Thanksgiving airfare

[laughinplace199]

Anyone flying to WDW for Thanksgiving? We have been a couple of times in the past few years at Thanksgiving, but I have never seen airfare so high! I started looking just before the gas prices shot up and it was really high then too. Not sure if we will bite the bullet or try to go in the summer instead. Jetblue from BOS was almost $1000 per person. I think in the past we paid maybe $600-700 pp tops.

Some of the online tracking sites say it will go down, but who knows.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

If you're near Boston, have you checked Hartford, Providence, and Manchester? No guarantees that they'll be any better but there's always a chance.

 

[lowlight]

Yes, airfare that week is crazy. It’s pretty high even outside that week. We’ve decided to drive. JFK has the cheapest prices in the metro area, and it was still high.

 

[KittyKitty]

I am flying on Friday, 11/25. Resorts prices are high, but the airfare was lower. Even lower than flying on Thanksgiving.

 

[SLThomas318]

Flights are crazy high for the fall… do you use hopper? I’ve had good luck with it watching flights for me… I’m watching a labor day and thanksgiving flight.

 

[stinkpickle]

Fall fares were going to be high anyway, and now, oil price spikes just adding to them.

 

[laughinplace199]

Unfortunately, due to school/work schedules, we can't be flexible with our dates and we can't drive. Other area airports are just as high, so no luck trying another airport.

I'm thinking we will wait a little bit and if prices don't come down we will switch our trip to August.

 

[debster812]

We are actually flying from Boston into Tampa on Thanksgiving day, and then driving down to Marco Island on JetBlue. Snagged a fare of $159 (it's up to $204 now--so still not terrible). We are flying home from Ft Myers, but right now, it looks like you could fly into Tampa on Thanksgiving, and out of Orlando on the following Saturday for +/- $480, which isn't too terrible for holiday flights.

 

[Cheburashka]

Check different airlines. The legacy airlines (American, Delta, United) can often be more affordable than the "budget" airlines, such as JetBlue & Southwest, at peak times of year.

Also, if you're able to return on a day that is not the Sunday after Thanksgiving, that should help, as well. Thanksgiving fares are typically expensive, but a Sunday return is often the priciest part of a Thanksgiving round trip.

 

[laughinplace199]

Thanks for the input, everyone. With one kid in college and one kid in high school, we can't be very flexible with our travel dates. Delta has the lowest fares for our dates, so I'll keep watching for now. I'd love another Thanksgiving trip for the Christmas decorations and being somewhere warmer than home, but an end of August trip would mean cheaper airfare and lower crowds. There are pros and cons to both but in the end, we'll be happy just to take this WDW trip together. It gets hard once the kids start growing up and having lives of their own!

 

[MrKnight]

Look at all airlines, not just JetBlue, keep checking back, and also set an air fare notification on google flights, it will alert you via email each time the price changes for the particular dates/destinations you are flying to/from..

 

[_19disnA]

With peak travel periods (i.e. Thanksgiving/Christmas) it is best to buy your airline ticket as soon as you have finalized your plans. The lowest priced fares or best travel options sell out first. Fares jump to a higher category when all of the low price seats on a given flight are gone. If they can fill airplanes on major holidays, there is little/no reason to ever offer a discount. I believe the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is typically the busiest travel day. If you can travel some other day, fares will likely be lower. One year we were going somewhere and traveled on Christmas day, low fare and airports not very busy since most people had already reached their holiday destination.

 

[spiders]

Delta has said that bookings remain strong and they believe a 10% increase to help cover rising oil will be easily absorbed. As always, book when you feel comfortable.

 

[aokeefe]

If you can hold out on booking until Southwest releases their schedule to include Thanksgiving (which might be June, you might have luck with their day of release flights. They are the most reasonable on their release date. Southwest only has direct flights from BOS-MCO on Saturdays but if you are near Providence or Manchester, NH, they offer more direct flights daily.

 

[Sandiz08]

We have July flights, Ive been waiting for them to come down for months or change. They have held steady so we went ahead and bought them the other day. Needless to say, August may not be that much better with everything that is going on right now.

 

[Mle8308]

August prices are a little lower but still crazy. We booked about 6 weeks ago, I knew prices would be rising (flying out of Boston and back into Providence). We are on SW and paid $300 round trip, including early check in. Same flight is now up to over $600 without early check in. Jet Blue out of Boston is a little over $500 and that is Blue Basic, which doesn't even include a bag in the overhead bin or being able to choose your seat (have to wait until 24 hours prior). If you want overhead bin access, it was about $600, and no checked bag. And seats are limited - crazy! At this point, I am not sure fares will go down! Good luck!

 

[laughinplace199]

Update:
We gave up on Thanksgiving and booked airfare for mid-August. So we'll miss Xmas decorations but we'll have lower crowds (gotta look on the bright side).

 

[Mle8308]

Update:
We gave up on Thanksgiving and booked airfare for mid-August. So we'll miss Xmas decorations but we'll have lower crowds (gotta look on the bright side).

See you there! Glad you were able to find something.