best air deal from Oregon to MCO?

[drhama]

Our next trip is for late Sept 08. It will be just me and my husband. Yeah! First time ever in all those trips for just the two of us. Air fare has been so high I am a little concerned. I am also an anxious planner and the thought of waiting till the last minute for SW to open booking is more than I can bare. We got really lucky on our last one and got in on Alaska's new itinerary to Fl. Really don't want to fly Delta ever again. Not sure what to expect next year. We live 3.5 hours from PDX and about an hour from EUG and Medford. Would love not to drive to Portland this time. Any tips?

[Speedy1998]

Try seeing what the airfare to Tampa is. It is only about a 70 mile drive to WDW, Straight up I-4. The rental car places are all located about 3 miles from I-4. 2 years ago we flew in to Tampa and saved over $1000. Last year airfare to both cities was the same.

If you do not want a rental car for the week, you can do a one way rental from Alamo dropping the car off at the Car Care center in the MK parking lot.

[drhama]

Thanks. I will check that out. We almost always do rent a car. So, the drive is not a problem.

[Tink&Goofy]

I think air from Eugene or Medford is going to be much higher than from Portland. But, its a trade off. I don't think the good prices will start showing up until the spring. When we went in August 06 we paid only $199 roundtrip on American!! Although I have been watching the rates, and now American seems significantly higher than the others. We just flew Alaskan last week. The lowest rate at the time was $228 - and I booked it just 2 weeks out! The drawback? It was a red-eye to get there, and an early morning return flight. It worked for us, and would consider doing it again.

[E-OR]

We fly out of PDX (we are about 25 minutes away) and we love that Alaska now has a direct flight. It is a bit far out to get a decent rate yet. Maybe watch as you get closer. We are also going again in September 08 and have not even looked at air fare. We are staying at POR for the first time.

[Fangorn]

Flying out of Eugene or Medford is going to cost you more than from PDX. That's just the way the system works.

With one son living in Orlando, and another one currently stationed at Eglin AFB in the Florida panhandle, we've been making multiple trips from PDX to MCO for the last several years. My experience is that SW consistently has the best schedules and fares. In the last 3 years (at least a dozen trips) only once have I had to pay more than $120 for a one-way fare. And that instance was last Christmas when I brought my son home at the last minute to surprise his mom. I have always been able to get a DING fare at some point - usually around the 6-10 week out timeframe.

Up until Alaska started their non-stop flight last month, SW had the quickest flight (1 stop, no change of planes) from PDX to MCO. I still think SW has a better schedule. I don't like the Alaska schedule at all - but that's just me.

We have a trip planned from September of 2008 as well. Reservations have been made for everything except the airfare. But I'm not concerned about it, even though I'm a serious planner as well. Southwest has always come through for me.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I do a lot of travel on SW so I'm very comfortable making a reservation at one price and then using DING fares as they come along. I'll always use any credit on another trip next month.

[drhama]

Thanks for your input. On our last trip we did the Alaska red eye. It was not so bad. 2 years ago I got a $268 out of Medford to MCO. Was hoping for something like that again. Even though we booked the last trip far in advance, I kept watching the fares, just to see. Not much good was out there. With just the 2 of us on the next trip we have much more flexibilty but I would really rather not make the drive all the way to Portland. Guess we will just have to wait and see.

[dtootsie42]

We don't live in Oregon but the Seattle area and have run into the same problem. Last time we took Alaska one way and came back on U.S. Airways....we are a family of five so getting a great flight that is inexpensive is always a challenge. This time we are flying out on Alaska, taking the red eye again, and coming back on Continental. We managed to keep our cost below 2000.00 which we were thrilled about. We did not like the flight times back on Alaska or the price so we did a lot of searching and got one way flights. Kind of a pain to fly two different airlines but we are thrilled to be saving money. Checking into one way flights might pay off for you.