Wow!!! Cost of summer flights!!!! Book or wait?

[Disneycrazymom]

I am just starting to plan our June trip to my favorite place in the whole world. Checked out Southwest this morning and was surprised at the fare between STL and MCO. Before June 13 or so it is great about $85 each way but after the fares really jump! From $131 to $146 each way. We can't go until the middle of June so the low price flights won't work for me. So should I book the high fare - figuring it will only go up OR wait it out - thinking they will come down?

What is everyone else doing for summer flights? Waiting? Booking now? Driving?

 

[Brian Noble]

AirTran flies that route, direct, for about $200 or so round-trip. Even with one bag and one seat per person, you're still under $250 round trip, which is a fair price for direct flights. I wouldn't expect a lot less than that, and SW might go down a little, but I'd still think $275 is a fair price for direct flights at good times.

 

[ancestry]

Where I live the summer airfares go up MUCH higher once the schools are out. Perhaps that is happening in your area as well.

I agree with Brian Noble that $200-$250 is more than fair for round trip airfare especially if it is a direct flight. From Maine, where I live, we pay about $250 for a round trip on Jet Blue which includes luggage and seat assignments or about $200 for a round trip on Air Tran and then pay for the luggage and seat assignments which brings it over $250 per person.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I was SHOCKED how high the SW fares for June were. And they haven't come down in the 2 weeks that they have been out. I don't know what they will do later.

American had bumped their fares even higher to match with SW, but those have now come back down a little.

AirTran was $200 lower (total, round trip, for 3 tickets) than American so I booked AirTran. I booked through Kayak.com so we were able to choose our seats without paying a fee. We would have had to pay for luggage on American anyway, so I figure paying for luggage is a necessary evil.

My big issue now is that our flight home appears to be something they add EXCLUSIVELY for summer. The nonstop AM flight doesn't show on their schedule until mid-June. I am hoping they don't cancel that flight, because we CAN NOT get home late. We either need that AM flight or we need to switch to another airline that can get us home early in the day on Saturday. We'll see. I will be watching the schedule VERY carefully.

 

[trekker93]

I was also surprised by the rates that SW is charging for tix to MCO from Providence. We have always flown with them but if they don't come down, we will book with another airline.

 

[PirateMel]

I was also surprised by the rates that SW is charging for tix to MCO from Providence. We have always flown with them but if they don't come down, we will book with another airline.

Me too - wow I miss the $79 deals. Jet blue from BOS is not so bad, but not cancellable.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Thanks everyone.

I like SW and I have a credit from our last trip that I would like to use. I am fine with $250 and under. But if fare is over that DH prefers to drive. Actually he always prefers to drive. But we agreed long ago if we can fly for 1/3 or so over the cost too drive we fly because I don't like to drive at all! And it is good for him to not be trapped in the car with me!

For now I will just watch and see what comes up. For our November trip I didn't wait quite long enough and ended up with this credit so I am going to try to be patient. I was just very surprised at the numbers. I have not seen them this high in years. Guess I am spoiled by all the great fares we have had the last few years.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

It would be $1124 for us to fly SW (3 r/t tickets). And due to a weird law thing there are no nonstop flights from Dallas to Orlando on SW, so our travel time increases when we fly them.
American would be $1023 (including bag fees).
Airtran was $785 (including bag fees).

It is possible that the fares will come down, but I just wanted it out of the way so we booked Airtran.

 

[solotraveler]

For non-stops? I would do it. For connecting, I might think about it for a minute.

It may just get worse as people start to make their summer plans in earnest.

 

[seashoreCM]

I would wait.

Good chance fares will come down sometime.

Airlines used to let you simply switch to a lower fare (same time and routing) if you saw a lower fare, because the airlines way back then wanted to get the nonrefundable money under their belt sooner. Now the airlines don't think that is important any more.

They too would rather wait ... and see if someone would come along later and book for more.

So the airlined don't offer to let you switch fares any more without paying their usual change fee, typically $150. per tic,ket.

 

[aidensmom73]

I am just starting to plan our June trip to my favorite place in the whole world. Checked out Southwest this morning and was surprised at the fare between STL and MCO. Before June 13 or so it is great about $85 each way but after the fares really jump! From $131 to $146 each way. We can't go until the middle of June so the low price flights won't work for me. So should I book the high fare - figuring it will only go up OR wait it out - thinking they will come down?

What is everyone else doing for summer flights? Waiting? Booking now? Driving?

I have been watching Newark to MCo for a while for August. I grabbed them at $229 per person RT. I think that is a very fair deal. I can't imagine them going down much more.

 

[Glencora]

So the airlined don't offer to let you switch fares any more without paying their usual change fee, typically $150. per tic,ket.

That's why I fly SW - no change fees, just a credit to be used within a year.

 

[acpalmer]

Check other airlines, too. Normally, SW is one of the least expensive from our area (Denver) to MCO, but they looked really high this year (also going in June). I checked other airlines and found a RT, nonstop on United for under $200. United is usually one of the most expensive. We will have to pay for baggage, but that still puts us way under the SW fare and we have seat assignments with United without the hassle of trying to get to a computer to check in 24 hours ahead of time to get the A boarding group. So it might be worth looking at other carriers--someone else out there might be lower.

 

[wdhinn89]

We booked our summer return flight form MCO to JFK on Jet Blue for $89pp but we are holding out for the flight there. The price is $194pp which is really high. I wanted to fly with Jet Blue because I have a $240 credit but it may be cheaper to fly another carrier.