Why did airfare go up so much from last year at DTW?

[aubriee]

Last year we paid $79 each way and now it looks like $130

That's not bad from the midwest. Some people are looking at over $400 roundtrip.

Tell me about it. We have always paid $158.00-$220.00 out of Dallas to Orlando. Since Southwest pulled Air Tran out in mid Nov, airfare has more than doubled and sometimes tripled. We are now looking at over $400.00 for the same airfare that cost us $158.00 last May. Plus with Air Tran being pulled out, we lost our direct flights, unless you want to pay over $450.00 on American. So to leave and get there about the same time we did last year, airfare this May would cost us about $300.00 more/person this year. Funny thing is, American and Southwest are both based out of Dallas and yet charge us the highest airfare around.

 

[francie57]

It has to do with most airlines consolidating flights and doing away with flights. We flew round trip last Aug. out of Hartford on Delta (non stop both ways) for $179. Now Deltas has done away with all non-stops to Orlando and the current prices are over $400 round trip with a stop over. We are currently booked on southwest to Orlando in Aug. and am waiting for the return date to open. Never flown SW before - have never been on a flight where I don't have seats assigned ahead. We did do the early check-in option though. Our flights will be about $280 round trip when done. That is what we have averaged in years past - beside last year.

 

[Missy29]

I just book our flights on Delta (flying out of DTW) for $199.60 rt including taxes for the 4 of us. The day after I booked the price did go up a little.

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

I just book our flights on Delta (flying out of DTW) for $199.60 rt including taxes for the 4 of us. The day after I booked the price did go up a little.

Wow...that's good. I would have thought since we are traveling the end of august we would have found cheaper rates...I guess I will just keep checking

 

[vicb]

OMG..... it's frustrating!
We've traveled in June many times and have always been able to get our tickets by this time and the most we've ever paid is $220 round trip which was just last year.
This year the cheapest we've found is $324 and that means we'd have to adjust our dates!!!
That is a 47% increase in just one year!!!

What is going on???!!!

Do we wait? or go with the big $$ in thinking it won't go down?
ugh!!!

I would do the happy dance to get anything under $400 for our travel the week before Easter. I knew Easter would be more expensive but $600-700 for a non stop flight? Give me a break Delta! I am watching a few flights with plenty of seats and suspect there will be a short window of lowered prices and I'll grab 2. It happened with the last flight out on our departure day already but the timing didn't quite work for us so I keep waiting.

Going Easter week is not by choice, my son's band will be performing then so we didn't pick the timing. We usually go in late feb. Oh well.

 

[cindyfan]

I would do the happy dance to get anything under $400 for our travel the week before Easter. I knew Easter would be more expensive but $600-700 for a non stop flight? Give me a break Delta! I am watching a few flights with plenty of seats and suspect there will be a short window of lowered prices and I'll grab 2. It happened with the last flight out on our departure day already but the timing didn't quite work for us so I keep waiting.

Going Easter week is not by choice, my son's band will be performing then so we didn't pick the timing. We usually go in late feb. Oh well.

I feel for you! We are pretty strapped to our timeframe too! We only have flexibility of a couple days. So we were able to add a day to our reservation and go with the $324. But I'm still shocked it's that high!
Even adding the cost of staying an extra day we are still saving.
Good luck on your wait!

 

[Missy29]

I would just keep checking, I almost booked about a month ago and it was at about $250 rt per person and thankfully I held out and got a much better deal. Good luck.

 

[Brian Noble]

There really isn't much hurry for August. I think waiting to see what happens is a fine idea. Just don't get too greedy, because the airfare landscape really has changed from years past.

 

[Anal Annie]

All flights are higher this year and is the main reason we're going to FL again in the summer rather than to the new DVC resort at Aulani. Luckily I snagged our spring break flights on Jet Blue on their release date for $658 (RT for 3 with taxes & fees - same flights have practically doubled now). August however is currently running around $790 for 3 tix. I am waiting for SW to release their schedule past Aug. 10th (on Jan. 22nd) to see if I can do any better... I am not in love with Jet Blues flight times plus we prefer to use BWI over Dulles because it's easier to get to and parking is a fraction of the price as at Dulles (so even if the flights are more the parking is cheaper & the drive less stressful).

Gone are the days that I could book us for $120-$130 pp round trip.

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

ugh...it just keeps getting worse!! Now when I check Delta for our flights (Aug. 26-Sept. 1) I'm getting close to $400 round trip for the times we want!!! I think it's pretty crappy that they charge so much more for the same exact dates just more desirable times - early morning depart and later afternoon return.

I really hope Airtan's will be better when they release them...although I'm surprised they are still offering nonstop from DTW since they were bought out by SouthWest?? Oh well...if we can't get about $200 pp round trip then I think we'll have to wait till 2013...we simply don't have the funds for six tickets at these prices.

 

[elainesj]

We fly out of DTW too. I'm headed down to Fort Lauderdale for March break and have been watching those flight prices for a long time (since July). They remained steady and all of a sudden in the last few days jumped up from $300 to $350. I was kicking myself like crazy last night. Still haven't bit the bullet and booked though.

I was spoiled. Last Jan, my flights to Orlando cost us $150pp!!!

BTW, how do you tell how much availability a flight has?

 

[Brian Noble]

I think it's pretty crappy that they charge so much more for the same exact dates just more desirable times

Well, of course they do. That's kind of the point of supply and demand. Delta isn't in the business of saving you money on travel. They are the business of making money flying airplanes.

 

[vicb]

We fly out of DTW too. I'm headed down to Fort Lauderdale for March break and have been watching those flight prices for a long time (since July). They remained steady and all of a sudden in the last few days jumped up from $300 to $350. I was kicking myself like crazy last night. Still haven't bit the bullet and booked though.

I was spoiled. Last Jan, my flights to Orlando cost us $150pp!!!

BTW, how do you tell how much availability a flight has?

You can open a map of the plane to see seat availablity on both Delta and Travelocity.

I am watching a couple of flights that still have plenty of seats hoping they will drop the fare for a short window to get sales moving. If the seats start to go I will just have to bite the bullet and buy them (currently at $600 the Sat. before Easter).

I didn't know early enough about this band trip to buy tickets when they might have been cheaper a long way back and my dates are not flexible as I want to be here to put DS on the bus and pick him up when they return... sigh.

 

[Missy29]

We fly out of DTW too. I'm headed down to Fort Lauderdale for March break and have been watching those flight prices for a long time (since July). They remained steady and all of a sudden in the last few days jumped up from $300 to $350. I was kicking myself like crazy last night. Still haven't bit the bullet and booked though.

I was spoiled. Last Jan, my flights to Orlando cost us $150pp!!!

BTW, how do you tell how much availability a flight has?

I'm not sure what airline you are using but I know Delta has a "view seat" option and you can see how full the flight is.