WDW Airline Planning

[DiszyDean]

Hello...

I am new to posting on this board although I have been lurking for a while now...ever since we first decided to go to WDW this summer.

I will be going along with my wife and my two kids, 10 and 15. We have reservations at the POR for 6 days from August 6 - 12.

A lot of the planning is done but there is one last huge portion we need to settle. We still have yet to buy the plane tickets from Dallas to Orlando.

It seems when I first started planning this trip, the prices on plane tickets were much lower and now they just seem to be rising by the day. I figured that I had better buy mine soon before they go too much higher.

I am looking to leave in the morning on the 6th and come back in the late evening on the 12th, so that we can essentially squeeze in one extra day at WDW.

I have checked out all of the major sites looking for the best fares ( Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Priceline, Hotwire ). They all seem pretty much the same. Anyone know of any days that seem better than others for getting lower fares on tickets? I have heard there might be one or two days of the week that are better for getting low fares on good flights.

Anyone else from the Dallas area going to WDW or have recently been to WDW? If so, what are the best rates you have been able to find? Right now, for the flights I want, the lowest I can find are about $246 ( round trip, including taxes and fees ) per person.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Sally]

I suggest go to the airlines that flies out of Dallas and look at their sites directly. Off of Expedia my Airtran flights were $50 higher than booking from Airtran directly.

 

[blujaymama]

DiszyDean- I am not from Texas but I have always found that flights leaving on Friday Saturday and Sunday cost more than those departing and arriving during the week. Anyone else - correct me if I am way off, but I have always found this to be true. It may help if you are not 100% locked into your dates for your room. Check out those travel sites again and try searching with "flex dates)
Good luck and have a great trip!

 

[DiszyDean]

Thanks for the replies....

I can still change my resort reservations since they are booked so far in advance but when I checked the rates for Wed. and Thursday, they were the exact same...

I did try Airtrans website as well as a few others directly and the cost of the flights were actually $200 more than if I would have purchased them off of one of the major online travel agencies...

I just wished I would have booked the flights back in Feb. or March when they were about $150 cheaper for the 4 round trip tickets. Not a huge deal, but every extra penny spent on a flight = less to spend at the park....

 

[blujaymama]

If you are a gambling person, you could always hold off a while longer and keep checking. I am signed up with travelocity.com to receive low fare alerts. They notify me via email when fares go down below a certain price. Many times they will suddenly drop, but it makes me too nervous to hold off on buying my tickets for fear they will go up up up! Also don't forget you could save some $ if you belong to AAA. You can get a discount on your room.
Just some thoughts. Good luck

 

[DiszyDean]

Blu...

That is kind of the game I am playing right now...Exactly a month ago ( almost to the day on Friday ) I got a Fare Alert from Expedia on tickets to Orlando...some of those would have worked and would have been about $100 cheaper than what I am looking at now...unfortunately, I did not get to the message quick enough and all the good ones were sold out....

Like you said though...its a gamble...with the way fuel prices are going up and up, I can only see the airlines following suit with their fares....And I think as the summer goes on, fuel prices will only go up and then level off sometime after August...I hope I am wrong...

 

[blujaymama]

I hope you are wrong too. I will keep my eyes peeled for any updates I get as well and let you know if I see anything. Even though I am already booked for my August trip (15-21) I always am on the look out for cheap fares and we were lucky enough to get a decent deal. I just looked at the flight the other day and saw the prices skyrocketed! Lucky for me New York isn't too far away, so worst case I can drive the distance to get a cheaper flight.

 

[mel63]

Check the individual website of the airline. The usually offer special web sales. I started looking in August of last year for tickets in Jan. I got a general idea of what the tickets were running. I liked Airtan, best price starting out. I checked them periodically. Signed up for their NetEscapes. Then they would email sales to me. I stated checking every day or 2 in Sept. I know they sometimes have a "24 hour web special." I ended up getting my tickets in October for January. My tansaction wouldn't complete. So I had to call them. I asked if I could get the same fare I was purchasing. They didn't know, and then I ended up getting a better fare.
My original amount in August was about $800 RT for 4, fom Pittsburgh to Orlando. When I decided to get the tickets in Oct., the special was $69 each way. Then when I called them personally, I ended up getting all 4 tickets RT with taxes, and fees for about $530!! Total!! $120 less than what I thought was great. Worked out to be a little over $100 each RT!!

We flew at 9am on a Thurs, and flew back 9am the next Friday. We wanted to be there early, and leave early to get home. Or, I would have booked a later flight. As it got closer the price for the tickets went up to over $200 each way.

