Where Do You Watch Air Prices / Book Your Ressies?

[Amirah95]

I think we may be flying to Orlando next trip as a roadtripping family for the first time and I was wondering what websites do you guys use to fare watch and who do you purchase your flights through?

I am currently looking at Travelocity and trying to figure out the fine print about changing reservations in the future and just learning how flying works.

Thanks!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

The best advice I can offer is make sure that your travel dates are firm before purchasing your airline tickets. Very few airlines allow changes without very hefty fees (average of $200 a ticket for domestic flights).

I am a 1K on United, so usually travel on them. Use travel sites (expedia, ita, kayak, etc) to check prices, but book directly on your airline's website.

 

[aegraddy]

I use airfarewatchdog website to keep an eye on fares. You can set up routes and they will send an email when sales pop up on those routes. Southwest Airlines is the most flexible when it comes to changes. No refunds, but you get a credit for the amount for another flight and no change fees. Kayak is also another good site to browse on. When booking though, I pretty much always book thru the airline's site directly.

 

[aegraddy]

Oh, and free checked bags with southwest.

 

[::danielle::]

Also, before you buy, make sure you completely understand what you are paying for and if there are hidden fees.

For example, Spirit has really cheap airfare but they charge you for everything. Literally everything.

Southwest allows 2 bags and a carry on per person but you can't pick your seat in advance. You can only pay for priority boarding.

Southwest doesn't usually come up in generic flight searches on sites like Orbitz but they do appear in the Airfare Watchdog airfare tracker.

 

[richmo]

Travelocity is a good place to look. Usually the Travelocity price will be the same as the airline's website. If that's the case, I'd do my booking directly with the airline. There are some good alternates to Travelocity as well: Orbitz, Expedia, Kayak, etc. I'd check them all out to figure out which you are the most comfortable with.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the sites above don't always show all airlines. The primary example is Southwest. If you want details on Southwest flights, southwest.com is the place to go. Some of the other smaller airlines may or may not be on those sites.

On the other hand, if you need to deal with connections, sometimes the Travelocity's and the like can give you connections involving different airlines that you wouldn't see by looking at a specific airline.

 

[pinkprincess30]

After booking a flight for a quick trip to Cali, and just booking our plane tickets for DLR, I have found that Kayak is a great site to use! Very clear, easy to use, and has great filter options. It also let's you compare their prices with other major sites with a click of a button.

 

[MillauFr]

Agree with the previous advice. Always book with directly with the airline.

 

[Amirah95]

Thanks for the tips everyone! Appreciated!

 

[brownhaired_girl]

I watch on ITA software. They have a mobile site called on the fly. I'm able to do a month long search in less than a minute and have a good feel for what a good price is. My flights from MSP usually run around $100-110 one way. I always get one way fares. Allegiant and southwest are not included on this site though so you would need to check them separately.

 

[MIChessGuy]

I have been trying to sign up with Travelocity's "Fare Watcher" except I can't find it! I spent some time looking through the Travelocity website, and tried to follow the links from search engine results, but no dice. Is the Fare Watcher still being offered?

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I have been trying to sign up with Travelocity's "Fare Watcher" except I can't find it! I spent some time looking through the Travelocity website, and tried to follow the links from search engine results, but no dice. Is the Fare Watcher still being offered?

Did you try Google? It came right up for me:

http://travel.travelocity.com/mystuff/RetrieveFareWatcher.do

 

[MIChessGuy]

Yes, I tried that link but when I log in, all I see is the generic "search for a flight" page with no reference to Fare Watcher. I am especially puzzled since I can remember using this feature years ago. It was a lot easier to access in those days.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Most airline charge $200 a person if you have to cancel or change a flight.
Factor in your baggage fees too. Unless you fly SWA where the first 2 bags per person are free.

If you cancel a flight you won't get your money back on most airlines. SWA on the other hand will issue you a travel funds voucher that you can use within one year of the original purchase date.

