venting - frustrated with March airfares from Detroit!

[ekmom]

We are going March 5th - March 14th. We are locked into those dates because that is college student son's spring break and we can't leave until evening on the 5th because the rest of us have to work. So far the best I'm seeing is $323 on Airtran but that has a return flight of 7 am The more reasonable return time of 5:50 in the evening is $363.

I really hate to pay that much but last time we drove and it was a real adventure of dodging snowstorms so I really don't want to do that again. I have set November 30th as a tentative target date to just bite the bullet and buy.

 

[backyardponder]

You might want to look flying into Tampa and renting a car. I've done that before.

Last year I booked on Southwest from Chicago to MCO for 4 of us. Fares were high but within budget. I kept watching the Southwest fares and the fares came down significantly. In fact, they came down enough that I had enough credit to go to F&W 2 weeks ago for $10 for the 2 of us!

Good luck.

 

[kid-at-heart]

Have you checked flying out of Flint? Often we find cheaper rates from FNT to MCO, nonstop even.

 

[Brian Noble]

If you can stand a one-stop direct flight, Southwest has one or two each way that stop in Nashville, but you won't have to change planes. Total flight time is 4 hours---for the right price, that's not so bad.

It might be worth leaving on the 6th just to give yourself more flexibility about carriers, etc.

 

[can]

"Last year I booked on Southwest from Chicago to MCO for 4 of us. Fares were high but within budget. I kept watching the Southwest fares and the fares came down significantly. In fact, they came down enough that I had enough credit to go to F&W 2 weeks ago for $10 for the 2 of us!"

Backyardponder, by some chance can you remember when the Southwest flights started to come down? We are locked in for the dates of 3/20 to 3/27 due to DD's high school (along with my school's) spring break. Flying from MDW and right now air fare is about $400 plus per person. Thanks!

 

[ekmom]

Well, I bit the bullet and bought the tickets. I paid $303 on Spirit but it's non-stop and the schedule was pretty much what we wanted. Of course I'll also have to pay for luggage and seat selection but it was still over $100 cheaper per ticket than anything else.

 

[Sandi]

I'm looking for DTW to MCO the first week of April and it's worse. I'm glad you found something you can live with.

 

[chrisann]

Earlier this year, we planned on driving if we couldn't find a deal. The middle of January we found a fare with Spirit $500 roundtrip for all 4 of us. I've found 2-3 months out is usually the best way. We booked our Dec. trip in September as well. Forgot to add we fly from DTW as well.