I have also heard that if you look online at the airline's site, look after 8pm. That is when the "businesses" close, so they aren't booking business travel, and there rates might be better. And since you need 5 tickets, break them up. Do a search for 3 and 2, or 2,2 an 1. The rates might be cheaper looking at smaller amounts of tickets. Check for 5, make note of the flight numbers and times and price. Pick which you prefer. Then search for 3 tickets, look for the fight you liked with 5, then search 2, then 1. see if there is any difference in price. If you searched for 5 first, and picked your flight, you know they have seats available. Then book in small blocks or call them directly and try to get the best price. Don't tell them what that price is, they may do better. Then if they can't, you can say that "If I book online I can get them for $XX. They might match or beat that price. I know with Airtran, you can select your seats if you check in online. And you are able to check in online and select seats 24 hours from the flight time. So buying individual, you can still get seats together. Airtan also has sales about every few weeks or so, you just have to catch it.
Good luck!

 

[buzzandwoodysmom07]

I suggest being very vigilant about searching for your tickets. We are going in June with friends and they bought there tickets from DTW to MCO for $180 per person RT on Spirit. I however didn't book mine when they did and the prices skyrocketed to $450.00 per person. I searched every morning and every afternoon (if you can!) and I found Northwest for $210 per person RT, at the same times as the Spirit flight. I usually just check orbitz.com and then book directly with the airline - it usually ends up cheaper. EXCEPTION - last Christmas the whole family went to see "THE MOUSE" 16 people in all. My husband's aunt wanted to fly and couldn't afford alot, we paid $472 a person and I happened to catch a "glitch" on Orbitz, I booked her tickets for $150 per person (same dates and times as our tickets). These prices were not available direct with the airlines. Someone made a typo I think!! Not as good as the $1.86 tickets (HA HA), but still a pretty good deal.

GOOD LUCK!!

 

[DiszyDean]

Thanks for the suggestions....I actually looked at the Airtrans website last night after 8:00 as suggested and sure enough they had a Web special fare for August to Orlando! Right in line with what I was looking to pay and at the times I needed...We have to change planes once, but we can live with that...

About $958 for the 4 of us, round trip from Dallas-Ft. Worth....

 

[eeyore45]

I get so confused about trying to figure out the fare game too, I was listening to Peter Greenberg (he's been on The Today show, the 'travel' expert, has books out etc) He confused me because he says not to purchase air fare until 45 days out I too watched flights, and gave up when the prices went up $25, bought on a Monday (I heard web prices go up on weekends as thats when a lot of surfing goes on??? ) I know Southwest prides itself in low airfares, and they have only so many days out, when they lower fares, other airlines tend to follow suit, with small windows of opportunities... They were showing $79 one way, so I went with that price when I found it on AA.... and I keep watching the prices go up... right now $130 one way...

ouch, just edited to add, checked again, the flight I booked is sold out, and the prices of other flights are up to $155 one way!

 

[DiszyDean]

Thats another thing I tend to see..I have been looking at airfares for about the last 2 months in preperation for this trip ( pretty tired of looking actually ) and I will see a flight with the perfect times for us and for a great rate..a couple of days later the flight is sold out and then like a week later the same flight is back up being advertised again only at a slighty higher price....It seems like there are either a lot of people cancelling flights or maybe they pull the remaining seats out of circulation until they go up a little bit and then put them back out there? Not sure..

As far as Southwest...I really wish we could fly Southwest out of Dallas to areas outside of Texas.....Unfortunatley, there is some strange airline rule that Southwest can only fly inside of Texas and to states which adjoin Texas when you are flying out of Texas originally. In other words, I cannot fly directly from Dallas to Orlando on Southwest. Its a pity too, because sometimes Southwest has great deals....

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

I'm not sure why the airlines will add more seats at a lower fare a week or so after selling out but they all do it. I do know this:

• Most people want to fly into MCO on Fri. night, Sat. or Sun. Those discounted seats (if they exist at all) will disappear first before the ones on Mon.-Thurs.
• Most people end their Orlando vacation on Sat. or Sun., making flights on those days more likely to sell out quickly at any rate.
• Like you, the majority of WDW vacationers want to arrive early and leave late so that they can squeeze in additional time in the parks. Very early-morning flights out of MCO or late-night flight into MCO will be the last ones to sell out.
• Everyone wants to fly direct.
• Early August is still vacation time for many schools, so families are still vacationing at this time. This makes it harder to get flights into family vacation destinations like Orlando.

