What is the trick?

[cgmac121]

We are needing to fly from Dallas to WDW November 17, return November 24 with a party of 8. I cannot find flights cheaper than $5800!!! We are not frequent fliers so I have no idea how to go about finding decent/reasonable flight prices. We have two adults, 4 college age & 2 high school students- so making the 16+ hour drive on Thanksgiving doesn't sound like much fun, but at those prices, I am not sure that I am going to have much choice! Any input or tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Unfortunately you are flying during the Thanksgiving holiday and high prices for flights is the norm. usually flights are cheaper if you fly on a Tues or Wed.
I have coworker who was planning to go Sun Nov 25 but after I showed him the price of $325 per person to do that verses $180 per person if he left on Tue Nov 27 he changed his mind
You could price flights into Tampa which is sometimes cheaper and only an hour and 20 minute drive to Disney.

 

[shifteru]

We're seeing something similar into Austin on 11/19. Already booked our flights out to WDW a week or so earlier for about $100 each passenger on Southwest, but the flights back are 3 times as much. The fact that you're leaving the weekend before and coming back the weekend after Thanksgiving is basically one of the worst (if not the worst) times, price-wise, to book a flight. If you can adjust your days at all to leave the Thursday or Friday before your initial date and/or come back the Monday or Tuesday after your return date you may find luck.

Edit: We've resigned to waiting at this point as prices dropped for that time of year in July of last year, but again with your specific dates, I'm not sure as those are two of the most popular dates of the entire year.

 

[nkereina]

Agree with PPs - its par for the course over Thanksgiving, the busiest travel time of the year. My sister ran into this issue as well and they opted to leave two days earlier just to save the money. They looked at flying out of Tampa which was roughly the same price as well as flying into different airports near home, but prices were all too high.

 

[Sandiz08]

Yep, imo you should try to leave Thursday or Friday instead of Saturday. Early am or late evening flights are sometimes cheaper. The trick is to check on flights everyday or as often as possible for price changes. Instead of returning Sunday, maybe Monday.

 

[cgmac121]

I tried changing dates to leaving Friday and returning Friday or Sunday with no luck in a price drop. Price gouging at its finest!! Such a shame. I will look into flying into Tampa and see if that helps- thanks for the tip.

 

[Pkltm]

I tried changing dates to leaving Friday and returning Friday or Sunday with no luck in a price drop. Price gouging at its finest!! Such a shame. I will look into flying into Tampa and see if that helps- thanks for the tip.

I wouldn't call it price gouging. Part of it is simply supply and demand, you are choosing to fly what can be the busiest week of the year. Plus add in weekend flights, it is par for the course, pure and simple business.

 

[TDR32]

I use matrix.itasoftware.com. It uses the Google Flights info. It allows you to choose the specific date and you can search the day before and/or after to compare prices. Another thing to consider is reducing the size of the party you are searching for. Certain airlines won't let you search for parties larger than 6. I had to do this for a recent trip and it saved us money booking two reservations for 4 people each.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

That week is basically the busiest week for flying.
That means flight prices are high.
I'd probably go with Southwest Airlines.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I tried changing dates to leaving Friday and returning Friday or Sunday with no luck in a price drop. Price gouging at its finest!! Such a shame. I will look into flying into Tampa and see if that helps- thanks for the tip.

Its called supply and demand.
Demand is at its highest specifically during that week.

 

[sam_gordon]

I tried changing dates to leaving Friday and returning Friday or Sunday with no luck in a price drop. Price gouging at its finest!! Such a shame. I will look into flying into Tampa and see if that helps- thanks for the tip.

Supply and demand, not "price gouging".

ETA: American has flights for $543pp Dallas-MCO on your original dates.
The 18th - 24th is $488pp.

 

[cgmac121]

I guess my idea of price gouging differs from others- I wasn't trying to start a debate. I will quietly go back to my lurking status and keep my posts to myself. I simply see many posts talking about getting good deals and was hoping for insight on how to wrangle one for my family.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I guess my idea of price gouging differs from others- I wasn't trying to start a debate. I will quietly go back to my lurking status and keep my posts to myself. I simply see many posts talking about getting good deals and was hoping for insight on how to wrangle one for my family.

No one is trying to be mean or anything.
Its not that we have different views on price gouging its more that you are confused between price gouging and supply and demand.
Its just that you are trying to book flights for what is literally the busiest week of the entire year for air travel.
I'm sure prices also have to do with the particular airports you fly out of as well.
I snagged what I'd consider a great price of $218 round trip but then again I'm going December 7-11 which is a Friday to Tuesday.
The Tuesday flight was cheap as its mid week.
You're also trying to go a Saturday to Saturday.
There are just a lot of factors working against you to find a cheap flight.
Honestly it may be worth it to drive for you.

