Year of 100 Questions: #40

[King Triton]

This is the second of the three holiday weekend questions....

When you are planning a Disney trip that requires air, do you book your flight as soon as possible, or do you wait for a discount?

Question #39 preceded this one in Dining, Question #41 will appear in Nightlife, Shops and Water Parks.

[darthmacho]

I'm a planner, a worry wart, and extremely impatient. i always make my plans as soon as it is practical, even if it costs me more money in the long run. :spend:

[biodtl]

I tend to book my WDW package about a year in advance and some of the low-cost airlines don't even have flights available yet. I hold off until I get something reasonable, but I am too chicken to wait TOO long.

[KAT1811]

There are 11 of us going this yaer and the flights as of right now are $277. for the non-stop Southwest flights I usually pay $49 - $59 each way (Less than $150 each total) for some reason I refuse to pay that much right now. I'll hold off a little longer and hope for a discount. If not I'll end up just booking them.

[BigRedDad]

This question will be very subjective because air fare is handled differently at each airport. For me, Delta always has direct flights for $225 round-trip. The only time they would really go up is if it is under 7 days away or it is a holiday. Typically, SouthWest has regular fares for this much as well. Both will go down over time, so I would hold off.

[jenperich]

Usually we want to book our flight ASAP. But this time because we're arriving the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we had to book our flight there first and wait for Southwest to open up tickets for coming home.

[dolphinmickey9170]

I don't know if you all know this or not, but with Southwest, if you book a flight and the price drops, you can call southwest and they will give you a credit on that flight. I will book as early as possible, and then watch the flights for pricing. If and when the price drops, bingo....you get a credit, you still have your flight booked and you don't have to worry about not getting a good deal. Waiting until that last minute can cost you.

[k_reile]

I held off a little while...but to long because I did not want to be shut out and not have a plane ride on the day that I am to arrive at WDW! I waited and got a good deal under $200 each with Southwest...so I am pretty happy with that! :mickey:

[Tynkerbelle]

Unless I come across a really great deal I hold off.

I'm pretty excited this year - we've earned enough points for us to both fly free with points left over for upgrades, too!!!

[BritCody]

I always have an urge to get everything done immediately. I do the Airfare ASAP. If I didn't I would probably go crazy

[mdricks]

Both??

I fly for work and have no problem moving money around if needs be. So i order ASAP and then just cancell and use the credit for work if a cheaper flight comes out.

(BTW i voted order early, figured that was most consistant)

[Belle_0717]

We book our airfare ASAP. We may even watch airfare and book the DVC around the lower prices. We were fortunate in May to look at the airfare then have my mom call to see if we could get the DVC and then went back and booked our airfare. We've been flying AirTran and for the trip in February DH called back when the price dropped and they were able to adjust the price (with a voucher of course). We booked the airfare for October but are hoping it will drop so we can get another voucher.

[WDWfeelslikehome]

We book early through SW, but then rebook to get better deals and just keep credit, which forces us to go back again to use that credit.:thumbsup:

[Mickey91]

:(Couldn't vote on this one. We drive.

[MickeyandTink]

I tend to book my WDW package about a year in advance and some of the low-cost airlines don't even have flights available yet. I hold off until I get something reasonable, but I am too chicken to wait TOO long.

:ditto:
However, I wish I had waited just a day longer. The day after we booked on Air Tran, they announced a web special that would have put us on the exact same flights and saved us $20 each for the three of us. However, I would really have been sick if I had held out and the rising gas prices led to air fares going up $20 or 30 each.:ack:

I think the key is learning the historical average fares for the times you want to go so as to fairly judge what is or is not a good deal. There are a lot of good multi-airline search engines out there that make it a lot easier.

[Crow]

usually i book asap, like i did for next wks trip after deciding to go..mostly based on getting $49 ow air on SW.
for my Sept trip, i havent yet booked air, waiting to see

[GrmGrninGost]

Couldn't vote, we always drive!

