What is the cheapest airline?

[MagEpcDisAni Voyager]

Simple question. What is the cheapest airline?

 

[XStAnt]

Well, that depends on where you're flying from, where you're flying to, what time of year, when you buy your tickets, etc. If there was a simple answer to this question then everyone would fly that airline.

Sure, Southwest is a DIS fan favorite because they tend to have very low fares. However, they don't fly out of every city, and often fly out of secondary airports in an area (ie Providence instead of Boston). Also, the other airlines usually match their prices.

You have Jet Blue, primarily out of JFK. AirTran is based in Atlanta but flies from many cities including Philadelphia. Frontier is based in Denver but has limited flights to the east.

Others love the major airlines like United, Delta, American, Northwest, US Air and Continental. They like the number of flights they offer, the frequent flier programs, etc. They can often be the cheapest depending on the route.

Then you have the fare sales/wars. When one airline has a sale on certain routes the others usually follow. This leads to some really cheap fares. But, the sales often only last a week or two. Sometimes you can catch the sales at the right times, sometimes you can't.

If you tell us where you're flying from, where you are going to (I'm assuming MCO, but it's possible your question is a general one), and when you are traveling we can probably offer some advice as to which airlines fly that route and what some typical fares may be.

 

[gw_lit]

Simple question. What is the cheapest airline?

As much as I'd like to help, that is a "simple question" that can't be answered.

"Cheapest" depends on a lot of factors.... departing airport, arrival airport, how far in advance you book your travel, what kind of a plane would like to fly on, do you want to fly non-stop, or are you willing to make one (or more) stops or plane changes. I'm sure there are other factors that I'm not listing.

For example, if I want to fly from my home in Little Rock to Dallas, I can choose either American or Southwest to fly non-stop (also Delta but I usually don't fly them). All of the airlines tend to match each others' fares and sales on this route, so price is the same. On Southwest I get a larger plane (737), but I don't have an assigned seat. On American I get a smaller plane (50 or 70 seat regional jet) and an assigned seat. Service is the same on both, a beverage and a bag of snacks.

If I want to fly from Little Rock to Baltimore, I can take Southwest non-stop (737), or I can take American, Northwest, Delta, USAir and change planes in either Chicago, Memphis, Cincinnati or Charlotte... and at least one of the flights on any of the four airlines listed above will be on a regional jet. Again, in flight service is basically the same.... a beverage and a snack.

If you live where one of the "Low Cost Carriers" (Frontier, jetBlue, AirTran) has service, you may get in-flight entertainment, such as DirectTV or Satellite Radio.

I wish there was a simple answer to your simple question, unfortunately, there isn't one.

 

[MagEpcDisAni Voyager]

I understand. What is the cheapest airline fares for the day the February Vacation for Presidents Week starts. That would be the Saturday it starts. Non-Stop.

IS Jetblue still cheap then?

 

[dzneelvr]

TMA (Transmeridian) is moving into secondary markets and offering rates of $59-$79 (with a 5% discount for online booking) for Orlando one-ways.
You may want to check them out to see if they are close to you.

For us, it cuts down the hassle always present at OHare and allows us to cut our drive time by 2 hours to a smaller airport with free parking!!

WDW on June 24

 

[CarolA]

If you are flying that weekend, I would book whatever is cheapest NOW.

I assume you are flying from the NE since you don't say and that is generally a huge travel period there.

In addition, you are asking for non stop. Go to the sites for the airlines that fly non stop from your airport and book which ever comes up cheapest.

That said, if the airline is not yet booking for your date (i.e. SW) then WATCH closely. The day they open up those President's week sales the cheap tickets will sell out fast!

 

[d4est]

I, too, am looking for decent rates for the same week. I will be flying out of NY--either Albany, Syracuse, or Newburg (SW airport).

I have checked and SW doesnt have flights that far in advance. My question is, roughly when will those dates be released by SW? Right now their fares are between 69 & 89 one-way and that seems pretty darned good to me. I checked Song flights out of NY (city) and got a quote of 304/person ONE WAY! That is way out of my budget!!

Thanks for any help, Laurie

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

d4est - Syracuse has the highest airport fees in the area, so you'd probably get better rates out of Buffalo, Rochester, or Albany.

 

[d4est]

thanks for the head's up. I was only considering syracuse because jetblue flies from there. Buffalo is TOO far away...good 3 hr drive!