 

[deedisneydream97]

I see that you are from NJ. If you fly out of Newark, make sure you are getting a non-stop flight. Airline choices are few. We usually fly United, but we are always firm with our resort reservations; and I usually book our flights six to nine months out. Jet Blue also does non-stop to orlando. Spirit used to fly out of Atlantic City, but I don't think they do any more. If you are closer to the NYC airports, try them. If you are very northern NJ, Newburgh, NY airport used to have JetBlue flying direct to Orlando also. If you are western NJ, Allentown airport has Allegiant, but they only fly into Sanford now. However, if you are closer to Philly, you have alot more choices (including Southwest and great prices, but I don't think they fly direct, but I could be wrong). If in the Princeton/Trenton area, Mercer airport now has Frontier airlines; I think they fly once a day to Orlando. That can be dangerous, if there is a cancellation, you don't have much recourse.

United has many daily nonstop flights from Newark to Orlando and their prices can fluctuate more than twice a day. You also have to add in the expense of parking at the airport or car service in addition to renting a car in Orlando unless taking DME. If taking DME, then you are kind of stuck in Disney and don't have the freedom of going off property to eat or to load up on groceries (but you can always rent a taxi or rent an Alamo car for the day from the Dolphin Resort or the Car Care center near MK).

We drove to Disney once from NJ. As much as I hate to fly, I really don't think I want to drive there again. However, if you are a family that is used to roadtripping, it probably isn't all that bad.

Anyway, getting back to your original question, I guess picking an airport in the flight searches first might be the way to go.

Good luck with your search and enjoy your trip.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Most airline charge $200 a person if you have to cancel or change a flight.
Factor in your baggage fees too. Unless you fly SWA where the first 2 bags per person are free.

If you cancel a flight you won't get your money back on most airlines. SWA on the other hand will issue you a travel funds voucher that you can use within one year of the original purchase date.

This isn't quite how it works. If you cancel a nonrefundable ticket on a legacy airline, you will get whatever value is left on your ticket after change fees are charged to use for another ticket.

 

[Amirah95]

I see that you are from NJ. If you fly out of Newark, make sure you are getting a non-stop flight. Airline choices are few. We usually fly United, but we are always firm with our resort reservations; and I usually book our flights six to nine months out. Jet Blue also does non-stop to orlando. Spirit used to fly out of Atlantic City, but I don't think they do any more. If you are closer to the NYC airports, try them. If you are very northern NJ, Newburgh, NY airport used to have JetBlue flying direct to Orlando also. If you are western NJ, Allentown airport has Allegiant, but they only fly into Sanford now. However, if you are closer to Philly, you have alot more choices (including Southwest and great prices, but I don't think they fly direct, but I could be wrong). If in the Princeton/Trenton area, Mercer airport now has Frontier airlines; I think they fly once a day to Orlando. That can be dangerous, if there is a cancellation, you don't have much recourse.

United has many daily nonstop flights from Newark to Orlando and their prices can fluctuate more than twice a day. You also have to add in the expense of parking at the airport or car service in addition to renting a car in Orlando unless taking DME. If taking DME, then you are kind of stuck in Disney and don't have the freedom of going off property to eat or to load up on groceries (but you can always rent a taxi or rent an Alamo car for the day from the Dolphin Resort or the Car Care center near MK).

We drove to Disney once from NJ. As much as I hate to fly, I really don't think I want to drive there again. However, if you are a family that is used to roadtripping, it probably isn't all that bad.

Anyway, getting back to your original question, I guess picking an airport in the flight searches first might be the way to go.

Good luck with your search and enjoy your trip.

We are 10 mins from Manhattan and yep, we love roadtripping. It's our thing. It looks like SouthWest has no pricing for my dates yet (6/20-6/27). That's frustrating because my 180 ADR window opens up on 12/12.

Thanks for all of your tips!

 

[deedisneydream97]

You're welcome. Southwest and Jet Blue only do pricing 6 months out I believe. United does 11 months out. I did a quick comparison of prices for the last week of May into the first few days of June (for my own curiosity as well, as I did not know that Southwest flew out of Newark). Many direct flights on United were cheaper than Southwest (with stops). United's prices for your dates are a little high compared to May, but then again I think prices are generally higher during summer months.

Seeing that you are so close to Newark airport a taxi ride or a friend dropping you off would save lots of $$$ on parking. You should go ahead and plan your ADRs when you can...you can always change them (as long as it is before their new policy...12 hours? 24 hours? I forget). Especially if you want Be Our Guest....I forgot, and waited a half-day too long to book and could not get in for dinner!!!

One of the main reasons we fly is because I want to start our vacation as soon as possible. 7:30 a.m. flights can have us at our resort before noon (we rent a car) and evening flights give us nearly an extra day.