Flight costs

[Cinderelley]

I thought I would take a peek at how much our airfare would be. I know they haven't released for our dates in late September of next year, but Southwest goes out until mid August. All I can say is WOW. Wanna Get Away prices started at like $139 last time we flew out there. Now they are $239. I knew prices had gone up, but I didn't realize it was that much.

[epceddie]

We have Southwest in Providence and they'll be getting some competition from Jet Blue at the end of this month. We're heading to WDW next month and we got $70 flights going down and $120 flights coming back. By rebooking, I've been able to chop $220 off the original round-trip price of 599. We'll be using that $220 for a credit on a future flight. All I can tell you is check by frequently, because Southwest prices go up and down all the time.

[faline]

Yes, you do need to keep checking fares. If you find one for your dates at a reasonable price, I'd suggest not waiting to book. If you fly with an airline that provides you credit(s) when price(s) decrease, by all means, take advantage of that as well - just be sure to understand the rules that govern any credit(s) you recieve.

[irishpixies]

My suggestion would be to sign up to receive email alerts when the prices change. I think on Southwest it's called DING!. I get an alert from Travelocity. In fact, the only reason I'm going to WDW in December is because one random day in early October, I received an alert that fares had dropped 50%. I checked Travelocity, Expedia, and the United websites and they all had r/t, non-stop flights for $159. I had been checking fares earlier in the month for a possible last minute cruise and they had been well over $300. I did a little calculating and thinking and when I finally decided to book later that day, the fare had dropped to $150. By the next morning, the fares were $300 again. During the whole thing, SWA's lowest fares were $275 so they aren't always the cheapest - keep that in mind.

[ThanxForNoticin]

I agree on two points. First, definitely keep checking the SWA site if your preference is flying Southwest. I also agree it's disappointing how much more expensive flights have gotten over the last several years. I know there are factors that are causing that, but it's still disappointing. Although, remember that airlines now have to show the entire actual cost of the ticket on their web sites (including taxes and fees), not just their base fare - that makes some of the fares look higher when in fact they now include the extra fees that used to come up later as you were buying the tickets.

Good luck - hope you get a good deal for your trip!

[vicster]

I thought I would take a peek at how much our airfare would be. I know they haven't released for our dates in late September of next year, but Southwest goes out until mid August. All I can say is WOW. Wanna Get Away prices started at like $139 last time we flew out there. Now they are $239. I knew prices had gone up, but I didn't realize it was that much.

Keep checking - they seem to change every day. Southwest just had a sale for February for $101.00 each way (Chicago to Orlando). I paid $180.00 in September. It was real tempting to go again in February. Sign up for Southwest Ding.

[Cinderelley]

Yeah, I need to catch up with the times. :blush:

I felt like I did when I got out of the hospital. When I went in, gas was like $2.60 a gallon. When I got out and was able to fill my van up myself, it was $4.00 a gallon. :jaw:

[CuteAsMinnie]

My suggestion would be to sign up to receive email alerts when the prices change. I think on Southwest it's called DING!.

Thank you for that tip!

:thumbsup:

[kg00616]

Yes, just keep checking. I was freaking out because Frontier was listing flights for $400pp until Southwest opened their schedule for the same dates. Once that happened, everything went down to $200pp. :mickey:

[SandmanGStefani24]

like the others said keep shopping, but also make sure the cookies on your computer are cleaned out too. When I cleared them out, I got lower prices than when it remembered I had been to the site recently. Doesn't always work, but has done the trick more than once for me.


Flight prices change like the weather. Keep looking and good luck!

[Trev&Ev Mom]

As everyone else mentioned, keep checking. Fares dropped here in NY (Long Island) for during Feb break after most schools announced that kids will lose that break and attend school thanks to Hurricane Sandy. So much for no classwork on vacation :(

[azcavalier]

Just bought tickets for April, $89 each way per person to Sanford, including taxes. However, they want to charge $18 per person to be able to pick your seat, $39 per piece of luggage, and $29 for a CARRY-ON. I went ahead and coughed up the money to pick front row seats, and we're only going for four days, so we just chose one piece of luggage for the both of us. So, total price for roundtrip tickets = $467.

