Thanksgiving airfare?

[MrsMud]

This question is for anyone who has flown on or around Thanksgiving recently:
How crazy was the airfare? I am starting to plan our next WDW trip and really want to take advantage of the 2 days off at Thanksgiving. However, we would probably be flying down either the day BEFORE (which I think may be the most - traveled day of the year...YIKES!) or the day OF T-Day. I will admit I have been spoiled rotten by great deals from Southwest ($49 one way for our past 2 trips). I certainly don't expect to find that, but can I hope to find somewhere around $99 one way, or am I being overly optimistic? Thanks to anyone who can relay their experience.

 

[sixcats]

I was able to grab what I think will be a great fare of $175.60 from Delta for the weekend. That was a few months ago. The fare has jumped to $740 now.

I'm pretty sure that it will drop again, but if you find anything under $200 or so, jump on it. Airfare seems to be running high for us this year.

 

[dcgrumpy]

We flew this past Thanksgiving on Spriit for $108 rt plus tax and fees. My sister paid $118 rt on Song. We bought our tickets in january

 

[Jen D]

We were thinking about going down for Thanksgiving this year, we had a week booked, Nov 18-25. For about a month after the month opened up reasonable fares could be found, but recently they shot up to the stratosphere and I don't think they are coming back down. I think we missed our shot. Now we're thinking about booking Presidents Week again and I think we've learned our lesson, we're looking at booking 331 days out.

Every now and then there are sales and you can get lucky. But even then you need to be flexible about days.

 

[MrsMud]

Wow, thanks for the quick replies!
Southwest is our preferred airline, as they are 1) 15 minutes from our house, 2) Fly nonstop to Orlando, and 3) Offer some great deals. Unfortunately they do not open up fares until 4 - 6 months out. Right now they are booking through mid August, I believe. I am really good at checking every day and jumping on those flights as soon as they are released, I'm just wondering if they might be way more than I am hoping to spend. I would certainly go with another carrier if the price was right, although it seems like for many of them, it's too late to get a great deal. Thanks again!

 

[jeankeri]

I booked flights for my aunt on SW last year departing day before/returning Sunday. Did the SW fare watch and the best I did was $239/pp (forget which, but one way was $109, the other $129). This was NS form Providence, RI. I checked fares for her for about 3 months. When we first were looking Delta/Song would have been $219pp but she wanted to wait for SW fares. That Delta/Song fare only increased- I don't think it went under $339pp anytime near her trip. I did a fare watch from Orbitz. Their lowest fare was $209pp with one of the flights arriving VERY late.

 

[wdwfan1]

Booked last minute trip on SW last year. Paid around $200 pp from Islip. We left the day after Thanksgiving and returned on Tuesday night.