What is reasonable airfare for April 2015 school vacation?

[TeamMMom]

We've never flown during April vacation before and understand that flights will be more expensive than normal, but what price is reasonable and what is downright outrageous?

We're hoping to fly PWM to MCO. I'm a teacher so our flight dates are not flexible. So far the most affordable is United $2,500 for four including baggage fees. I had high hopes for Jet Blue's release this past Sunday, but their total is $3,500! I would like to check Southwest when the schedule becomes available.

Do any of you seasoned New England travelers know if $2,500 for four is as good as it gets? Can I expect these prices to drop in the next several months?

Thanks!

 

[PrincesCJM]

I am also a teacher, planning to go to WDW during April vacation, and I'd say yes, $2500 is a good price. We bought our tickets on United as they were released and paid around that price. We could have picked cheaper flights but instead choose to have better flight times (we will be travel with an almost 3 year old so times matter). I am flying out Thursday. My district has the Friday before vacation off and I'm going to take a personal day on Thursday.

 

[PrincesCJM]

Also, it is likely that Southwest flights will not be released until September or October. You will have to decide if you want to take a chance on their price or book now. Also, keep in mind, with Southwest, seats are not assigned.

 

[Saimaeve]

That seems about right.

 

[Tinknalli]

I would never pay that much for airfare! We always travel April vacation and are willing to drive to get better fares. We have never flown out of our local airport, Rutland, VT as round trip is generally $450 pp and up. We are willing t drive to Albany, NY, Burlington, VT, Hartford, CT, Manchester, NH or Worcester, MA which are all within a 3 hour drive. In this way we have never paid more than $297pp including baggage. Just booked for 4 roundtrip out of Burlington, VT on Sunday via JetBlue for 4/11/15-4/20/15 and paid 1188.00 total (this time we are flying to Fort Lauderdale, but usually it's Orlando). This is for morning flights with a short layover at JFK. Flexibility is the key.

 

[Lewisc]

The current fully refundable Southwest fare is 964 per passenger or around $3800 for 4. Given that $3500 seems high. I'm not sure what kind of fare jetblue is offering for $3500 but for that amount of money I'd book fully refundable so you can rebook with a different airline if prices go down.

 

[serene56]

thats 600+ pp I would not be paying that either.

are you looking to fly out on the holiday itsellf?


use kayak or yapta to track flights.

I would wait until southwest releases their fares. does southwest leave from your city?

never look at airfare on weekends. best day to look is tuesday or wednesday

 

[TeamMMom]

We are looking to fly out on Sat Apr 18 and return Sun Apr 26. We'd be open to driving to MHT or BOS, but only if the savings were substantial. As it is now, they are more expensive than the United flight out of PWM.

We could also leave Fri April 17 and return Sat Apr 25, but that's as flexible as we can be with my work schedule and it would mean a late arrival into MCO. I think I'd rather have my kids' first impressions of flying and WDW to be in the daylight.

DH and I are hoping we're not making a mistake by waiting, but I wonder what Southwest has to offer to PWM or MHT this fall and perhaps the United flight might go lower at the 6 month mark. Does anyone know if that is typical?

 

[Goofey Drool]

My wife teaches and we like to go April school vacation. When this question is asked a lot of people chime in about flexibility of dates and times to get a better price but as a teacher you cant leave a day or two early because the contact does not allow it. She cant extend a vacation by leaving early or coming back a day or two after school has started so $$$$$$ cha-ching!!!
That's why we did not go last year and it doesn't look good this year either. I will not drive from Maine to Florida for what amounts to 6 days of vacation in Florida. Prices may come down a little but I am not counting on it. I can dream though.

 

[njmom47]

Have you looked at BookingBuddy?
You can put your information in and they will email you when a flight price changes.

Orbitz has a +/-3 day flexible price guide as well.

And looking at airfare on Tues or Wed is generally accepted to yield cheaper flights.

There is also a website where it shows the history of when to purchase airfare on a graph. Interesting if not helpful.

 

[Tinknalli]

We are looking to fly out on Sat Apr 18 and return Sun Apr 26. We'd be open to driving to MHT or BOS, but only if the savings were substantial. As it is now, they are more expensive than the United flight out of PWM.

We could also leave Fri April 17 and return Sat Apr 25, but that's as flexible as we can be with my work schedule and it would mean a late arrival into MCO. I think I'd rather have my kids' first impressions of flying and WDW to be in the daylight.

DH and I are hoping we're not making a mistake by waiting, but I wonder what Southwest has to offer to PWM or MHT this fall and perhaps the United flight might go lower at the 6 month mark. Does anyone know if that is typical?

You mention the flexibility to go down on Friday and back on Saturday, what about going down on Sunday 4/19 and back on Monday 4/27? My husband works for the school system too and he can often use a personal day on the Friday before or the Monday after if it works better with our plans. If you can do the Sunday-Monday thing Delta has roundtrip from PWM-MCO for $297 round trip.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

It's hard to answer your question, because saying RT tickets for four will be $2500 including baggage fees doesn't say what the actual fare will be for one person. That seems like a pretty expensive fare.

You might want to consider getting a UA Mileage Plus Explorer Chase card; you'll get a free checked bag for yourself and one person traveling with you if you use the card to purchase your tickets. Plus, everyone on your reservation will get in boarding group 2, among other benefits.

 

[momtwoboys]

We fly from mass every spring. We just got flght for 17-25 for 1,380 for 4 of us on jb . Last year we paid 80.00 less but that is about normal for us. Flying out of bdl this time, last trip worcester was less. Good luck!!

 

[sgb1975]

Hello, I was searching for April 2015 stuff and came across this thread. I posted the following response in another travel thread. I'm from New England, too, and you said your dates aren't flexible, but if they can be (just a little), then you could maybe find some pretty significant savings. Good luck!

********

We're in MA, and just booked our flights for April 2015. My wife is a teacher so now we're pretty much restricted to Disney trips during school vacations and such. *However*, our secret was being flexible with dates...she was able to use her 2 vacation/personal days at the end of school vacation, for the Mon and Tues when school starts again, and the difference in flight $ was half!

Initially when we started pricing things out, a Sunday (super early flight out) to Saturday (late flight back) trip, out of Boston, non-stop was about $2k for the 3 of us. Moving it to mid-week flights was the game-changer. Going from Tuesday to Tuesday, same flight times, plus 1 extra night(!!!), was less than half and cost us just under $900 total. If there's any flexibility with your dates, then do your homework and play around with dates and flights and you may find a good deal.

 

[Mynamewastaken]

Teacher chiming in here too. I know what the OP is saying. around here you just CANNOT take the day off before the holiday week or the day after. Not only is against the contract but they could dock your pay. If it saved me a ton I might consider calling in sick on Friday and flying out on Thursday night...cough cough. But then again I am too chicken and I would DIE if I got caught. So for us we have to suck it up. Is it cheaper to fly out Friday afternoon/late evening? We did that and my boss allowed me (one time) to leave early to catch my flight and I will never be able to do that again. Sunday to Sunday is cheaper sometimes too.
I agree with those people that say to look at other airports. Worcester is always cheaper but they ALWAYS get slammed with snow but if going in April you *should* be fine.

 

[dmband]

That's a bargin for here
Here is the crazy part, a few yrs ago they changed our spring break week due to state testing
The original week flights were around 1200, within a few days of the vacation week changing the same flights dropped to 500. Talk about a mark up for spring break