Not too bad! But hate getting nickeled and dimed to death.

[Cinderelley]

Thanks for the info everyone. I will keep watching.

[CelineO]

When you fly, most airline carriers are fairly reasonable and include most expenses. I think, some of you are aware about it. Unfortunately, this is not true of low cost airline carriers. If you can manage to fly without any additional things, it is much cheaper to fly low cost. Additionally, you may end up needing an instant payday advance in the end to pay for the trip when you fly discount because of all the extra charges.

[mcjaco]

We're headed out in mid August, and the flights are bad. $400 R/T a piece. I have a friend in management at an airline, and he said to book now, prices won't be moving much over the next few months.

Ugh.

[mickeys_princess_mom]

We're headed out in mid August, and the flights are bad. $400 R/T a piece. I have a friend in management at an airline, and he said to book now, prices won't be moving much over the next few months.

Ugh.

Same here. We're going about that time, and have just decided to make it a road trip for about $300 total. Plus we're going to stop at the beach on the way and eat at our favorite restaurant, probably spending the night. Still will come out way ahead! :mickey:

[mgmnut]

We're headed out in mid August, and the flights are bad. $400 R/T a piece. I have a friend in management at an airline, and he said to book now, prices won't be moving much over the next few months.

Ugh.

We are going mid August too. I just got R/T Non-Stop from Providence to MCO for $305.00 on JetBlue. 1st bag is free so that helps also!

I felt it was a decent price.

I usually fly out of Boston but since they added JetBlue to Pvd I thought I would try flying out of there, TF GReen is only 25 mins or so away.

Ticket are about $10.00 a piece more out of pvd but I think the convieniece makes it worth it. I think we will make that up with our savings in parking costs anyways. Parking at Logan can get expensive!

[BrerGnat]

We were not even going to go on a trip this year, but I saw Jet Blue had $86 each way fares from DCA to MCO. I had enough AMEX points to transfer over to JB to get our flights down for free. We paid $353 for the 4 of us to fly back home. Stellar deal! Now, we have a trip planned. :D Last year, we booked a Disney cruise at the last minute and airfare was INSANELY high at that point, so we had to drive. There really doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason with airfares these days, but don't feel too worried just yet. August is a ways away and SWA tends to offer discounts closer to the flight dates.

[ukyrob28]

I feel that airlines get a bad rap on Disney websites quite a bit. Being in management for a major airline I just can't understand why we don't get treated as a MONEY MAKING business just like Disney, Apple, Google.
People complain about high prices of flying all the time, but when other goods and services go up, you don't hear a peep.
We aren't in the business of flying people for a loss, we are in the business of making a profit.

[ASweetLov]

I will be going to WDW in September and am flying out of Logan Airport in Boston. I fly delta and got tickets for $206 round trip for my fiance and I

[MNNHFLTX]

I feel that airlines get a bad rap on Disney websites quite a bit. Being in management for a major airline I just can't understand why we don't get treated as a MONEY MAKING business just like Disney, Apple, Google.
People complain about high prices of flying all the time, but when other goods and services go up, you don't hear a peep. I see you're new to the INTERCOT forums. :welcome:

If you peruse the boards for awhile you will see that this is definitely not true--people complain all the time about the price increases at Disney World itself, amongst other things. ;)

As far as the airlines, I do realize that they have to make a profit, which has been more difficult with the increase in fuel costs. I don't think price alone is what gets folks a little riled up about flying, but that the airlines keep cramming more and more passengers on the planes and charging them for every little amenity that used to be part of the package. At least that's what bothers me. Does it keep me from flying? No, but I shop around a lot more than I used to (this from a once-loyal Continental customer, now a not-so-loyal United customer living in Houston).

[TheHD]

For me, its a win if I find tickets under $400 a person.

[PopPhan]

Also, remember that you used to get airfares listed at lower prices, then get hit with all the "fees"....Now, all these "fees" are shown in the actual ticket price.

Yes, the prices have gone up, due to things like fuel costs, but not quite so much as you might imagine.

In any event, I would much rather pay the cost to be in WDW in 3 hours (flight + DME time) vs. 16 hours if I were to drive.

[DisneyDINK]

I feel that airlines get a bad rap on Disney websites quite a bit. Being in management for a major airline I just can't understand why we don't get treated as a MONEY MAKING business just like Disney, Apple, Google.
People complain about high prices of flying all the time, but when other goods and services go up, you don't hear a peep.
We aren't in the business of flying people for a loss, we are in the business of making a profit.

I agree and disagree. I have worked for rail and airlines and dealt with game theory, first mover advantage, yield management, etc.

First of all, I have some close friends in the airlines: management, flight attendants, pilots and gate agents. They all fly standby (at least for leisure travel), which is a pain - they can't always get where they want when they want due to availability, but when they do it is free! I'll bet you non-rev, right? Can you really relate to having to pay for a ticket?

Like many other posters, I want to go to WDW often, at least annually ideally, but that is made more difficult by an 100% increase year-over-year in some of the MCO fares. The consumer has limited resources and has to budget. Higher travel costs (especially in the face of recent lower commodity costs) are tough for us to deal with. For you to get more Disney and other businesses have to get less since your price increases far outpace the growth of wages. Granted, this is not always the case; airlines do lower fares and offer specials from time to time.

BTW: if we compare your pricing strategy to retail businesses like Apple or the hotels/merchandise/advertising business of Disney your pricing structure is totally whack! Apple doesn't charge one person $500 for an IPad and charge someone else in the same room $1,000. Yes, they offer discounts to some and not others, but they are much more consistent and predictable than the airlines.

But you are right, airlines are a for-profit business. You've got a tough job to do; I'll admit that. Please keep in mind we come here to Intercot for many reasons; one reason is to vent.

I look forward to your future posts.

[mcjaco]

I feel that airlines get a bad rap on Disney websites quite a bit. Being in management for a major airline I just can't understand why we don't get treated as a MONEY MAKING business just like Disney, Apple, Google.
People complain about high prices of flying all the time, but when other goods and services go up, you don't hear a peep.
We aren't in the business of flying people for a loss, we are in the business of making a profit.

Naturally every business is in it to make money. It's the extreme fluctuations that you'll find anyone on any travel board question. I could got from ORD to MCO for under $200 R/T a couple of years ago, now it's almost $400. And it'll drop or go up in large chunks.

I know most prices are driven by fuel prices, but airlines buy in large quantities at certain rates. Fluctuations shouldn't be that extreme. Then again, watching gas prices at your local gas stations makes you scratch your head too when demand is down, and the cost of oil is under $100 a barrel.

[ukyrob28]

Maybe I came off a bit harsh before, and I am sorry if I did.
Following up...Yes I do non-rev quite a bit, but I also purchase tickets on a regular basis to destinations that are hard to get to..LAS...MIA..even MCO on occasion, so I do feel your pain.
Speaking of Google..Apple....Do you want the level of employee in some 3rd world country that produces their products flying and repairing our aircraft? I will let you answer that! Our labor costs are astronomical.
In other news-Disney got rid of our airline discount on hotels (talking $190-200 for YC&BC a night) that kinda stunk!

[DisneyDINK]

Maybe I came off a bit harsh before, and I am sorry if I did.
Following up...Yes I do non-rev quite a bit, but I also purchase tickets on a regular basis to destinations that are hard to get to..LAS...MIA..even MCO on occasion, so I do feel your pain.
Speaking of Google..Apple....Do you want the level of employee in some 3rd world country that produces their products flying and repairing our aircraft? I will let you answer that! Our labor costs are astronomical.
In other news-Disney got rid of our airline discount on hotels (talking $190-200 for YC&BC a night) that kinda stunk!

No big, I like a little debate.

My US Air (Maybe AA) friend told me about Disney axing the industry discount. Yeah, bummer!

I could debate labor costs a bit, but it would just be for debate sake; I don't necessarily disagree with you. So, instead I'll reiterate, welcome to Intercot!