cancel and rebook (giving yourself another 24 hrs). Do the same on Sunday. You only have to get to Monday so you can compare SW and jetblue.

BUT do check to make sure jetblue has the 24 hr refund (full refund) policy before doing this.

good luck.....make sure you post back about your decision(s)!

 

[Anal Annie]

OK, I did it. I believe the days of $60-70 each way airfares are long gone. It has been probably 3 years since I found round trip airfare to FL for under $130. This was $104 going down & $84 coming home so it ended up being $209 pp with the taxes. On the UP side Jet Blue allows you to select your seat at booking (so I also avoided paying the $10 pp fee that SW charges for the advanced check-in - which still doesn't even get you a SEAT). They have nice planes with TV monitors in each seatback and 1 checked bag free (although we TRY to fly with carry-ons if we can - it's nice to know we can check a bag if we want to). And don't they also participate with the luggage thing where Disney will transport the bags back to the airport for you? We haven't checked bags to WDW in awhile so I forget - what's that called?

I didn't see anything on the website about a 24 hour cancelation period. They are non-refundable tix tho & will incur fees to change or cancel ($50 for the cheaper flight & $100 for the other one I think). NOT planning on doing that tho.

Now I just hope come Monday when the SW fares load that I don't kick myself toooo hard!! I really can't imagine it being a HUGE difference tho.

 

[ancestry]

I think you got a good deal especially considering it is during spring break! Congratulations!

 

[CarolMN]

I think you got a good deal especially considering it is during spring break! Congratulations!

I agree. You know what they say ........A bird in hand, etc.

That's a good price. So don't even look at SWA on Monday, LOL. If you must look, wait until Tuesday or Wednesday. By then any bargains will be gone and you will feel so good about your JB purchase.

 

[cathicool]

I think you did the right thing. We like jetblue for the reasons you stated. Now if they only flew out of Islip........

 

[Anal Annie]

Well, so I just looked at the SW fares (because I HAD to look). Their fare for comparable TIMES to what I booked on Jet Blue came out to a total of $351 more. There were combinations that I could do that would make the price comparable but we would've had to fly down in the morning not the evening (wanted evening as DS has school and that way DH can work a full day). And the return trip would have to be mid-day not evening. (Booking an evening flight home at least gets us another morning for the parks or some pool time.) So I'm glad I bought what I did when I did it.

(plus we didn't have to pay the extra $10 pp for the early bird check-in - we got assigned seats for FREEEEE!)

 

[guarn3md]

Well, so I just looked at the SW fares (because I HAD to look). Their fare for comparable TIMES to what I booked on Jet Blue came out to a total of $351 more. There were combinations that I could do that would make the price comparable but we would've had to fly down in the morning not the evening (wanted evening as DS has school and that way DH can work a full day). And the return trip would have to be mid-day not evening. (Booking an evening flight home at least gets us another morning for the parks or some pool time.) So I'm glad I bought what I did when I did it.

(plus we didn't have to pay the extra $10 pp for the early bird check-in - we got assigned seats for FREEEEE!)

I was all set to buy tickets this am from BWI to MCO for Springbreak too on Southwest. The flights were horrible. We are leaving 3/31, Dream cruise sails on 4/1. The only affordable flight was $94 and it stopped in Jackson, MS!!! Coming home on 4/9 the flight $137 and it stopped in RDU. I had read your posts last night and decided to check Jetblue. Found two great non-stop flights that fit our schedule and just booked them. We are flying out of Reagan though. DH tries to avoid Dulles at all costs!! But Reagan shouldn't be too bad - it's a straight trip down 50W for us. I also was happy that I could pick the seats. Looking forward to trying Jetblue!!
Debbie

 

[Anal Annie]

I was all set to buy tickets this am from BWI to MCO for Springbreak too on Southwest. The flights were horrible. We are leaving 3/31, Dream cruise sails on 4/1. The only affordable flight was $94 and it stopped in Jackson, MS!!! Coming home on 4/9 the flight $137 and it stopped in RDU. I had read your posts last night and decided to check Jetblue. Found two great non-stop flights that fit our schedule and just booked them. We are flying out of Reagan though. DH tries to avoid Dulles at all costs!! But Reagan shouldn't be too bad - it's a straight trip down 50W for us. I also was happy that I could pick the seats. Looking forward to trying Jetblue!!
Debbie

Air Tran had some decent alternatives out of BWI on Saturday (they weren't open on Fri. night when I bought). We used Jet Blue once and they were good - I think you'll like them. Usually they are more $$ so I don't usually book them - but I do always LOOK at their prices. I book the cheapest I can get as long as the flights are non-stop and in/out of the same airport.

We live in upper Montgomery Co. so it's about 1 hr. drive for us to ANY of the 3 major airports. With BWI tho we can take backroads which is helpful to avoid the beltway and there's always coupons on the internet for the FastPark places. Dulles scares me with traffic going over the American Legion bridge if we fly weekdays. You have to allow a lot of extra time just in case. I don't want to drive downtown to National and wouldn't want to leave my car at the metro (Shady Grove for us) to go to National so National is my last choice.

We just used Dulles for the first time in awhile for our Air France flights to / from Europe. We landed EXACTLY at the time of the VA earthquake!! By the time we got out of there traffic was a nightmare since everyone shut down early so we ended up heading north on the toll road to Leesburg and taking White's Ferry across the river rather than going to the beltway. In total it took us 4 hours to get home from when we landed (2 hrs for Customs / baggage & 2 hours on the road)!! Anyway, I had found a Groupon deal for parking at the Hampton Inn Dulles for $20 for 14 days!!! Otherwise the parking at Dulles was going to cost us $180!! But so when I checked in for the parking tag at the hotel the girl told me they always have parking for $20 for just a week as a regular deal so I will call them again for this trip. Sure beats the parking rates at Dulles!!