[tinksmom02]

I always have an urge to get everything done immediately. I do the Airfare ASAP. If I didn't I would probably go crazy

Welcome to my world! LOL I'm going absolutely nuts waiting for airfare to drop! Right now it'll cost $800 for 3 of us to head down then through Spirit. I'm almost certain that it will get cheaper (I signed up for their $9 club, they just sent me an offer to $9 each way for some weekends in June), it's just a matter of holding out for the deals!

DH wants me to book now, to make sure we get the flight we want, but I'll be so angry if I do and then the prices drop.

I'm going to wait until August to see if anything changes.

[MsMin]

I hold off when I do have to buy tickets for one or two kids who may be flying in but mostly b/c we are waiting to see if they are going in the car or if they are coming later.

[Polynesian Dweller]

Wasn't really sure how to answer this one. To get the ADRs we want we have to book Disney 180 days in advance. However, it makes little sense to make flight arrangements that far out.

But, I don't wait and hope for a discount either. So I guess, that's make arrangements as soon as possible as the closest answer. :confused:

[snifflesmcg]

I am always paranoid prices will go up, so I generally book ASAP. I got the best deal this year. From Newark, NJ to Orlando, FL $59 down $69 back. It's less than $150 per ticket.....on a non stop flight.:D

[DisneyGiant]

For our last three trips - the airfare has gone up - its been the cheapest on or around the time when we've made our date choice. In 2004 - we had to pay $30 extra per ticket, because I hesitated for one day in purchasing them (that was Continental).

For our upcoming trip - as soon as JetBlue announced prices for our time period we booked. I think we're paying around $224 round trip per ticket from NJ. That particular flight would have cost around $400+ last month if we had waited (I always check after I book to see what the rates do). And we had to change our arrival date from a Saturday to a Friday in order to get that low rate.

With oil prices the way they are - we find it more economical to book the flight as soon as possible. JetBlue will issue credits should they reduce prices after we book them.

[rnin02]

Usually finding cheap airfare is what makes us decide that we will go to disney. I periodically just price airfare, and if I find a great (or decent) deal I start bugging DH and we contact MJ just to price things out...and then we usually end up booking our vacation.

[dtootsie42]

We tend to book our trip a year in advance. About six months out we start watching the fares. Living in Washington state it seems like fares are always high (unless you are going to Hawaii) so looking for a good deal is often a challenge.

[Mom2princesses]

We book our flights immediately! Traveling out of one of the busiest airports in the country (Newark) we would really be taking a chance if we waited. We had to pay $277 round trip per person. I just checked our flight and now it is $438 per person round trip and it looks like there are only 4 scattered seats left on that flight! The prices are definitely going up. Wow this is almost a 200 increase per person. We only take direct flights with the kids and we wanted an early flight to get to Orlando early enough to enjoy time on Saturday. We are going to visit family down in FL after our WDW stay so we will be leaving from another airport (West Palm) to come home but the different airports didn't make a difference in the price.

[cruellalvr]

We start planning early enough that the first thing we do is book the flight first, then I buy the package so that the money can be focused in one place at a time.

[4ubie1]

I'm a planner, a worry wart, and extremely impatient. i always make my plans as soon as it is practical, even if it costs me more money in the long run. :spend:

:ditto:

[MickeyandTink]

I just read an article this morning about a web site called Yapta.com that will track your actual flight (after you have bought tickets) and notify you if the fare prices have dropped. It only works for about 6 or 7 airlines that will give you a credit voucher for the difference between what you paid originally and the new fare.

I've never tried it, but it sounded really interesting. Unfortunately, it won't do me any good on my trip to WDW since Air Tran is not part of it, but American, Delta, Southwest and several others are.

[avantgardeinker]

As soon as possible for me. You never know when fuel prices are going to go up and if they do that means airfare will go up as well.

189 more days!!
:mickey:

[RAIDER]

I go in the division of a pre planner due to the fact
i want my upgraded seats on the flight as they tend to go so quickly as well as giving you heaps of time to save .... And once its booked its lovely to count the months down :mickey::mickey::marg:

[mdearmas]

I've never had to fly to WDW since i've never lived more than 3 hours away and now I'm 30 mins. lol I love Orlando!
:goofy: