Cost of Airfare going up?

[Dream'nDisney]

I'm getting a little nervous about the cost of airfare. I noticed a week ago that SW had decent fares, but they have gone up and stayed up. I sure hope they come back down soon. Any thoughts how they come up with their pricing?

[KennyandKim]

I found that when I put our package together and added the flight from the Disney site it was cheaper than when I went to the airline website. We are flying Delta because it has the perfect times for us and Southwest don't have rates out for our dates yet. We are only checking in one huge suitcase because of the fee and then we will all have a carry on suitcase. One will be empty for our souviniers

I did hear on the news the other night that rates are increasing and not likely to fall.

[VWL Mom]

Right now they are running specials through the end of Feb. I know, for us, the summer airfares on Jet Blue came out very high. I'm waiting to buy our tickets. We did this in November and they came down the month before. Of course, holiday travel is different. If you haven't already done so, sign-up for emails from the carriers you are interested in and check for fares on Tuesdays which is when fares normally change.


We are only checking in one huge suitcase because of the fee and then we will all have a carry on suitcase.

Be sure to check the weight on that one huge suitcase. The oversize fees for more than 50 pounds are quite high. Some friends we traveled with were 52 pounds and they wanted an additional $90.

[DizneyRox]

In my experience, I'm finding airfares have finally gotten back up to mid 90's costs. Just booked our airfare for our summer cruise (MCO) and it cost me more one way this time than it has in the past for round trip tickets.

I say book early! I think the days of sub $100 fares are gone for the forseeable future.

I think people will find that shipping stuff to your destination is going to be cheaper than checked bags. One reason we fly SW exclusively is the no extra fee mentality. Not that we abuse it, but bags are a given on a flight, so I can't understand charging more. Just to advertise your rates as lower than they really are? Are we that stupid that we can't figure it out?

[hel5165]

SW has been wicked this season. I've checked the airfares several times a day and each time it was different. Other airlines were just as bad.

We usually pay at the most $350 but now the cheapest is $500. But with SW if the airfare drops at least they will give you a credit toward your next trip.

I got a return flight yesterday for $135 and this a.m. it's up to $298.

I was worried I'd have to cancel the trip but I got lucky.

[lettripp]

I second what PP say about booking early. We found a flight we wanted for our honeymoon, waited ONE DAY to book and the price went up $20! Now, we are checking every day for them to post our return flight so we can get it at it's cheapest!

[hubbyofadisneyholic]

I've been watching the rates for for trip in June and haven't found anything for our dates under about $350.

At this point we have decided to drive. We've done it many times in the past so it is no big deal. Even if gas is $4/gal we will still save a bundle.

If fares come down to reasonable levels (which I doubt) we will jump on them. If not...:car:

[Dream'nDisney]

Well, I was fortunate enough to find $89 flights going down so I booked them. I didn't booked our return flight because it was around $120 at that time. Now the cheapest I can get a flight for our return is around $145! :( I sure hope they come down or we are going to be stuck! What is your advice? Go ahead and book the $145 return? I sure don't want it to go up from that price!

[faline]

If fuel prices continue to increase (which they are predicting will happen), it is likely that airfares will head up as well.

[Dream'nDisney]

That is what I am worried about.

We can save $80 on our flight if we come home a day sooner, not to mention how much we'd save if we dropped one night's stay at WDW, food, etc. but I hate to leave WDW early. :(

[VWL Mom]

Well, I was fortunate enough to find $89 flights going down so I booked them. I didn't booked our return flight because it was around $120 at that time. Now the cheapest I can get a flight for our return is around $145! :( I sure hope they come down or we are going to be stuck! What is your advice? Go ahead and book the $145 return? I sure don't want it to go up from that price!

Now I take back my previous advice. I would have jumped on $120 and probably even $145 especially if you are going with an airline that will credit if rates go down. For us it was close to $500 per person which is why I am waiting.

[Dream'nDisney]

The only problem with getting a credit if the rates go down is that we will not be able to use the credit by next January. Plus, starting January 28th, you cannot transfer your credit to other people anymore, so we would just lose our credit.

[nkereina]

I work in the travel industry and there is no rhyme or reason when it comes to any airfare. Typically it's always cheapest to fly on a Tuesday or Wednesday if you can swing it. Sundays and Mondays tend to be higher. Of course busy travel times like holidays are always higher. Otherwise, it depends. The rates could stay on the incline or could dramatically decrease as it gets closer to your travel date, especially if they need to sell seats. Once you find a price you're comfortable paying, just book it!

Another thing too, airline web sites and sites like Orbitz and Travelocity monitor the cookies on your browser every time you check dates. So if you're checking the prices for your dates every day, they know this and sometimes jack up the price when you check it. Check from different computers if you can.

[Dream'nDisney]

I just read that about cookies. I had never heard that before. Does SW work that way though??

[luvdiznee]

I can't find flights to Vegas for less than $500! :marg:

[nkereina]

I just read that about cookies. I had never heard that before. Does SW work that way though??

Hard to say about SW, I'm not sure. I'm sure they probably log cookies and maybe they make the "wanna get away" rates disappear, but I haven't had a problem with them, I usually get the rates I want.

[DizneyRox]

Another thing too, airline web sites and sites like Orbitz and Travelocity monitor the cookies on your browser every time you check dates. So if you're checking the prices for your dates every day, they know this and sometimes jack up the price when you check it. Check from different computers if you can.
Many car rental places do this also. I always clear cookies when dealing with any travel places. Saved over $200 one time on a rental car because I cleared my cookies. I consider this borderline criminal!

[mom2morgan]

Many car rental places do this also. I always clear cookies when dealing with any travel places. Saved over $200 one time on a rental car because I cleared my cookies. I consider this borderline criminal!
WOW! I had NO idea. Thanks for the advice! (I'm still not entirely clear on WHY a site like Travelocity would do that, though? I thought they stayed in business by helping identify the lowest ticket prices?)

[Dsnygirl]

Thanks for the advice on the cookies... does that mean the airlines monitor them across the board and see what the trends are for current time periods, and then jack the prices -- or is it individually based on your computer and what you check on, and then they jack the price just to you? That'd be shocking... I really hope that's not the trend these days. :(

And to VWL Mom -- we're waiting on JB, as well... we're travelling in August, and the flights are just crazy high right now. My family of four has always been able to get to Orlando and back on JB for $800-$900... now it's more like $1300. :faint:

[DizneyRox]

Cookies by design are between you and the website that saves them to your machine. It DOES NOT necessarily mean that the site you visit, for example Delta maybe, doesn't use a third party to dump a tracking cookie on your machine that another airline doesn't use too and that way they COULD share info, however this would probably be illegal.

I believe they are just using the cookie as a way of measuring how often you visit and also what you are looking at. Maybe the first fare was offered as a "Buy it now and save" offer and shouldn't be offered again. Cookies aren't reliable in that case.

As a web developer, I know there are other ways of tracking customers that don't involve cookies and are mostly just as reliable. Cookies are easy however.

To the trends comment, I'm sure there are other ways they track what people are looking for. Any time someone visits a web site, never mind submit a search, the owner of that site knows and can monitor.

Where you came from (i.e. search engine, another site, etc)
What they are looking at and how you navigate the site.
What you searched for.
Etc...

What they do with that information is up to them, I'm sure it's used is determining fares and how the prices are adjusted.


WOW! I had NO idea. Thanks for the advice! (I'm still not entirely clear on WHY a site like Travelocity would do that, though? I thought they stayed in business by helping identify the lowest ticket prices?)
Any business that wants to stay in business makes it job one to get customers to pay as much as they can for any given product. Travelocity, Expedia, etc really only want to beat the next lowest price. They don't have to or want to be way lower than anyone else. I believe how those places work is they buy rooms 9not sure about airlines) in bulk at a set price. Their goal is to sell them off higher than that. Hotels give up possible sales in exchange for a sure thing. I wouldn't be surprised if airlines do the same thing.

This is why it's possible to call Disney directly and not find anything available, but other sites have them. Two different inventories... Technically Disney already sold those room and they are unavailable.

[sainter]

Well, I was fortunate enough to find $89 flights going down so I booked them. I didn't booked our return flight because it was around $120 at that time. Now the cheapest I can get a flight for our return is around $145! :( I sure hope they come down or we are going to be stuck! What is your advice? Go ahead and book the $145 return? I sure don't want it to go up from that price!

I would book the $145 and then recheck frequently - at least daily and several times on Tues and Weds - I never really believed that prices (if they are to come down) seem to do so on Tuesday, but after booking for this trip, I believe it! Check at all times of day and night if you can. Our tickets (one way) went down $30 within 12 hours or so of booking and when I changed it (on Southwest) they credited our credit card! Not sure why, but I was very happy!!

Are you flying out of Midway? Watch AirTran for return flights also!

[DizneyRox]

FYI - My flights have gone UP $50 per ticket in the past week. Glad I got them early...

[BugeyedMuggy]

Just checked our flights for May and round trip they went up $200.00 in 2 weeks for SW. We will be going Jet Blue for $150.00 less.

[Dream'nDisney]

Well, we bit the bullet and purchased our tickets for a few hundred dollars (total) more than we wanted to, but we got straight flights, the flight times we wanted, and our departure airport is half the distance of the airport I originally booked our flights. We decided it was worth not having the hassel of changing planes, and not having to drive twice the distance just to save some money. Whew. I feel better already.