Yikes high airfare!

[Dsnymouse]

Everyone feel my pain? I was looking up airfair to MCO and it is crazy!

I would like to try Southwest but they are only booking to January and we will be going 3/14/09 - 3/21/09. Anyone know how often Southwest opens up travel dates? Anyone have any great tips on cheap airfair? I've tried the usual Hotwire, expedia, cheap tickets, etc...

Maybe there is a tip I don't know about.

Thanks

 

[richmond282]

Usually I think they open dates up 6 months in advance. I'd check the end of Sept. or beginning of Oct.

 

[Kate and Pete]

I believe they'll be available on 8/21. I read that somewhere...probably here!

 

[rparmfamily]

I feel your pain but times about $4000!!!! LMAO...we are in Hawaii and can't afford to get to Florida to visit family, it's nuts to get off the island!

(though it's not a bad place to be "stuck" LOL!)

 

[Justthe8ofus]

How many people are in your party? You might be better off just driving. It's not that far from TX.

 

[moredisneyplease]

I feel your pain but times about $4000!!!! LMAO...we are in Hawaii and can't afford to get to Florida to visit family, it's nuts to get off the island!

(though it's not a bad place to be "stuck" LOL!)

and we're in CA and are TRYING to get to Hawaii but can't find anything less than $750 for early December!!! Whats the deal? Gas prices? poor economy?

 

[Dokietoes]

Everyone feel my pain? I was looking up airfair to MCO and it is crazy!

I would like to try Southwest but they are only booking to January and we will be going 3/14/09 - 3/21/09. Anyone know how often Southwest opens up travel dates? Anyone have any great tips on cheap airfair? I've tried the usual Hotwire, expedia, cheap tickets, etc...

Maybe there is a tip I don't know about.

Thanks

Sign up for Southwest's Email updates and DING!. They usually post email updates on Tuesdays, and whenever they have other sales. DING!s happen daily. Spend the minute or two to check their website, emails, and DING!s after they open their schedule.

 

[georgina]

Southwest's website says they will only open flights through March 6 on 8/21, so it looks like you would have to wait a few more months for your dates. I am a SW fan, based on my experiences with them and the fact that you can cancel and get a credit good for a year (from the date of purchase).

 

[d1gitman]

How many people are in your party? You might be better off just driving. It's not that far from TX.

??? not that far ???

 

[kevin75]

i understand your pain. my wife and i went last december for about $450 for both of us. we didn't decide until last week that we were going back this december, which unfortunately is about a month or so past when SW opened the dates for december. the cheapest flights we can find so far is about $700 on airtran. SW is running about $850.

 

[Justthe8ofus]

??? not that far ???

ya it's not that far. TX-FL. 2 day drive at most. For a family of 4 at $300 per air ticket that's $1200. I'd drive. I've driven from Orlando to Dallas with a 2 yr old, a 1 yr old and being 4 months PG. It's the same distance as driving from Boston to Orlando (done that too).

 

[emh1129]

I hear you. We are in CT and we are considering driving this winter. I never thought I'd hear myself say that, but flying is really going to be cost prohibitive.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Can you be flexible in your dates at all? Sometimes arriving/leaving a day or two earlier/later can make a huge difference. Tuesdays and Thursdays tend to be cheaper than Friday-Monday.

kayak.com will search multiple sites for you and also show a graph of prices over the past 30 days. I love this site.

If you search multiple airline sites (travelocity, orbitz, etc) make sure you clear your cookies each time you search. The sites will remember you and you will often see the prices go up as they want you to buy!

If you find a good fare on a site like travelocity, check the airline's actual website. It is often cheaper to book directly through the airline. I've saved $3-$90 by booking directly! (Hey, $3 is $3! ) There are often frequent flier benefits to booking directly as well. Some airlines guarantee that they have the lowest prices online. If you find a lower price on a third-party site, call the airline and see what they can do. I did this once and had to print the lower price as proof. Also, booking directly will help if you run into any problems. If you book through a third-party site, the airline will often make you deal with them.

I've also heard Tuesday and Wednesday at midnight are the best times to purchase airfare. This has never been true for me, but I've heard this from multiple sources. It is at least worth a look! I've noticed that fares tend to be higher on the weekend. More people looking, maybe?

I check sites several times a day (and clear cookies before I do it.) Airfare from the West Coast is killer right now! I think I might have to vacation closer to home this year.

Hope that helps!

 

[rparmfamily]

Texas to Florida is quite a drive but do-able, but then again, just being able to drive anywhere seems nice, LOL. (I'm um...island-locked!)

Depends on where in Texas, it's a dang huge state. Took us 2 days to drive thru it on the way to Cali from Florida!

 

[happymommy]

Those dates are our spring break next year!

You will find it probably will be a bit high since it's a spring break time. You're probably not going to get the great airfare you can right now (we're going next week and it was $78 each way from BWI on southwest). We have usually paid about $300 round trip per person during spring break.

I agree about checking a day before and after - like going on a Friday or Sunday, returning Fri, Sat, Sun, (or early Monday?)

We decided that for the first time ever, we're staying home next year on Spring Break (going back to Hawaii as soon as school gets out just like we did this year - that is enough).

Aloha - rparmfamily - we were at KBay for 3 years. DS was born there at Tripler - we want to retire back there eventually.

 

[Dsnymouse]

Thanks everyone for the great idea's.
There is only 3 in our party and I am getting quotes from $1355 to $1700.

Thought I'd wait for Southwest but I may get antsy and just book earlier.
We have a funny thing here in Texas where you have to touchdown in a neighboring Texas city with Southwest. So that could mean two stops (yuck)!

Will try looking for fares on Tuesday and Wednesday

Great idea's none the less

 

[BackSlash3]

Everyone has got it bad, but be glad that you're flying domestically. I'm shopping for airfare to WDW from Toronto, and it's about half the cost to fly from Buffalo than it is from Toronto. As bad as it is to pay the fuel surcharges, it's worse to pay them and then taxes and fees to Canada and the US on the same flight. I see $300-$400 fares with another $300 in fees tacked on!

 

[GoofItUp]

Thanks everyone for the great idea's.
There is only 3 in our party and I am getting quotes from $1355 to $1700.

Thought I'd wait for Southwest but I may get antsy and just book earlier.
We have a funny thing here in Texas where you have to touchdown in a neighboring Texas city with Southwest. So that could mean two stops (yuck)!

Will try looking for fares on Tuesday and Wednesday

Great idea's none the less

Not sure which side of Dallas you're on, but if it's not too far to drive to Austin, you can check SW out of there. They don't have the Wright Amendment, so you can fly direct to Orlando. I'm looking for airfare for our March trip and am a little shell-shocked, too! Plus, we have to buy a ticket for our DS for the first time which is really making the price look astronomical to me!