My advise would be to try to switch up your dates and times. It could be cheaper to fly into MCO late on a Thursday night and stay in an inexpensive airport hotel when you arrive than it would be to fly into MCO in the morning. When returning, you could get a cheap hotel near the airport and catch an early morning flight back to DFW.

I also suggest that you check Airtran's website on a regular basis for their web-only specials. Right now, they have flights on your preferred dates for as low as $106 one-way, but they're advertising rates as low as $99 one-way if you depart Tues/Wed.

 

[DiszyDean]

Very good suggestions, aka..Thanks for the good information...The reason I we have to leave either August 5th ( Friday ) or Aug 6th ( Saturday ) is that my son is scheduled to be out of town until that Thursday and will not re-join us until that Thursday morning...If I leave any later than Saturday, we would have to cut the vacation short because of school starting here in Texas on the 15th of August.

And you are correct...I am sure I was not the first person to think of buying the extra day of disneyworld tickets ( cheap cheap ) and planning our flights around sneaking in an extra day at the parks...

I am willing to compromise on flying direct...makes for a longer day, but as long as I arrive when I want to arrive and leave when I want to leave, it would be fine..both of my kids have flown a lot before and are used to it...

I did think about leaving Thursday night and then getting a cheap hotel by the airport and then going to Disney the next morning. However, when I added it all up, it didnt make sense...

To save maybe $100 on airfare, I would have to spend $25 at least on a cab to get us from the airport to the closest hotel....another $50 the next day to get us from the airport hotel to our resort in disneyworld and then $40 for the actual night at the hotel...It would be more than what the cost of the extra fare would be...

We plan on using the Disney Magical Express for our trip in August to cut down on cab rides to and from....

I am going to look for a couple of more days but if I dont find something better, I am going to go with the Airtrans flights for $106 that you mentioned...I saw those last night...hopefully they stick for a couple of days...

Thanks for all the help!

 

[joehips]

I just priced your trip and found a direct flight on for 212.00 a person. With taxes that would bring it to 923.60. The only problem is you would leave later in the day on Saturday and arrive at MCO at 7:55 pm. You would however be able to squeeze another day in on the 12th. You could leave MCO at 7:26pm and arrive back at DFW at 9:05. Not too late and such. You could use your first day there to go to DTD or even plan out your next days activities. One thing to remember is that you are going on a Saturday. Saturday tends to be the day that all the timeshare people are flying into Orlando to use their week up. This would make all the flights that are in the morning and early afternoon sell out very quickly. The airlines know this since school is not in session yet and they price accordingly. Just a little information I found. Hope it helps.Jordan

 

[DiszyDean]

Just to update everyone on what I found today...

After looking at all the flights from DFW to Orlando for my prefered times ( arrive in the morning, leave late evening ) on Aug. 6th and 12th, I was a little more than discouraged today...It seems that they all went up by almost $20 a person and put the final cost of the round trip flight for four to $1000.

But then, I had a brainstorm and wondered if I tried to book it direct from Disney ( where I bought the rest of my package ) how much it would be...

As it turns out, with the same flights I was looking at everywhere else...I got them by calling DisneyWorld reservations for $822! Almost a $200 savings! And they now show in my iternary as being booked...The flights are on Airtrans.

I am thinking that maybe Disney buys up blocks of some of these cheaper airline tickets while they are at a low rate and then sells them as part of their packages....

Just a hint for someone looking for cheaper airline tickets...look on the major internet travel agencies, the airlines direct and then try direct from Disneyworld.com and see what you can get them for....

Thanks for all the help!

DiszyDean

 

[dbarker]

Just a FYI on Southwest in Texas. Love Field in Dallas is the only airport restricted by the "Wright Act". If you want to fly out of Dallas on SW look into stopping in Houston or Austin or San Antonio. We just went to CA out of Austin non-stop.

Good luck w/ your travel arrangements.

Now I get to start planning for Dec-06.

 

[mermaidlagoon]

YOOO HOO Any body catch the web addresses for fare watching sites and mistakes ?Has anyone used any of these, and what kind of successes ? I could really use your help , the air fares from Hawaii are the highest in the nation, $.650. and up OUCH! Thats per person. I think one was FAREALERT and another was like FLYERTALK but these may have been only partof them . Thank you guys for all your help.

 

[Anastasia]

DizzyDean - congratulations on a great rate! It NEVER would have occured to me to call Disney. I'll keep that tip in mind!