 

[ubarpants]

Are you willing to drive to Houston? If you're looking for nonstops, there's better pricing from there than from Dallas--I found flights on United for 11/16 - 11/23 for $4132 for 8 people, though that return flight is painfully early and you may want to bump up to $4308 for a more reasonable timeframe. I agree that it's quite high either way and I know it's super frustrating but unfortunately that's a really busy time of year for flying domestically and there are only so many seats available.

Depending on if you have the time for it, I'd also look at either driving yourself like someone else suggested, or even flying one-way to Orlando, and then doing a one-way car rental back to Dallas (or vice versa).

 

[sam_gordon]

I guess my idea of price gouging differs from others- I wasn't trying to start a debate. I will quietly go back to my lurking status and keep my posts to myself. I simply see many posts talking about getting good deals and was hoping for insight on how to wrangle one for my family.

The problem is "price gouging" has a specific definition. It doesn't matter what I think, you think, or any poster thinks, there's really no debate.

Ask all the questions you want. Just like you've learned why airfares are so high, you don't know what you won't learn if you don't ask questions.

As mentioned, there are MANY factors that affect flight prices.

 

[PHXscuba]

Also try booking for fewer numbers separately. The flights you want might have fewer tickets in a lower price bracket and you might only have to pay the higher rate for the remainder. Example: Persons 1-4 ticket cost $300, but that uses up all the $300 tickets available for that flight. Persons 5-8 then cost $400 each. If you had just asked for 8 tickets, it would have given them all to you at $400.

I'd also be sure to check one-way flights. It might be better to book one airline one way and another on the way back. Even a few bucks helps when it's 8 tickets (family of 6 right here!)

PHXscuba

 

[nordkin]

Check flights daily. We always go Thanksgiving week and I usually purchase our airfare from Washington DC in early July. I have found inexpensive flights down on American and Jet Blue and the least expensive flights back on Southwest. I use the Hopper App and right now it says to wait and based on history the flights will drop by $159 over the next several months. I do not post as much as I used to either because of the attacks, but this forum is still a wealth of information.

 

[Missyrose]

Also try booking for fewer numbers separately. The flights you want might have fewer tickets in a lower price bracket and you might only have to pay the higher rate for the remainder. Example: Persons 1-4 ticket cost $300, but that uses up all the $300 tickets available for that flight. Persons 5-8 then cost $400 each. If you had just asked for 8 tickets, it would have given them all to you at $400.

I'd also be sure to check one-way flights. It might be better to book one airline one way and another on the way back. Even a few bucks helps when it's 8 tickets (family of 6 right here!)

PHXscuba

This. You will likely find better prices for some, if not most, of your tickets by searching for two at a time

 

[keishashadow]

I guess my idea of price gouging differs from others- I wasn't trying to start a debate. I will quietly go back to my lurking status and keep my posts to myself. I simply see many posts talking about getting good deals and was hoping for insight on how to wrangle one for my family.

Don’t be scared off, no pixie dust here is old motto lol. Just the facts ma’am

Agree to price out 2 or 3 people at a time, keep increasing it until u see the price jump.

Does everyone have to be on the exact same flight? Often multiple NSs offered from large airports

We booked SWA for the Saturday after Thanksgiving last year. I nearly fainted when i saw the price for just 2 people.

DH, more of a gambling type than me, said to pull the trigger. He was convinced the flights would dropped. Challenging the market as it were. We wound up having enough credit to book majority of fare to MCO in April. .

That strategy with SWA only works if you can be diligent for checking fares, will use the credits within a year of booking and are willing to take it on the chin

Half-kiddingly I’ll toss it out there that if you dig up 2 more people you should qualify for group rates on SWA

Don’t forget to check the 3rd party sites.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I guess my idea of price gouging differs from others- I wasn't trying to start a debate. I will quietly go back to my lurking status and keep my posts to myself. I simply see many posts talking about getting good deals and was hoping for insight on how to wrangle one for my family.

It's okay to misunderstand terminology. From legaldictionary.com:
"Price gouging is a term that refers to the practice of raising the price of goods, services, or commodities, to an unreasonable or unfair level. Such an increase in price is often a result of a sudden increase of demand and shortage of goods, such as in the event of a natural disaster or other crisis, and it is illegal in most jurisdictions." (bolding by me)

airlines don't have a secret stash of spare planes they can bring out at peak times. The demand exceeds the supply. As publicly traded companies, they have a duty to their shareholders.

If you see anyone post about their great airfare during the absolute busiest travel time, especially from Dallas and especially your dates, post or PM that person and ask for information - keeping in mind they may have usurped all the great pricing.