Which comes first? Your DVC reservation or airfare?

[msd1776]

I was looking to book a DVC stay at my 11 month window but surprisingly I couldn't book air that far in advance. What do you book first? I think I'm going to try to book simultaneously so that I can make sure I am using my points budget.

 

[BestDadEver]

DVC first then airfare . You may not get the room you want if you wait for the airlines

 

[Minniesgal]

I am usually working both at the same time but invariably something goes wrong and I end up having to change something and then can't get what I could have got earlier. My flights are out at 11 months so that is great. Where it will be hard is in 2015 I want to do VGC and Aulani but if we can't get Aulani at 7 months we will do VGC and WDW so we will need to decide at 11 months whether we do a return LAX flight or out to LAX and return from MCO. Flights get too expensive after 11 months to wait

 

[msd1776]

Thanks, for the input. I have generally been a last minute traveller by DVC booking requirements. Heck we booked a cruise and disney vacation 10 days out....that was crazy..but good!

 

[taaren]

Depends on who you fly and what the trends on their fare schedule fluctuations look like, and also WHEN you fly (seasonally). Watch patterns over time for routes you fly frequently.

We like Southwest, who typically doesn't release fares until 6 months or so out, then I book first day and thereafter watch for re-bookings at cheaper rates (sometimes it gets cheaper, sometimes not). So definitely DVC first with Southwest.
We also fly Alaska since they're cheap and fly a lot of the direct routes we need (OAK-Maui, etc). Their flights tend to be released far in advance then prices fluctuate, often getting cheapest within about 3 months to 1 month of travel, then spiking at the last minute, but sometimes its cheaper to book 8+ months ahead ... so most of the time I'll book DVC first, but if I see a great fare farther out, I might grab it and if I can't get the exact dates I need then don't mind staying a few nights in a hotel on either side of my DVC stay.

If you're going with the legacy carriers (eg. United, Delta), especially for certain times of year, it can be more cost effective to book 14+ months out. We do this when we fly Delta into Salt Lake City for our annual ski trip for our other timeshare that we can book at 12 months out, because its such a highly sought-after route, waiting to book can be $$, and Delta has the SLC market sewn up.

 

[lodge]

DVC reservation, as my airline of choice takes a while to book 11 months in advance!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

DVC. Airfare comes much later for us.

 

[CarolMN]

DVC, then air.

For us, air is much harder and more costly to adjust than the DVC reservation.

 

[BlazerFan]

DVC first. At VGC I always book at 11 months with what could be an extra day on each end. Once we make final plans and air I cancel the extra days if we don't need them. VGC is too small to wait as our plans are often around runDisney events.

 

[lorie13]

DVC first, then use Kayak to email me when fares drop.

 

[Anal Annie]

I usually book our vacation first THEN our airfare but I also have only ever booked at 11 months once I think since we bought in 2006. I think only the legacy airlines still offer schedules at 330 days. Carriers such as SW, Jet Blue and Air Tran often don't publish schedules until under 6 months out. And even then when I book as soon as they're released I find that they tend to change their schedules and drop flights & condense their schedules. Seems that only the first ones out of the day are safe from too much juggling. We almost always encounter SOME SORT of changes to one of our flights.

This summer we're going to VGC at DL and then on to Aulani so I definitely didn't want to book flights before we "got in". I booked airfare in Feb. for Aug. and so far only 1 of our 5 flights has changed times. Crossing my fingers at this point that we're close enough to not have any more changes. We are using Alaska Air for the first time going from DC to LA and then again to come home from Maui. They get good reviews on all the airline Consumer Report reviews / surveys so I hope they're good. I don't know how far in advance they release their schedules I just know they were available when I went to look and they beat the pants off of United's prices. IN FACT their first class ticket was cheaper than United's economy ticket!! I'd have love to have booked that if I wasn't pinching all my pennies in the first place.

ANYWAY, if I found a super good deal to FL before I had my ressie I'd go ahead & book the flight first but we don't usually care toooo much about which resort we get - we like to resort hop and stay somewhere different each trip. In all but the busiest times of year (ie like Christmas thru NYE) I think it's safe to book airfare first if you really want to. I set up fare alerts on kayak.com and airfarewatchdog.com to send me fare changes. That way I can watch for drops after I book too in case the flights go down. Sometimes you can get a credit back if your flight goes down, although last time I checked our flights they had all gone up by a combined total of about $500.

 

[automaticsoap]

DVC first, then use Kayak to email me when fares drop.

Yes, this is what I do as well.

 

[luckyman_apd]

DVC. We fly spirit or southwest. There schedules are NEVER 11 months in advance

 

[las3888]

Usually DVC then Air. Although I will say that we rarely book at 11 months--we booked about 45 days out for our upcoming trip and it was opposite, but we called MS and were told there were a decent number of rooms available, so we nabbed the air first, THEN DVC.

We also booked for October about 5 months out and pretty much did everything simultaneously but we were using points on UAL which are almost nonexistent for when we want to use them....

I would actually now have to say that we mostly do everything all at once. We are going to BLT for Spring Break next year so we booked at 11 months. I am nowhere near ready to book air though.

 

[JWG]

We're usually:
- DVC
- Airfare
- DVC

We find that once we book our hotel, airefare is always cheaper a day or so either way, so we revisit our booking. Our last 8 day stay turned into 11.
Ended up renting points from someone to get the extra 3 days.

 

[sweetdana]

I was looking to book a DVC stay at my 11 month window but surprisingly I couldn't book air that far in advance. What do you book first? I think I'm going to try to book simultaneously so that I can make sure I am using my points budget.

Dvc, then air, then sometimes switch up dvc. Have added a night 2-3 bf or after for price. Sometimes switched resorts, or a FQ or pop night if needed.

 

[BillPA]

I usually book 2 nights 'extra' at DVC, like 12 nights when I plan to stay 7 or 8. Then I get airfare I 'fine tune' the DVC stay. It's easier to drop a few days than it is to add a day(s) or shift the reservation a few days.

 

[deploylinux]

Look at the airline flights first...especially if traveling cross country....some of the non-stop red-eyes are not available all days...basically, research airline flights to verify if some days work best....then book DVC rooms...then book your flights at the earliest opportunity, done.

 

[luvformickey]

DVC first, then airfare for us.

 

[funantiques]

Air first! Southwest will have some 12 hour half-price sale and we will jump on it ! It helps being retired, with DVC points and a handfull of non-expiring WDW Park Hoppers!